Cortical motor systems are involved in second-language comprehension : Evidence from rapid mu-rhythm desynchronisation.
(2014) In NeuroImage 102(2). p.695-703- Abstract
- Understanding neurocognitive mechanisms supporting the use of multiple languages is a key question in language science. Recent neuroimaging studies in monolinguals indicated that core language areas in human neocortex together with sensorimotor structures form a highly interactive system underpinning native language comprehension. While the experience of a native speaker promotes the establishment of strong action-perception links in the comprehension network, this may not necessarily be the case for L2 where, as it has been argued, the most a typical L2 speaker may get is a link between an L2 wordform and its L1 translation equivalent. Therefore, we investigated, whether the motor cortex of bilingual subjects shows differential... (More)
- Understanding neurocognitive mechanisms supporting the use of multiple languages is a key question in language science. Recent neuroimaging studies in monolinguals indicated that core language areas in human neocortex together with sensorimotor structures form a highly interactive system underpinning native language comprehension. While the experience of a native speaker promotes the establishment of strong action-perception links in the comprehension network, this may not necessarily be the case for L2 where, as it has been argued, the most a typical L2 speaker may get is a link between an L2 wordform and its L1 translation equivalent. Therefore, we investigated, whether the motor cortex of bilingual subjects shows differential involvement in processing action semantics of native and non-native words. We used high-density EEG to dynamically measure changes in the cortical motor system's activity, indexed by event-related desynchronisation (ERD) of the mu-rhythm, in response to passively reading L1 (German) and L2 (English) action words. Analysis of motor-related EEG oscillations at the sensor level revealed an early (starting ~150ms) and left-lateralised coupling between action and semantics during both L1 and L2 processing. Crucially, source-level activation in the motor areas showed that mu-rhythm ERD, while present for both languages, is significantly stronger for L1 words. This is the first neurophysiological evidence of rapid motor-cortex involvement during L2 action-semantic processing. Our results both strengthen embodied cognition evidence obtained previously in monolinguals and, at the same time, reveal important quantitative differences between L1 and L2 sensorimotor brain activity in language comprehension. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4692803
- author
- Vukovic, Nikola and Shtyrov, Yury LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- NeuroImage
- volume
- 102
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 695 - 703
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:25175538
- wos:000345391700043
- scopus:84907160933
- pmid:25175538
- ISSN
- 1095-9572
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.039
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003)
- id
- cfc71503-f11b-49b2-9365-e8148c16ad36 (old id 4692803)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:56:48
- date last changed
- 2023-11-23 20:43:49
@article{cfc71503-f11b-49b2-9365-e8148c16ad36,
abstract = {{Understanding neurocognitive mechanisms supporting the use of multiple languages is a key question in language science. Recent neuroimaging studies in monolinguals indicated that core language areas in human neocortex together with sensorimotor structures form a highly interactive system underpinning native language comprehension. While the experience of a native speaker promotes the establishment of strong action-perception links in the comprehension network, this may not necessarily be the case for L2 where, as it has been argued, the most a typical L2 speaker may get is a link between an L2 wordform and its L1 translation equivalent. Therefore, we investigated, whether the motor cortex of bilingual subjects shows differential involvement in processing action semantics of native and non-native words. We used high-density EEG to dynamically measure changes in the cortical motor system's activity, indexed by event-related desynchronisation (ERD) of the mu-rhythm, in response to passively reading L1 (German) and L2 (English) action words. Analysis of motor-related EEG oscillations at the sensor level revealed an early (starting ~150ms) and left-lateralised coupling between action and semantics during both L1 and L2 processing. Crucially, source-level activation in the motor areas showed that mu-rhythm ERD, while present for both languages, is significantly stronger for L1 words. This is the first neurophysiological evidence of rapid motor-cortex involvement during L2 action-semantic processing. Our results both strengthen embodied cognition evidence obtained previously in monolinguals and, at the same time, reveal important quantitative differences between L1 and L2 sensorimotor brain activity in language comprehension.}},
author = {{Vukovic, Nikola and Shtyrov, Yury}},
issn = {{1095-9572}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{695--703}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{NeuroImage}},
title = {{Cortical motor systems are involved in second-language comprehension : Evidence from rapid mu-rhythm desynchronisation.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.039}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.039}},
volume = {{102}},
year = {{2014}},
}