Chapter 3. The role of executive function in the perception of L2 speech sounds in young balanced and unbalanced dual language learners

Neuroanatomical profiles of bilingual children

“…The sample of children used here include the same (38) children studied in Archila‐Suerte et al. (), plus (12) additional participants with similar demographics, taken from the sample of Hernandez, Woods, and Bradley (). Two institutional review boards approved the present study.…”

“…Although the findings from Archila‐Suerte et al. () prompted the analysis of brain anatomy in the bilingual children, the primary aim of the current study was to investigate neuroanatomical markers of differences in children's degree of bilingualism (i.e., balanced or unbalanced), which we hypothesize derive from either structural changes due to learning or neurobiological predispositions. Here, we assessed two morphological indices of the cortex (i.e., thickness and surface area) and one index of the subcortex (i.e., volume) in regions known to be involved in language processing and cognitive control in bilinguals.…”

“…In a recent fMRI study conducted by Archila‐Suerte, Munson, and Hernandez (), bilingual children were classified as balanced or unbalanced based on the degree of discrepancy between L1 and L2 proficiency. Although this study did not measure aptitude using traditional metacognitive tasks such as phonological working memory or analytical reasoning (Kiss & Nikolov, ; Paradis, ), the study did use standardized language assessments to measure receptive and expressive knowledge of the L1 and L2—which relate to the aforementioned metacognitive skills (Hummel, ; Kormos & Safar, ).…”

“…The results of the passive listening fMRI task employed by Archila‐Suerte et al. () revealed that unbalanced bilinguals have increased activity in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus relative to the balanced group, whereas balanced bilinguals have increased activity in the right middle temporal gyrus relative to the unbalanced group, when listening to L2 speech sounds. These brain regions are respectively associated with working memory or cognitive control (Derrfuss, Brass, & Yves von Cramon, ; Luk, Green, Abutalebi, & Grady, ; Roth, Serences, & Courtney, ) and sound processing (Vouloumanos, Kiehl, Werker, & Liddle, ).…”

“…An additional area, the middle frontal gyrus (MFG), was included as a region of interest (ROI) due to its highlighted importance in studies of cognitive control in bilingualism research (Derrfuss et al., ; Guo, Liu, Misra, & Kroll, ; Luk et al., ) and the findings of Archila‐Suerte et al. (). The subcortical regions, the bilateral caudate and putamen, were also selected based on findings that suggest the involvement of the basal ganglia in the cognitive control abilities of bilinguals (Abutalebi et al., ; Price, Green, & von Studnitz, ).…”