Tracking second language immersion across time: Evidence from a bi-directional longitudinal cross-linguistic fMRI study
Date
2021Author
Brice, Henry
Frost, Stephen J.
Bick, Atira Sara
Molfese, Peter J.
Rueckl, Jay G.
Pugh, Kenneth R.
Frost, Ram
Metadata
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Henry Brice, Stephen J. Frost, Atira Sara Bick, Peter J. Molfese, Jay G. Rueckl, Kenneth R. Pugh, Ram Frost, Tracking second language immersion across time: Evidence from a bi-directional longitudinal cross-linguistic fMRI study, Neuropsychologia, Volume 154, 2021, 107796, ISSN 0028-3932, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107796
Abstract
Parallel cohorts of Hebrew speakers learning English in the U.S., and American-English speakers learning Hebrew
in Israel were tracked over the course of two years of immersion in their L2. We utilised a functional MRI semantic
judgement task with print and speech tokens, as well as a battery of linguistic and cognitive behavioural
measures prior to and after immersion, to track changes in both L1 and L2 processing. fMRI activation for print
tokens produced a similar network of activation in both English and Hebrew, irrespective of L1 or L2 status.
Significant convergence of print and speech processing was also observed in both languages across a network of
left-hemisphere regions joint for both L1 and L2. Despite significant increases in behavioural measures of L2
proficiency, only a few signs of longitudinal change in L2 brain activation were found. In contrast, L1 showed
widespread differences in processing across time, suggesting that the neurobiological footprint of reading is
dynamic and plastic even in adults, with L2 immersion impacting L1 processing. Print/speech convergence
showed little longitudinal change, suggesting that it is a stable marker of the differences in L1 and L2 processing
across L2 proficiency.