J Korean Soc Radiol.  2019 Nov;80(6):1160-1178. 10.3348/jksr.2019.80.6.1160.

Neural Mechanism of Second Language Processing in Korean-English Bilingual Children

• Lee YY
• Baek BH
• Kim SK
• Park IW
• Jeong GW
• Baek S
• Yoon W

• KMID: 2464914
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/jksr.2019.80.6.1160

Abstract

PURPOSE
To evaluate the neural mechanism of second language processing in Korean-English bilingual children using functional MRI (fMRI).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted on 20 Korean elementary school children who were learning English as a foreign language. fMRI was performed during short-passage comprehension tasks in Korean and English languages. We analyzed which brain areas were activated according to the language, English proficiency, and task difficulty.
RESULTS
Higher activities were observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, left basal ganglia, and left temporoparietal and occipital lobes during English comprehension than during Korean comprehension. The low English proficiency group showed higher activities than the high English proficiency group in the frontotemporal cortex, including the prefrontal cortex. Higher activities were observed in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right temporoparietal lobe during the English comprehension task of intermediate difficulty compared to that of low difficulty. However, the brain activities significantly decreased while performing a high-difficulty English task.
CONCLUSION
Brain activities significantly increased during English comprehension in the lower English proficiency group while performing an intermediate-difficulty task. However, brain activation decreased when the task difficulty exceeded the moderate comprehension level. These results suggest that a proper level of education is important to learn a second language.

MeSH Terms

Basal Ganglia
Brain
Child*
Comprehension
Education
Frontal Lobe
Humans
Learning
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Motor Cortex
Multilingualism
Occipital Lobe
Prefrontal Cortex

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Design paradigm for the visual stimulation of the passage comprehension task.

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  Fig. 2 Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with a low level of difficulty.

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  Fig. 3 Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with an intermediate level of difficulty.

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  Fig. 4 Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with a high level of difficulty.

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  Fig. 5 Predominant cortical activation areas associated with English comprehension compared to that with Korean comprehension.

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  Fig. 6 Brain areas of greater activation in the low learning level group compared to that in the high learning level group for the English passage comprehension tasks with low (A) and intermediate (B) levels of difficulty. RAO = right anterior oblique

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  Fig. 7 Brain areas of greater activation during the English task with an intermediate level of difficulty compared to that with a low level of difficulty.

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