Communication has been, and always will be, a vital part of the world we live in. Communication is just as important to everyone, no matter what language you may speak. But what influences the way our brains work when developing a language? Furthermore, what if you speak more than one? Researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and the Montreal Neurological Institute have discovered that, “…even brief, early exposure to a language influences how the brain processes sounds from a second language later in life.” So what this means is, if an individual was born in Germany and spoke German, even for only 3 years for example, and then began speaking English, the way that they learned the new language and the way their brain interpreted it would be influenced by their previous language.
To conduct this study, researchers used 3 groups of children ages 10-7 with different linguistic backgrounds. The three groups consisted of a group born and raised in unilingual French-speaking families, a group adopted from China into a French family before the age of 3 who began speaking French instead of Chinese from that point on, and lastly, a group who spoke both Chinese and French fluently. The kids were asked to identify “French pseudo-words” and when they responded, “…the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to look at which parts of their brains were being activated.” The researchers then found that each group could complete the task, but different parts of the brain were activated. Children who were not exposed to Chinese linguistics and only spoke French had activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus and interior insula. Both groups who spoke Chinese and French, even the group that stopped speaking Chinese at age 3 or younger, activated the right middle frontal gyrus, left medial frontal cortex, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus. These findings establish the connection that although a person may stop speaking a language at a very young age, their brain still recognizes the language and their brains still function similarly to bilingual people. Furthermore, children who adopt a new primary language process it differently due to their previous background in another language.
So what does this mean? These findings help scientists understand, “…how the brain becomes wired for language, but also about how that hardwiring can change and adapt over time in response to new language environments.” Knowing this, different forms of education could develop for people of all linguistic backgrounds. Better understanding the ways that the brain adapts to language will help the world in many areas, especially in the areas of language studies and language classes.
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I think this study will genuinely help many schools, and people around the world, considering many people are bilingual. Understanding the differences in brain activation through people’s previous and current languages could also maybe help people learn more languages based on their primary language. I think it would be interesting to know how the brain is activated for people who are not fluent in another language, but are currently learning a new language. I found this study interesting because there are many bilingual people here at Penn State and knowing that each person has a unique brain pattern and activation based off of their previous and current languages, is pretty cool if you ask me.
Works Cited:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151201115233.htm