title: Second language lexical development and cognitive control: A longitudinal fMRI study.
abstract: In this paper we report a longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that tested contrasting predictions about the time course of cognitive control in second language (L2) acquisition. We examined the neural correlates of lexical processing in L2 learners twice over the course of one academic year. Specifically, while in the scanner, participants were asked to judge the language membership of unambiguous first and second language words, as well as interlingual homographs. Our ROI and connectivity analyses reveal that with increased exposure to the L2, overall activation in control areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex decrease while connectivity with semantic processing regions such as the middle temporal gyrus increase. These results suggest that cognitive control is more important initially in L2 acquisition, and have significant implications for understanding developmental and neurocognitive models of second language lexical processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: amc497@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: szf4@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Shin-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: pul8@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D012660:Semantics; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Executive function; Longitudinal design; Second language acquisition; Vocabulary; fMRI