Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language.
Dehaene, Stanislas 1; Dupoux, Emmanuel 1; Mehler, Jacques 1,6; Cohen, Laurent 2; Paulesu, Eraldo 3; Perani, Daniela 3; van de Moortele, Pierre-Francois 4; Lehericy, Stephane 4,5; Le Bihan, Denis 4
[Miscellaneous Article] Neuroreport. 8(17):3809-3815, December 1, 1997.

(Format: HTML, PDF)

FUNCTIONAL magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess inter-subject variability in the cortical representation of language comprehension processes. Moderately fluent French-English bilinguals were scanned while they listened to stories in their first language (L1 = French) or in a second language (L2 = English) acquired at school after the age of seven. In all subjects, listening to L1 always activated a similar set of areas in the left temporal lobe, clustered along the left superior temporal sulcus. Listening to L2, however, activated a highly variable network of left and right temporal and frontal areas, sometimes restricted only to right-hemispheric regions. These results support the hypothesis that first language acquisition relies on a dedicated left-hemispheric cerebral network, while late second language acquisition is not necessarily associated with a reproducible biological substrate. The postulated contribution of the right hemisphere to L2 comprehension 1 is found to hold only on average, individual subjects varying from complete right lateralization to standard left lateralization for L2.

(C) Lippincott-Raven Publishers.