Background
 Bilinguals can voluntarily control which language is
used
 Distinguish language heard/read
 Which language speech is to be produced in
 Inhibition of non-selected language
 Proficient bilinguals activate same brain regions
regardless of which language presented or produced
(Abutalebi, & Perani, 2005).
 Neural circuits for different languages are overlapping/
interconnected but don’t indicate how brain controls
language in use
Question & Hypothesis
 What brain areas are
responsible for language
control?
 DV: brain activation (fMRI
& PET)
 IV: Language of target
 Target & prime semantics
 Target & prime language
 Hypothesis?
 They didn’t
really have
one…
Methods
 Subjects (German-English & Japanese-English
bilinguals)visually shown pairs of words (i.e. troutSALMON) in sequence
 Language
 Pairs semantically similar/different
 Target and prime were in same/different language
 Ignore first word (prime) & make decision based on
meaning of second word (target)
 Time between prime & target optimized for priming, but
not long enough to predict target (250 ms)
 Task presented while subjects being scanned (fMRI &
PET)
 No significant effect of
target language on
accuracy
Results
 Some variance in visual
cortex activation
 Semantic priming in left
ventral anterior temporal
lobe is languageindependent
 Language-dependent
semantic priming only in
left caudate (LC)
 Reduced activation
when semantically
similar prime & target
in same language
Discussion
 Suggest that LC plays a role in
sensing change in language OR word
semantics
 LC seems to function for language
control
 Neuropsychological study on
particular trilingual patient with
white matter lesions around LC
 Retained comprehension in all 3
 Involuntarily switched between
languages during production tasks
Limitations & Next Step
Limitations
 Characters/word
varied between
languages
 Sample size/bilingual
group (~ 10-15)
 Tested only GermanEnglish & JapaneseEnglish bilinguals
Next Step
 Determine adjacent &
connecting pathways
 Test other bilingual
groups
 Check effect of varying
proficiencies (one
language more
dominant then other)
Final Note
Strengths
Weaknesses
 Interesting Topic
 Difficult to read
 Tested bilinguals from
completely separate
linguistic families
 No clear question,
hypothesis or variables
 Equivalent linguistic
proficiencies
 Not enough
information or detail
regarding subjects &
procedures
References
 Abutalebi, J., & Perani, D. (2005). the neural basis of
first and second language processing. Current Opinion in
Neurobiology, 15, 202-206.
 Aso, T., Crinion, J., Fukuyama, H., Green, D. W.,
Grogan, A., Hanakawa, T.,…Urayama, S. (2006).
Language control in the bilingual brain. Science, 312,
1537-1540. doi: 10.1126/science.1127761.