The role of the left inferior parietal lobule in second language learning: An intensive language training fMRI study

• Published in: Neuropsychologia 2017-04, Vol.98, p.169-176
• Main Authors: Barbeau, Elise B., Chai, Xiaoqian J., Chen, Jen-Kai, Soles, Jennika, Berken, Jonathan, Baum, Shari, Watkins, Kate E., Klein, Denise
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Brain Mapping; Female; fMRI; Functional Laterality - physiology; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Inferior parietal lobule; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Multilingualism; Oxygen - blood; Parietal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Regression Analysis; Second language acquisition; Sentence reading; Time Factors; Verbal Learning - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.10.003

Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural changes in the bilingual brain, however, in what way and how quickly these changes occur remains unclear. To address these questions, we studied fourteen English-speaking monolingual adults enrolled in a 12-week intensive French language-training program in Montreal. Using functional MRI, we investigated the neural changes associated with new language acquisition. The participants were scanned before the start of the immersion program and at the end of the 12 weeks. The fMRI scan aimed to investigate the brain regions recruited in a sentence reading task both in English, their first language (L1), and in French, their second language (L2). For the L1, fMRI patterns did not change from Time 1 to Time 2, while for the L2, the brain response changed between Time 1 and Time 2 in language-related areas. Of note, for the L2, there was higher activation at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) including the supramarginal gyrus. At Time 2 this higher activation in the IPL correlated with faster L2 reading speed. Moreover, higher activation in the left IPL at Time 1 predicted improvement in L2 reading speed from Time 1 to Time 2. Our results suggest that learning-induced plasticity occurred as early as 12 weeks into immersive second-language training, and that the IPL appears to play a special role in language learning. •Brain changes are observed in adults after 12 weeks intensive language training.•The IPL has a key role in learning an L2.•Higher fMRI brain activation in the IPL after L2 training.•IPL activation before training predicts L2 learning success.•IPL activation after training related to proficiency in L2.