title: Overlap and Differences in Brain Networks Underlying the Processing of Complex Sentence Structures in Second Language Users Compared with Native Speakers.
abstract: When we learn a second language later in life, do we integrate it with the established neural networks in place for the first language or is at least a partially new network recruited? While there is evidence that simple grammatical structures in a second language share a system with the native language, the story becomes more multifaceted for complex sentence structures. In this study, we investigated the underlying brain networks in native speakers compared with proficient second language users while processing complex sentences. As hypothesized, complex structures were processed by the same large-scale inferior frontal and middle temporal language networks of the brain in the second language, as seen in native speakers. These effects were seen both in activations and task-related connectivity patterns. Furthermore, the second language users showed increased task-related connectivity from inferior frontal to inferior parietal regions of the brain, regions related to attention and cognitive control, suggesting less automatic processing for these structures in a second language.
authors.affiliation: 1 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics , Nijmegen, The Netherlands .|2 Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain , Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: 2 Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain , Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luther
authors.affiliation: 2 Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain , Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands .|3 Department of Linguistics, Heinrich-Heine University , Duesseldorf, Germany .
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Indefrey
authors.affiliation: 1 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics , Nijmegen, The Netherlands .|2 Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain , Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hagoort
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology
keywords: PPI; activation; bilingualism; connectivity; fMRI; language; syntax