For many years, researchers have wondered how two languages are represented in one brain. Of particular interestis the finding of selective impairment of a single language in bilinguals [1,2].Naturally,thisleadstothequestionofwhat factors might be determining which language is preserved and which is lost. It also leads to the possibility thateach language may have different neural representations.Neuropsychologistsaroundtheturnofthetwentiethcenturyidentifiedthreefactorsthathelptodeterminethebrainbases of bilingualism: age of acquisition, language proficiency and cognitive control. Ribot, considered by many tobe the father of French psychology, found that patients often forgot their most recent memories first and the oldestmemories last [3–5].Basedonthisheproposedtheideathat“ageofacquisition”wascrucialfortheformationofmemories, a finding that is still relevant today [6,7].Shortlythereafter,Pitressuggestedthatfamiliaritywouldplayacrucialroleintheresistanceoflanguagetobreakdown[8].Languageproficiency,asithasbeentermedtoday,hasbeen found to play a central role in the neural representation of bilingualism [9–11].Finally,OttoPotzl,anAustrianneurologist, based on work with patients was the first to suggest a switch mechanism that was responsible for control-ling the language that was used at that moment [12].Theimportanceofcontrolhascometotheforefrontofbilinguallanguage research when switching between languages [13],overcominginterferencefromamoredominantlanguage[14],andthepossiblebenefitsofverbalcontrolonnon-verbalcontroltasks[15].Whatemergesfromthisliteratureisboth a richness of history in neuropsychology coupled with newfound interest in this field with the emergence of newtechnologies with which brain activity can be measured and manipulated.Buchweitz and Prat [16] piece on the bilingual brain adds significantly to this growing body of work while at thesame time allowing further examination of the factors identified by neuropsychologists many years ago. The authorsdiscuss issues of neural representation with regard to semantic processing, orthographic representation, and finallyexecutive control. It is on this final topic that the current piece provides its strongest contribution. One aspect thatdeserves considerable consideration is the distinction between learning via experience relative to learning throughinstruction. The distinction between experience which involves the basal ganglia relative to explicit instruction whichinvolves the cortex is particularly fascinating. This distinction also carries implications for the other two main issuesthat frame the literature. Do these two systems help to differentiate high and low proficiency bilinguals? What aboutchild learners and adults? Does learning a language early in life or later in life involve the basal ganglia and cortex