TY  - GEN
A1  - Wattendorf, Elise
A1  - Festman, Julia
A1  - Westermann, Birgit
A1  - Keil, Ursula
A1  - Zappatore, Daniela
A1  - Franceschini, Rita
A1  - Luedi, Georges
A1  - Radue, Ernst-Wilhelm
A1  - Münte, Thomas F.
A1  - Rager, Günter
A1  - Nitsch, Cordula
T1  - Early bilingualism influences early and subsequently later acquired languages in cortical regions representing control functions
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Early acquisition of a second language influences the development of language abilities and cognitive functions. In the present study, we used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate the impact of early bilingualism on the organization of the cortical language network during sentence production. Two groups of adult multilinguals, proficient in three languages, were tested on a narrative task; early multilinguals acquired the second language before the age of three years, late multilinguals after the age of nine. All participants learned a third language after nine years of age. Comparison of the two groups revealed substantial differences in language-related brain activity for early as well as late acquired languages. Most importantly, early multilinguals preferentially activated a fronto-striatal network in the left hemisphere, whereas the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) was activated to a lesser degree than in late multilinguals. The same brain regions were highlighted in previous studies when a non-target language had to be controlled. Hence the engagement of language control in adult early multilinguals appears to be influenced by the specific learning and acquisition conditions during early childhood. Remarkably, our results reveal that the functional control of early and subsequently later acquired languages is similarly affected, suggesting that language experience has a pervasive influence into adulthood. As such, our findings extend the current understanding of control functions in multilinguals.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 384 
KW  - multilingual
KW  - language acquisition
KW  - narration
KW  - age of acquisition
KW  - functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW  - emergentist framework
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404092
IS  - 384
ER  -