How the Brain Makes Way for a Second Language
AStudies involving sophisticated
Studies involving sophisticated brain imaging technologies called functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, have also revealed some intriguing patterns in the way our brains process first and second languages.
Joy Hirsch and her colleagues at Cornell University used fMRI to determine how multiple languages are represented in the human brain. They found that native and second languages are spatially separated in Broca’s area, which is a region in the frontal lobe of the brain that is responsible for the motor parts of language-movement of the mouth, tongue, and palate. In contrast, the two languages show very little separation in the activation of Wernicke’s area, an area of the brain in the posterior part of the temporal lobe, which is responsible for comprehension of language.
The fMRI studies suggest that the difficulty adult learners of a second language may have is not with understanding the words of the second language, but with the motor skills of forming the words with the mouth and tongue. This may explain why learners of a second language can oftentimes comprehend a question asked in the new language, but are not always able to form a quick response.
rain imaging technologies called functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, have also revealed some intriguing patterns in the way our brains process first and second languages.
Joy Hirsch and her colleagues at Cornell University used fMRI to determine how multiple languages are represented in the human brain. They found that native and second languages are spatially separated in Broca’s area, which is a region in the frontal lobe of the brain that is responsible for the motor parts of language-movement of the mouth, tongue, and palate. In contrast, the two languages show very little separation in the activation of Wernicke’s area, an area of the brain in the posterior part of the temporal lobe, which is responsible for comprehension of language.
The fMRI studies suggest that the difficulty adult learners of a second language may have is not with understanding the words of the second language, but with the motor skills of forming the words with the mouth and tongue. This may explain why learners of a second language can oftentimes comprehend a question asked in the new language, but are not always able to form a quick response.
11
Old Dogs Hear New Tricks
Anyone who has tried knows that as we enter adulthood, it is increasingly difficult to learn a second language. A study conducted by researchers at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition in Pittsburgh has shown that targeted auditory input can successfully help adults learn a second language.
Native Japanese speakers normally cannot distinguish between the English “r” and “l” sounds. Sound units of words are called “phonemes,” and studies suggest that as the language centers of our brain mature, certain phonemes are “wired” into those brain centers. , Phonemes that are not essential to the native language are not incorporated, implying that adult brains are simply less receptive to foreign phonemes.
Since the Japanese language does not distinguish between r and l, a single phoneme represents both sounds. When presented with English words containing either of these sounds, brain imaging studies show that only a single region of a Japanese speaker’s brain is activated, whereas native English speakers show different areas of activation for each sound. Learning to distinguish the phonemes might then actually require a “rewiring” of certain elements of the brain’s circuitry.