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Brain Sciences
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The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism
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The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurolinguistics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2022) | Viewed by 15453

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alejandro Fernandez-Coello

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 09807 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: brain mapping; neuro-oncology; epilepsy
Dr. Andreu Gabarrós Canals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 09807 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: brain mapping

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In today’s society, multilingualism has been a hot topic both in neural science and education. The neural bases of multilingual language processing have been extensively investigated with the advent of functional neuroimaging techniques and electrical stimulation brain mapping. Simultaneously, the effect of multilingualism on cognition, memory, emotions, and brain development has also been a live debate in recent years.

The aim of this Special Issue of Brain Sciences is to provide further insight into unanswered questions such as the influence of age of acquisition, proficiency, or language exposure; which language control mechanism allows managing more than one language in one brain; if the anatomo-functional cortical and subcortical networks share common or specific activations for all languages; or the brain plasticity associated with the brain development in a child exposed to more than one language.

Original research works and literature reviews from leading scientists in the field will contribute to a better understanding of the underpinnings of the cognitive science of multilingualism.

Alejandro Fernandez-Coello
Andreu Gabarrós Canals
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • language mapping
  • aphasia
  • language networks
  • language processing
  • functional magnetic resonance imaging of language
  • brain development

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 1118 KiB  
Article
Passive Voice Comprehension during Thematic-Role Assignment in Russian-Speaking Children Aged 4–6 Is Reflected in the Sensitivity of ERP to Noun Inflections
by Olga Kruchinina, Ekaterina Stankova, Diana Guillemard and Elizaveta Galperina
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(6), 693; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12060693 - 27 May 2022
Viewed by 1925
Abstract
Children tend to rely on semantics rather than syntax during sentence comprehension. In transitive sentences, with no reliance on semantics, the syntax-based strategy becomes critical. We aimed to describe developmental changes of brain mechanisms for syntax processing in typically developing (TD) four to [...] Read more.
Children tend to rely on semantics rather than syntax during sentence comprehension. In transitive sentences, with no reliance on semantics, the syntax-based strategy becomes critical. We aimed to describe developmental changes of brain mechanisms for syntax processing in typically developing (TD) four to six year old’s. A specially designed sentence-picture matching task using active (AV) and passive (PV) voice enforced children to use grammar cues for sentence comprehension. Fifty children with above >60% level of accuracy in PV sentences comprehension demonstrated brain sensitivity to voice grammar markers-inflections of the second noun phrase (NP2), which was expressed in a greater event-related potentials (ERP) amplitude to PV vs. AV sentences in four-, five-, and six-year-old children. The biphasic positive-negative component at 200–400 ms was registered in the frontocentral and bilateral temporoparietal areas. Only in six-year-old children P600 was registered in the right temporoparietal area. LAN-like negativity seems to be a mechanism for distinguishing AV from PV in the early stages of mastering syntax processing of transitive sentences in four to five year old children. Both behavioral and ERP results distinguished six-year-olds from four-year-old’s and five-year-old’s, reflecting the possible transition to the “adult-like” syntax-based thematic role assignment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism)
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29 pages, 3181 KiB  
Article
Syntax Acquisition in Healthy Adults and Post-Stroke Individuals: The Intriguing Role of Grammatical Preference, Statistical Learning, and Education
by Simon Kirsch, Carolin Elser, Elena Barbieri, Dorothee Kümmerer, Cornelius Weiller and Mariacristina Musso
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 616; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050616 - 9 May 2022
Viewed by 2304
Abstract
Previous work has provided contrasting evidence on syntax acquisition. Syntax-internal factors, i.e., instinctive knowledge of the universals of grammar (UG) for finite-state grammar (FSG) and phrase-structure grammar (PSG) but also syntax-external factors such as language competence, working memory (WM) and demographic factors may [...] Read more.
Previous work has provided contrasting evidence on syntax acquisition. Syntax-internal factors, i.e., instinctive knowledge of the universals of grammar (UG) for finite-state grammar (FSG) and phrase-structure grammar (PSG) but also syntax-external factors such as language competence, working memory (WM) and demographic factors may affect syntax acquisition. This study employed an artificial grammar paradigm to identify which factors predicted syntax acquisition. Thirty-seven healthy individuals and forty-nine left-hemispheric stroke patients (fourteen with aphasia) read syllable sequences adhering to or violating FSG and PSG. They performed preference classifications followed by grammatical classifications (after training). Results showed the best classification accuracy for sequences adhering to UG, with performance predicted by syntactic competence and spatial WM. Classification of ungrammatical sequences improved after training and was predicted by verbal WM. Although accuracy on FSG was better than on PSG, generalization was fully possible only for PSG. Education was the best predictor of syntax acquisition, while aphasia and lesion volume were not predictors. This study shows a clear preference for UG, which is influenced by spatial and linguistic knowledge, but not by the presence of aphasia. Verbal WM supported the identification of rule violations. Moreover, the acquisition of FSG and PSG was related to partially different mechanisms, but both depended on education. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism)
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29 pages, 2625 KiB  
Article
Reevaluating the Language of Learning Advantage in Bilingual Arithmetic: An ERP Study on Spoken Multiplication Verification
by Vanessa R. Cerda, Paola Montufar Soria and Nicole Y. Wicha
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050532 - 21 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2884
Abstract
Many studies of bilingual arithmetic report better performance when verifying arithmetic facts in the language of learning (LA+) over the other language (LA−). This could be due to language-specific memory representations, processes established during learning, or to language and task factors not related [...] Read more.
Many studies of bilingual arithmetic report better performance when verifying arithmetic facts in the language of learning (LA+) over the other language (LA−). This could be due to language-specific memory representations, processes established during learning, or to language and task factors not related to math. The current study builds on a small number of event-related potential (ERP) studies to test this question while controlling language proficiency and eliminating potential task confounds. Adults proficient in two languages verified single-digit multiplications presented as spoken number words in LA+ and LA−, separately. ERPs and correctness judgments were measured from solution onset. Equivalent P300 effects, with larger positive amplitude for correct than incorrect solutions, were observed in both languages (Experiment 1A), even when stimuli presentation rate was shortened to increase difficulty (Experiment 1B). This effect paralleled the arithmetic correctness effect for trials presented as all digits (e.g., 2 4 8 versus 2 4 10), reflecting efficient categorization of the solutions, and was distinct from an N400 generated in a word–picture matching task, reflecting meaning processing (Experiment 2). The findings reveal that the language effects on arithmetic are likely driven by language and task factors rather than differences in memory representation in each language. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism)
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Review

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16 pages, 312 KiB  
Review
Divergent Conceptualization of Embodied Emotions in the English and Chinese Languages
by Pin Zhou, Hugo Critchley, Yoko Nagai and Chao Wang
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(7), 911; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12070911 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3699
Abstract
Traditional cognitive linguistic theories acknowledge that human emotions are embodied, yet they fail to distinguish the dimensions that reflect the direction of neural signaling between the brain and body. Differences exist across languages and cultures in whether embodied emotions are conceptualized as afferent [...] Read more.
Traditional cognitive linguistic theories acknowledge that human emotions are embodied, yet they fail to distinguish the dimensions that reflect the direction of neural signaling between the brain and body. Differences exist across languages and cultures in whether embodied emotions are conceptualized as afferent (feelings from the body) or efferent (enacted through the body). This important distinction has been neglected in academic discourse, arguably as a consequence of the ‘lexical approach’, and the dominance within the affective psychology of the cognitive and semantic models that overlook the role of interoception as an essential component of affective experience. Empirical and theoretical advances in human neuroscience are driving a reappraisal of the relationships between the mind, brain and body, with particular relevance to emotions. Allostatic (predictive) control of the internal bodily states is considered fundamental to the experience of emotions enacted through interoceptive sensory feelings and through the evoked physiological and physical actions mediated through efferent neural pathways. Embodied emotion concepts encompass these categorized outcomes of bidirectional brain–body interactions yet can be differentiated further into afferent or interoceptive and efferent or autonomic processes. Between languages, a comparison of emotion words indicates the dominance of afferent or interoceptive processes in how embodied emotions are conceptualized in Chinese, while efferent or autonomic processes feature more commonly in English. Correspondingly, in linguistic expressions of emotion, Chinese-speaking people are biased toward being more receptive, reflective, and adaptive, whereas native English speakers may tend to be more reactive, proactive, and interactive. Arguably, these distinct conceptual models of emotions may shape the perceived divergent values and ‘national character’ of Chinese- and English-speaking cultures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism)
21 pages, 1218 KiB  
Review
Intraoperative Brain Mapping in Multilingual Patients: What Do We Know and Where Are We Going?
by Jesús Martín-Fernández, Andreu Gabarrós and Alejandro Fernandez-Coello
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 560; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050560 - 27 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3774
Abstract
In this review, we evaluate the knowledge gained so far about the neural bases of multilingual language processing obtained mainly through imaging and electrical stimulation mapping (ESM). We attempt to answer some key questions about multilingualism in the light of recent literature evidence, [...] Read more.
In this review, we evaluate the knowledge gained so far about the neural bases of multilingual language processing obtained mainly through imaging and electrical stimulation mapping (ESM). We attempt to answer some key questions about multilingualism in the light of recent literature evidence, such as the degree of anatomical–functional integration of two or more languages in a multilingual brain, how the age of L2-acquisition affects language organization in the human brain, or how the brain controls more than one language. Finally, we highlight the future trends in multilingual language mapping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cognitive Science of Multilingualism)
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