Learning a second language strengthens neural connections in the language network, study shows

Scientists on the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Mind Sciences in Leipzig have unearthed fascinating proof that the mind undergoes essential modifications in wiring after we embark on the journey of studying a brand new language in maturity. They organized a big intensive German studying program for Syrian refugees and studied their brains utilizing superior magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), uncovering dynamic modulations within the wiring of essential language areas that enabled them to speak and assume within the new language.

Over a six-month interval, Xuehu Wei and the analysis workforce led by Alfred Anwander and Angela Friederici, meticulously in contrast the brain scans of 59 native Arabic audio system engaged in intensive German studying. By taking high-resolution MRI photos firstly, center and finish of the educational interval, the researchers deciphered modifications in connectivity between brain areas utilizing a way known as tractography, which permits the reconstruction of neuronal pathways.

These photos confirmed the strengthening of white matter connections inside the language community, in addition to the involvement of extra areas in the proper hemisphere throughout second language studying.

“The connectivity between language areas in each hemispheres elevated with studying progress,” defined Xuehu Wei, first writer of the study now revealed in Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences.

“Studying new phrases strengthened the lexical and phonological subnetworks in each hemispheres, particularly within the second half of the educational interval, the consolidation section,” mentioned Wei.

Intriguingly, the examine additionally revealed a discount in connectivity between the 2 hemispheres, suggesting an important position of the corpus callosum—a bridge-like construction that connects the left and the proper aspect of the mind. This discount suggests {that a} decreased management of the language-dominant left hemisphere over the proper hemisphere throughout second language acquisition, feeing up sources in the proper aspect of the mind to combine the brand new language.

“The dynamic modifications in mind connectivity have been discovered to be instantly correlated with the rise in efficiency within the language check of the Goethe-Institute,” mentioned Alfred Anwander, the examine’s final writer.

“This underlies the significance of neuroplastic variations of the community to course of the newly realized language and using areas within the right hemisphere that have been beforehand untapped for language processing. Extra typically, this examine sheds mild on how the grownup mind adapts to new cognitive calls for by modulating the structural connectome inside and throughout hemispheres.”

As one of many first massive and well-controlled initiatives documenting modifications in mind connectivity throughout second language studying, this analysis could pave the best way for a deeper understanding of how first and second languages are realized and processed.

Past language acquisition, the examine opens new avenues for understanding brain function and the results of experience-dependent structural plasticity. As well as, the language studying undertaking has implicitly opened the door for Syrian refugees to combine into German society.