A high-field functional MRI study of quadri-lingual subjects

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 89; no. 3; pp. 531 - 542
• Main Authors: Briellmann, Regula S, Saling, Michael M, Connell, Ailie B, Waites, Anthony B, Abbott, David F, Jackson, Graeme D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.06.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Age Differences; Analysis of Variance; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavioral psychophysiology; Bilingualism; Bilingualism. Multilingualism; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Diagnostic Tests; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Hypothesis Testing; Interests; Language; Language Proficiency; Language Tests; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Multilingualism; Multiple languages; Neuroimaging Techniques; Neurolinguistics; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Nouns; Proficiency; Psycholinguistics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Region of interest; Verbs; Proficiency; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Bilingualism; Language; Region of interest; Multiple languages; Human; Verbal ability; Multilingualism; Cognition; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Functional imaging
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2004.01.008

We assessed six multilingual subjects by functional MRI using a Noun Verb Generation task in four different languages. We hypothesised that the degree of proficiency in each language would be related to the extent of functional activity measured in a region of interest analysis. Proficiency in each language was quantified using two neuropsychological tests. All four languages activated overlapping brain areas, corresponding to the major language regions. The number of activated voxels correlated with proficiency, so that the activated volume increased for languages in which a subject had poorer proficiency. Activation did not appear to be dependent on the age at which the language was learnt.