Universität Hamburg - der Forschung, der Lehre, der Bildung, zur Homepage

Photo: UHH/Denstorf

Project E8: Mechanisms and representation in the bilingual lexicon

Supervisor:  Prof. Dr. med. Christian Büchel
Research scientists: Annette Baumgärtner, Ph.D. (neurolinguist), Dr. Frédéric Isel  (psychologist)
Research assistants: Johannes Thrän, Rodrigue Talla-Kuate

Topic

This project investigates the hypothesis that the two languages of bilinguals involve a common semantic-conceptual system. This hypothesis will be examined in early and late French-German bilinguals for both perception and production, using a new methodology in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Research questions

  • Do the same neuronal populations support the processing of French and German words, which have the same meaning (e.g., maison - Haus)? Put differently, do the two lexicons use the same semantic system in word perception and production?
  • To what extent does age of acquisition (AOA) of L2 play a role in a hypothezised common semantic-conceptual processing of words in both languages, when proficiency is kept constant?

Methods

A series of priming-experiments examines the neuronal representation of word meanings in L1 and L2 using functional MRI. AOA of L2 will be systematically manipulated in highly proficient bilinguals (2 levels: group 1 = early bilinguals; group 2 = late bilinguals). To test the generalisability of the results the mode of of stimulus presentation will be varied systematically (i.e., visual, auditory, pictorial presentation).

Working hypotheses

  • Hypothesis 1: If AOA of L2 plays a role in semantic processing in bilinguals with similarly high proficiency, then different neuronal populations should be active in a semantic task in early but not in late bilinguals.
  • Hypothesis 2: If not, then the same neuronal populations should be active in a semantic task in early as well as in late bilinguals.

List of relevant publications

  • Baumgaertner A, Weiller C, Büchel C (2002a). Event-related fMRI reveals cortical sites involved in contextual sentence integration. Neuroimage 16: 736-45.
  • Büchel C, Coull JT, Friston KJ (1999). The predictive value of changes in effective connectivity for human learning. Science 283: 1538-41.
  • Büchel C, Friston KJ (1997). Modulation of connectivity in visual pathways by attention:Cortical interactions evaluated with structural equation modelling and fMRI. Cerebral Cortex 7: 768-78.
  • Büchel C, Friston KJ (1998a). Dynamic changes in effective connectivity characterized by variable parameter regression and Kalman filtering. Human Brain Mapping 6: 403-8.
  • Büchel C, Holmes AP, Rees G, Friston KJ (1998b). Characterizing stimulus-response functions using  nonlinear regressors in parametric fMRI experiments. Neuroimage 8: 140-8.
  • Büchel C, Price C, Friston K (1998c). A multimodal language region in the ventral visual pathway. Nature 394: 274-7.
  • Friston KJ, Büchel C (2000). Attentional modulation of effective connectivity from V2 to V5/MT in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA  97: 7591-6.
  • Friston KJ, Holmes AP, Price CJ, Büchel C, Worsley KJ (1999). Multisubject fMRI studies and conjunction analyses. Neuroimage 10: 385-96.
  • Wise RJ, Howard D, Mummery CJ, Fletcher P, Leff A, Büchel C, Scott SK (2000). Noun imageability and the temporal lobes. Neuropsychologia 38: 985-94.
  • Wise RJ, Greene J, Büchel C, Scott SK (1999). Brain regions involved in articulation. Lancet 353: 1057-61.
Complementary literature
  • Birn, R. M., Cox, R. W., & Bandettini, P. A. (2004). Experimental designs and processing strategies for fMRI studies involving overt verbal responses. Neuroimage 23:1046-58.
  • Bookheimer S. (2002). Functional MRI of language: New approaches to understanding the cortical organization of semantic processing. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience 25: 151-188.
  • Chee M. W. L., Caplan, D., Soon, C. S., Sriram, N., Tan, E. W. L., Thiel, T., & Weekes, B. (1999a). Processing of visually presented sentences in Mandarin and English studied with fMRI. Neuron 23: 127-137.
  • Chee M. W. L., Tan, E., & Thiel, T. (1999b). Mandarin and English single word processing studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience 19: 3050-56.
  • Chee, M. W. L., Soon, C. S., & Lee, H. L. (2003). Common and segregated neuronal networks for different languages revealed using functional magnetic resonance adaptation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 15: 85-97.
  • Dehaene, S., Dupoux, E., Mehler, J., Cohen, L., Paulesu, E., Perani, D., van de Moortele, P. F., Lehericy, S., & Le Bihan, D. (1997). Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language. Neuroreport 8: 3809-15.
  • Dehaene, S., Naccache, L., Cohen, L., Bihan, D. L., Mangin, J. F., Poline,  J. B., & Riviere, D. (2001). Cerebral mechanisms of word masking and unconscious repetition priming. Nature  Neuroscience  4: 752-8.          
  • Demonet JF, Thierry G, Cardebat D. (2005).  Renewal of the neurophysiology of language: functional neuroimaging. 85: 49-95.
  • Francis, W. S. (1999). Cognitive integration of language and memory in bilinguals: Semantic representation. Psychological Bulletin 125: 193-222.
  • French, R. M., & Jacquet M. (2004). Understanding bilingual memory: Models and data. Trends  in Cognitive Sciences 8: 87-93.
  • Gold, B. T., & Buckner, R. L. (2002). Common prefrontal regions coactivate with dissociable posterior regions during controlled semantic and phonological tasks. Neuron 35: 803-12.
  • Goral, M., Levy, E. S., & Obler, L. K. (2002). Neurolinguistic aspects of bilingualism. International Journal of Bilingualism 6: 411-40.
  • Grill-Spector K, Kushnir T, Edelman S, Avidan G, Itzchak Y, Malach R. (1999). Differential processing of objects under various viewing conditions in the human lateral occipital complex. Neuron 24: 187-203.        
  • Grosjean, F., Li, P., Münte, T. F., & Rodriguez-Fornells, A. (2003). Imaging bilinguals: When the neurosciences meet the language sciences. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 6: Hernandez, A. E., Dapretto, M., Mazziotta, J., & Bookheimer, S. (2001). Language switching and language representation in Spanish-English bilinguals: An fMRI study. Neuroimage 14: 510-520.
  • Illes, J., Francis, W. S., Desmond, J. E., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Glover, G. H., Poldrack, R., Lee, C. J., Wagner, A. D. (1999). Convergent cortical representation of semantic processing in bilinguals. Brain and Language 70: 347-363.
  • Kim, K. H., Relkin, N. R., Lee, K. M., & Hirsch, J. (1997). Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature 388: 171-174.
  • Klein, D., Milner, B., Zatorre, R. J., Meyer, E., & Evans, A. C. (1995). The neural substrates underlying word generation: A bilingual functional imaging study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA  92:  2899-2903.
  • Muñoz, M. L., Marquardt, T., & Copeland, G. (1999). A comparison of the code-switching of aphasic and neurologically normal bilingual speakers of English and Spanish. Brain and Language 66: 249-274.
  • Perani, D., Dehaene, S., Grassi, F., Cohen, L., Cappa, S. F., Dupoux, E., Fazio, F., & Mehler, J. (1996). Brain processing of native and foreign languages. Neuroreport 7: 2439-44.
  • Perani, D., Paulesu, E., Galles, N. S., Dupoux, E., Dehaene, S., Bettinardi, V., Cappa, S. F., Fazio, F., & Mehler, J. (1998). The bilingual brain: Proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language. Brain 121: 1841-52.
  • Perani, D., Abutalebi, J., Paulesu, E., Brambati, S., Scifo, P., Cappa, S., & Fazio, F. (2003). The role of age of acquisition and language usage in early, high-proficient bilinguals: An fMRI study during verbal fluency. Human Brain Mapping 19: 170-182.
  • Price, C. J., Green, D. W., & von Studnitz, R. (1999). A functional imaging study of translation and language switching. Brain 122: 2221-35.
  • Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Rotte, M, Heinze, H. J., Nosselt, T., & Munte, T. F. (2002). Brain potential and functional MRI evidence for how to handle two languages with one brain. Nature 415(6875): 1026-9.
  • Rodriguez-Fornells, A., van der Lugt, A., Rotte, M., Britti, B., Heinze, H. J., Münte, T. F. (2005). Second language interferes with word production in fluent bilinguals: Brain potentials and functional imaging evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 17: 422-433.
  • Tatsuno Y., & Sakai, K. L. (2005). Language-related activations in the left prefrontal regions are
  • differentially modulated by age, proficiency, and task demands. Journal of Neuroscience
  • 25: 1637-44.
  • Wartenburger, I., Heekeren, H. R., Abutalebi, J., Cappa, S. F., Villringer, A., & Perani, D.
  • (2003). Early setting of grammatical processing in the bilingual brain. Neuron 37: 159-170.
  • Zeelenberg, R., & Pecher, D. (2003). Evidence for long-term cross-language repetition primingin conceptual implicit memory tasks. Journal of Memory and Language 49: 80-94.