Neuroanatomical Evidence in Support of the Bilingual Advantage Theory

Olulade, Olumide A.; Jamal, Nasheed I.; Koo, Daniel; Perfetti, Charles A.; LaSasso, Carol; Eden, Guinevere F.

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhv152

Cited by 72 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Associations between SES variables, bilingualism status, cognitive skills, and brain structure controlled for age, age-squared, sex, scanner model and genetic ancestry (GAF). In addition to whole-brain surface area (SA) and cortical thickness (CT), we examined brain regions of interest (ROIs) associated with language (left inferior frontal gyrus [IFG] and left superior temporal gyrus [STG]), as well as ROIs associated with attention and executive function (middle frontal gyrus [MFG; both left and right] and anterior cingulate cortex [ACC]), as these regions have been implicated in past studies of bilingualism and cognition (Abutalebi & Green, 2007; Abutalebi et al, 2012; Luk, Green, Abutalebi, & Grady, 2012; Martensson et al, 2012; Olulade et al, 2016; Ruschemeyer et al, 2005). All multiple comparisons (number of ROIs and cognitive tasks for each domain of interest) were verified using False Discovery Rate (FDR) analyses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The independent and interacting effects of socioeconomic status and dual‐language use on brain structure and cognition

Brito

Noble

2018

Developmental Science

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Family socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with children's cognitive development, and past studies have reported socioeconomic disparities in both neurocognitive skills and brain structure across childhood. In other studies, bilingualism has been associated with cognitive advantages and differences in brain structure across the lifespan. The aim of the current study is to concurrently examine the joint and independent associations between family SES and dual-language use with brain structure and cognitive skills during childhood. A subset of data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics (PING) study was analyzed; propensity score matching established an equal sample (N = 562) of monolinguals and dual-language users with similar socio-demographic characteristics (M = 13.5, Range = 3-20 years). When collapsing across all ages, SES was linked to both brain structure and cognitive skills. When examining differences by age group, brain structure was significantly associated with both income and dual-language use during adolescence, but not earlier in childhood. Additionally, in adolescence, a significant interaction between dual-language use and SES was found, with no difference in cortical surface area (SA) between language groups of higher-SES backgrounds but significantly increased SA for dual-language users from lower-SES families compared to SES-matched monolinguals. These results suggest both independent and interacting associations between SES and dual-language use with brain development. To our knowledge, this is the first study to concurrently examine dual-language use and socioeconomic differences in brain structure during childhood and adolescence.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The independent and interacting effects of socioeconomic status and dual‐language use on brain structure and cognition

Brito

Noble

2018

Developmental Science

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“…However, to the best of our knowledge, no research to date has reported cognitive control benefits for bimodal bilinguals compared to monolinguals. Previous studies with early and proficient bimodal bilinguals showed that they did not outperform monolingual speakers on cognitive control tasks [Emmorey et al, ], and they also did not differ from monolinguals in GMV for brain regions related cognitive control, in contrast to unimodal bilinguals [Olulade et al, ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How bilingualism protects the brain from aging: Insights from bimodal bilinguals

Abutalebi²,

Emmorey

et al. 2017

Human Brain Mapping

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Bilingual experience can delay cognitive decline during aging. A general hypothesis is that the executive control system of bilinguals faces an increased load due to controlling two languages, and this increased load results in a more ‘tuned brain’ that eventually creates a neural reserve. Here we explored whether such a neuroprotective effect is independent of language modality, i.e., not limited to bilinguals who speak two languages but also occurs for bilinguals who use a spoken and a signed language. We addressed this issue by comparing bimodal bilinguals to monolinguals in order to detect age-induced structural brain changes and to determine whether we can detect the same beneficial effects on brain structure, in terms of preservation of gray matter volume (GMV), for bimodal bilinguals as has been reported for unimodal bilinguals. Our GMV analyses revealed a significant interaction effect of age × group in the bilateral anterior temporal lobes, left hippocampus/amygdala, and left insula where bimodal bilinguals showed slight GMV increases while monolinguals showed significant age-induced GMV decreases. We further found through cortical surface-based measurements that this effect was present for surface area and not for cortical thickness. Moreover, to further explore the hypothesis that overall bilingualism provides neuroprotection, we carried out a direct comparison of GMV, extracted from the brain regions reported above, between bimodal bilinguals, unimodal bilinguals, and monolinguals. Bilinguals, regardless of language modality, exhibited higher GMV compared to monolinguals. This finding highlights the general beneficial effects provided by experience handling two language systems, whether signed or spoken.

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“…Most recently, scientists have discovered that bilingual adults have a darker gray matter (brain tissue associated with neurons and neural fibers that process information) in the left hemisphere, where controls communication and language skills (Olulade et al, 2016). This difference is particularly evident in bilingual learners before the age of five and second language proficient.…”

Section: The Benefits Of Bilingual Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingual Education Helps to Improve the Intelligence of Children

Nguyen¹

2017

WJEL

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This study uses an IQ test to test the "intelligence" of two pupil groups: one is studying the bilingual program and the other is learning the monolingual program plus English subject as a foreign language. The study discovers that both groups have increased the IQ score after seven months at schools. This result proves that IQ scores are not fixed but can increase through ages of children from 6 to 11 as well as through education. However, the group of bilingual pupils has higher increase of IQ scores in comparison with the monolingual group, proving the bilingual education can help to better improve the intelligence of children. This is agreeable with the results of many previous researches.

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Neuroanatomical Evidence in Support of the Bilingual Advantage Theory

Cited by 72 publications

References 76 publications

The independent and interacting effects of socioeconomic status and dual‐language use on brain structure and cognition

The independent and interacting effects of socioeconomic status and dual‐language use on brain structure and cognition

How bilingualism protects the brain from aging: Insights from bimodal bilinguals

Bilingual Education Helps to Improve the Intelligence of Children

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