This study applies science to concepts that have been discussed in class primarily in non scientific terms. It explores cognitive control in within- and between-language switching in bilingual participants (English + Spanish) using fMRI testing as bilingual patients named photos in one language only or switched between them. A separate set of photos was described only in English as either the object or the action which were switched after each response. No difference in activation patterns in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were found in picture naming between the two languages when only one was used. Nor was there any significant difference in the activation pattern of action naming between the two languages. However, an increased intensity of activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was present in switching between languages. This increased activation is believed to be the result of enhancement and repression of two different languages in turn. This study confirms that bilingualism does employ excess general executive processing and also that languages are represented in overlapping areas of the brain. These finding are very interesting but are not necessarily very accurate do to a very small sample size and little data on the age at which the second language was acquired, there is room for improvement.
An image of the brain demonstrating overlapping and applicable intensification during language switching in a bilingual brain.
Hernandez, A, Dapretto, M, Mazziotta, J, & Bookheimer, S (2001). Language switching and language representation in spanish-english bilinguals: An fmri study. NeuroImage, 14, 510-520.