Inconsistency of findings due to low power: A structural MRI study of bilingualism

Munson, Brandin; Hernández, Arturo E.

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104642

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To our knowledge, whether attention in bilinguals is more likely to be automatically engaged by the linguistic properties of an unfamiliar language is currently unknown but, if so, it might provide a parsimonious explanation for our findings. Nevertheless, we are also alert to the possibility of false positives recently highlighted as particularly problematic in structural MRI studies on bilingualism [30]. Our sample size of 87 (46 bilinguals) is notably larger than most in this literature, and the findings themselves part-replicate our earlier work [10], yet we would encourage replication and attempts to further delineate the role of the cerebellum in bilingual cognition.…”

Section: Why Did We Find the Effect In The Control Of Unfamiliar (Gresupporting

confidence: 50%

A role for the cerebellum in the control of verbal interference: Comparison of bilingual and monolingual adults

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We evaluate brain structure sensitivity to verbal interference in a sentence interpretation task, building on previously reported evidence that those with better control of verbal interference show higher grey matter density in the posterior paravermis of the right cerebellum. We compare brain structure sensitivity to verbal interference control across two groups, English monolingual (N = 41) and multilingual (N = 46) adults. Using voxel-based morphometry, our primary goal was to identify and explore differences in regional patterns of grey matter sensitivity to performance on the sentence interpretation task, controlling for group variability in age, nonverbal reasoning and vocabulary knowledge. There was no group difference in performance but there was a significant group effect in grey matter sensitivity to task performance in our region of interest: stronger sensitivity in the paravermis in bilinguals compared to monolinguals in accuracy performance in the high (relative to low) verbal interference condition. This effect was observed when the linguistic interference was presented in an unfamiliar language (Greek) but not when presented in the familiar language (English). Our findings suggest that multilanguage acquisition mediates regional involvement within the language network, conferring enhanced functional plasticity within structures (including the paravermis) in the service of control of linguistic interference.

show abstract

Section: Why Did We Find the Effect In The Control Of Unfamiliar (Gresupporting

confidence: 50%

A role for the cerebellum in the control of verbal interference: Comparison of bilingual and monolingual adults

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Importantly, the current study replicated these findings using a much larger sample of children (i.e., n = 678 bilinguals and n = 678 monolinguals) within a restricted age range (i.e., nine-ten years old). Recent research has highlighted the importance of large samples for detecting true differences between bilinguals and monolinguals ( Munson and Hernandez, 2019 ). Our ability to replicate previous findings from Plistsikas et al (2020) and Archila-Suerte et al (2018) using a large sample of children strengthens the conclusions those authors made about their findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical Thickness in bilingual and monolingual children: Relationships to language use and language skill

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a growing body of evidence based on adult neuroimaging that suggests that the brain adapts to bilingual experiences to support language proficiency. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is a useful source of data for evaluating this claim during childhood, as it involves data from a large sample of American children. Using the baseline ABCD Study data collected at ages nine and ten, the goal of this study was to identify differences in cortical thickness between bilinguals and monolinguals and to evaluate how variability in English vocabulary and English use within bilinguals might explain these group differences. We identified bilingual participants as children who spoke a non-English language and were exposed to the non-English language at home. We then identified a matched sample of English monolingual participants based on age, sex, pubertal status, parent education, household income, non-verbal IQ, and handedness. Bilinguals had thinner cortex than monolinguals in widespread cortical regions. Within bilinguals, more English use was associated with greater frontal and parietal cortical thickness; greater English vocabulary was associated with greater frontal and temporal cortical thickness. These findings replicate and extend previous research with bilingual children and highlight unexplained cortical thickness differences between bilinguals and monolinguals.

show abstract

“…Compared to the participants in Schlegel et al (2012), the interpreters presumably had more extensive experience with foreign language learning. Inconsistencies could also be due to small sample size, with lower sample sizes in the range reported here and earlier (Mårtensson et al, 2012) demonstrating excessive variability when compared to larger samples (Munson & Hernandez, 2019). Hosoda et al (2013) used a considerably larger number of participants (n = 137) whilst Schlegel et al (2012) measured each participant (n = 27) nine times over the course of nine months.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

White matter microstructure predicts foreign language learning in army interpreters

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adult 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.

show abstract

Inconsistency of findings due to low power: A structural MRI study of bilingualism

Cited by 13 publications

References 35 publications

A role for the cerebellum in the control of verbal interference: Comparison of bilingual and monolingual adults

A role for the cerebellum in the control of verbal interference: Comparison of bilingual and monolingual adults

Cortical Thickness in bilingual and monolingual children: Relationships to language use and language skill

White matter microstructure predicts foreign language learning in army interpreters

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About