Language Experience Impacts Brain Activation for Spoken and Signed Language in Infancy: Insights From Unimodal and Bimodal Bilinguals

Mercure, E., Evans, S., Pirazzoli, Laura, Goldberg, Laura, Bowden-Howl, Harriet, Coulson-Thaker, Kimberley, Beedie, Indie, Lloyd-Fox, S., Johnson, M. and MacSweeney, M. 2020. Language Experience Impacts Brain Activation for Spoken and Signed Language in Infancy: Insights From Unimodal and Bimodal Bilinguals. Neurobiology of Language. 1 (1), pp. 9-32. https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00001

TitleLanguage Experience Impacts Brain Activation for Spoken and Signed Language in Infancy: Insights From Unimodal and Bimodal Bilinguals
TypeJournal article
AuthorsMercure, E., Evans, S., Pirazzoli, Laura, Goldberg, Laura, Bowden-Howl, Harriet, Coulson-Thaker, Kimberley, Beedie, Indie, Lloyd-Fox, S., Johnson, M. and MacSweeney, M.
AbstractRecent neuroimaging studies suggest that monolingual infants activate a left-lateralized frontotemporal brain network in response to spoken language, which is similar to the network involved in processing spoken and signed language in adulthood. However, it is unclear how brain activation to language is influenced by early experience in infancy. To address this question, we present functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data from 60 hearing infants (4 to 8 months of age): 19 monolingual infants exposed to English, 20 unimodal bilingual infants exposed to two spoken languages, and 21 bimodal bilingual infants exposed to English and British Sign Language (BSL). Across all infants, spoken language elicited activation in a bilateral brain network including the inferior frontal and posterior temporal areas, whereas sign language elicited activation in the right temporoparietal area. A significant difference in brain lateralization was observed between groups. Activation in the posterior temporal region was not lateralized in monolinguals and bimodal bilinguals, but right lateralized in response to both language modalities in unimodal bilinguals. This suggests that the experience of two spoken languages influences brain activation for sign language when experienced for the first time. Multivariate pattern analyses (MVPAs) could classify distributed patterns of activation within the left hemisphere for spoken and signed language in monolinguals (proportion correct = 0.68; p = 0.039) but not in unimodal or bimodal bilinguals. These results suggest that bilingual experience in infancy influences brain activation for language and that unimodal bilingual experience has greater impact on early brain lateralization than bimodal bilingual experience.
KeywordsDeaf; fNIRS; Infants; Sign Language; Speech; Infant-directed language
JournalNeurobiology of Language
Journal citation1 (1), pp. 9-32
ISSN2641-4368
Year2020
PublisherMIT Press - Journals
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00001
Publication dates
Published online28 Oct 2019
Published in print06 Apr 2020
ProjectES/K001329/1
G0701484
100229/Z/12/Z
FunderEconomic and Social Research Council
Medical Research Council
Wellcome
LicenseCC BY 4.0

Related outputs

Only minimal differences between individuals with congenital aphantasia and those with typical imagery on neuropsychological tasks that involve imagery.
Pounder, Zoë, Jacob, Jane, Evans, Samuel, Loveday, Catherine, Eardley, Alison F. and Silvanto, Juha 2022. Only minimal differences between individuals with congenital aphantasia and those with typical imagery on neuropsychological tasks that involve imagery. Cortex. 148, pp. 180-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.010

Susceptibility to auditory hallucinations is associated with spontaneous but not directed modulation of top-down expectations for speech
Alderson-Day, B., Moffatt, J., Lima, C., Krishnan, S., Fernyhough, C., Scott, S., Denton, S., Leong, I, Oncel, A., Wu, Y.L., Gurbuz, Z. and Evans, S. 2022. Susceptibility to auditory hallucinations is associated with spontaneous but not directed modulation of top-down expectations for speech. Neuroscience of Consciousness. 8 (1), pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niac002

Who is Right? A Word-Identification-in-Noise Test for Young Children Using Minimal Pair Distracters
Evans, Samuel and Rosen, S. 2022. Who is Right? A Word-Identification-in-Noise Test for Young Children Using Minimal Pair Distracters. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 65 (1), pp. 159-168. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00658

Exploring individual differences in neuropsychological and visuospatial working memory task performance in aphantasia
Pounder, Zoe, Jacob, Jane, Eardley, Alison F., Evans, Sam, Loveday, Catherine and Silvanto, Juha 2021. Exploring individual differences in neuropsychological and visuospatial working memory task performance in aphantasia. Journal of Vision. 21 (9) 2655. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.21.9.2655

Modeling perception and behavior in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: support for the predictive processing framework
Kafadar, E., Vijay, V.A., Strauss, G., Chapman, H., Ellman, L., Bansal, S., Gold, J., Alderson-Day, B., Evans, S., Moffatt, J., Silverstein, S., Walker, E., Woods, S., Corlett, P. and Powers, A. 2020. Modeling perception and behavior in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: support for the predictive processing framework. Schizophrenia Research. 226, pp. 167-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.04.017

Sign and speech share partially overlapping conceptual representations
Evans, S., Price, C.J., Diedrichsen, J., Gutierrez-Sigut, E. and MacSweeney, M. 2019. Sign and speech share partially overlapping conceptual representations. Current Biology. 29 (21), pp. P3739-3747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.08.075

Beatboxers and guitarists engage sensorimotor regions selectively when listening to the instruments they can play
Krishnan, S., Lima, C., Evans, S., Chen, S., Guldner, S., Yeff, H., Manly, T. and Scott, S. 2018. Beatboxers and guitarists engage sensorimotor regions selectively when listening to the instruments they can play. Cerebral Cortex. 28 (11), pp. 4063-4079. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy208

How auditory experience differentially influences the function of left and right superior temporal cortices
Twomey, T., Waters, D., Price, C.J., Evans, S. and MacSweeney, M. 2017. How auditory experience differentially influences the function of left and right superior temporal cortices. Journal of Neuroscience. 37 (9), pp. 9564-9573. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0846-17.2017

Distinct Processing of Ambiguous Speech in People with Non-Clinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations
Alderson-Day, B., Lima, C., Evans, S., Krishnan, S., Shanmugalingam, P., Fernyhough, C. and Scott, S.K. 2017. Distinct Processing of Ambiguous Speech in People with Non-Clinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Brain. 140 (9), pp. 2475-2489. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx206

Comprehending auditory speech: previous and potential contributions of functional MRI
Evans, S. and McGettigan, C. 2017. Comprehending auditory speech: previous and potential contributions of functional MRI. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. 32 (7), pp. 829-846. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2016.1272703

What has replication ever done for us? Insights from neuroimaging of speech perception
Evans, S. 2017. What has replication ever done for us? Insights from neuroimaging of speech perception. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 11 41. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00041

Getting the Cocktail Party Started: Masking Effects in Speech Perception
Evans, S., McGettigan, C., Agnew, Z.K., Rosen, S. and Scott, S.K. 2016. Getting the Cocktail Party Started: Masking Effects in Speech Perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 28 (3), pp. 483-500. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00913

Visual Speech Perception in Children With Language Learning Impairments
Knowland, V.C.P., Evans, S., Snell, C. and Rosen, S. 2016. Visual Speech Perception in Children With Language Learning Impairments. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 59, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_JSLHR-S-14-0269

Distinct neural systems recruited when speech production is modulated by different masking sounds
Meekings, S., Evans, S., Lavan, N., Boebinger, D., Krieger-Redwood, K., Cooke, M. and Scott, S.K. 2016. Distinct neural systems recruited when speech production is modulated by different masking sounds. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 140 (1), pp. 8-19. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4948587

Do We Know What We’re Saying? The Roles of Attention and Sensory Information During Speech Production
Meekings, S., Boebinger, D., Evans, S., Lima, C.F., Chen, S., Ostarek, M. and Scott, S.K. 2015. Do We Know What We’re Saying? The Roles of Attention and Sensory Information During Speech Production . Psychological Science. 26 (12), pp. 1975-1977. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614563766

Feel the noise: Relating individual differences in auditory imagery to the structure and function of sensorimotor systems
Lima, C.F., Lavan, N., Evans, S., Agnew, Z., Halper, A.R., Shanmugalingam, P., Meekings, S., Boebinger, D., Ostarek, M., McGettigan, C., Warren, J.E. and Scott, S.K. 2015. Feel the noise: Relating individual differences in auditory imagery to the structure and function of sensorimotor systems. Cerebral Cortex. 25 (11), pp. 4638-4650. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv134

Hierarchical organization of auditory and motor representations in speech perception: Evidence from searchlight similarity analysis
Evans, S. and Davis, M.H. 2015. Hierarchical organization of auditory and motor representations in speech perception: Evidence from searchlight similarity analysis. Cerebral Cortex. 25 (12), pp. 4772-4788. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv136

Musicians and non-musicians are equally adept at perceiving masked speech
Boebinger, D., Evans, S., Rosen, S., Lima, C.F., Manly, T. and Scott, S.K. 2015. Musicians and non-musicians are equally adept at perceiving masked speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 137 (1), pp. 378-387 378. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4904537

Changes of right-hemispheric activation after constraint-induced, intensive language action therapy in chronic aphasia: fMRI evidence from auditory semantic processing
Mohr, B., Difrancesco, S., Harrington, K., Evans, S. and Pulvermüller, F. 2014. Changes of right-hemispheric activation after constraint-induced, intensive language action therapy in chronic aphasia: fMRI evidence from auditory semantic processing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 8 919. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00919

Does musical enrichment enhance the neural coding of syllables? Neuroscientific interventions and the importance of behavioral data
Evans, S., Meekings, S., Nuttall, H.E., Jasmin, K.M., Boebinger, D., Adank, P. and Scott, S.K. 2014. Does musical enrichment enhance the neural coding of syllables? Neuroscientific interventions and the importance of behavioral data. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 8 964. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00964

The Pathways for Intelligible Speech: Multivariate and Univariate Perspectives
Evans, S., Kyong, J.S., Rosen, S., Golestani, N., Warren, J.E., McGettigan, C., Mourão-Miranda, J., Wise, R.J.S. and Scott, S.K. 2014. The Pathways for Intelligible Speech: Multivariate and Univariate Perspectives . Cereb Cortex. 24 (9). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht083

An application of univariate and multivariate approaches in FMRI to quantifying the hemispheric lateralization of acoustic and linguistic processes
McGettigan, C., Evans, S., Rosen, S., Agnew, Z.K., Shah, P. and Scott, S.K. 2012. An application of univariate and multivariate approaches in FMRI to quantifying the hemispheric lateralization of acoustic and linguistic processes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 24 (3), pp. 636-652. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00161

Categorizing Speech
Scott, S.K. and Evans, S. 2010. Categorizing Speech. Nature Neuroscience. 13 (11), pp. 1304-1306. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1110-1304

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/qwyvx/language-experience-impacts-brain-activation-for-spoken-and-signed-language-in-infancy-insights-from-unimodal-and-bimodal-bilinguals


Share this

Usage statistics

240 total views
100 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.