Abstract
AbstractAdult foreign language acquisition is challenging, and the degree of success varies among individuals. Anatomical differences in brain structure prior to training can partly explain why some learn more than others. We followed a sample of conscript interpreters undergoing intense language training to study learning-related changes in white-matter microstructure (FA, MD, RD and AD) and associations between differences in brain structure prior to training with acquired language proficiency. No evidence for changes in white matter microstructure relative to a control group was found. Starting values of RD, AD and MD were positively related to final test scores of language proficiency, corroborating earlier findings in the field and highlighting the need for further study of how initial brain structure influences and interacts with learning outcomes.
Highlights
Adult second language acquisition is demanding (Sakai, 2005) and individuals vary in terms of their learning efficacy (Qi, Han, Garel, Chen & Gabrieli, 2015)
No statistically significant pretest differences were found between controls and interpreters for fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) or axial diffusivity (AD)
Interpreters had relatively lower radial diffusivity (RD) values bilaterally in several areas involved in the language network (Friederici, 2011; Friederici & Gierhan, 2013): forceps minor, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, inferior longitudinal fasciculus with a larger area visible in the left hemisphere, the corticospinal tract as well as the cingulum
Summary
Adult second language acquisition is demanding (Sakai, 2005) and individuals vary in terms of their learning efficacy (Qi, Han, Garel, Chen & Gabrieli, 2015). Yang, Gates, Molenaar and Li (2015) used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study native English speakers as they were taught a new tonal vocabulary over the course of six weeks Their results show that successful and less successful learners differed in brain activation prior to training, with greater neural activity during tone discrimination for successful learners, and more activity during pitch discrimination for less successful learners. Wang and Wong (2012) used graph theory to look at functional network characteristics (using fMRI) in relation to learning outcomes following an auditory pitch discrimination task They found that successful learners showed reduced local efficiency but increased global efficiency in a core network of auditory language areas
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