TY - JOUR

T1 - Linguistic immersion and structural effects on the bilingual brain

T2 - A longitudinal study

AU - Deluca, Vincent

AU - Rothman, Jason

AU - Pliatsikas, Christos

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Cambridge University Press 2018.

PY - 2018/7/24

Y1 - 2018/7/24

N2 - Learning and using additional languages can result in structural changes in the brain. However, the time course of these changes, as well as the factors the predict them, are still not well understood. In this longitudinal study we test the effects of bilingual immersion on brain structure of adult sequential bilinguals not undergoing any language training, who were scanned twice, three years apart. We observed significant increases in grey matter volume in the lower left cerebellum, mean white matter diffusivity in the frontal cortex, and reshaping of the left caudate nucleus and amygdala and bilateral hippocampus. Moreover, both prior length of immersion and L2 age of acquisition were significant predictors of volumetric change in the cerebellum. Taken together, these results indicate that bilingualism-induced neurological changes continue to take place across the lifespan and are strongly related to the quantity and quality of bilingual immersion, even in highly-immersed adult bilingual populations.

AB - Learning and using additional languages can result in structural changes in the brain. However, the time course of these changes, as well as the factors the predict them, are still not well understood. In this longitudinal study we test the effects of bilingual immersion on brain structure of adult sequential bilinguals not undergoing any language training, who were scanned twice, three years apart. We observed significant increases in grey matter volume in the lower left cerebellum, mean white matter diffusivity in the frontal cortex, and reshaping of the left caudate nucleus and amygdala and bilateral hippocampus. Moreover, both prior length of immersion and L2 age of acquisition were significant predictors of volumetric change in the cerebellum. Taken together, these results indicate that bilingualism-induced neurological changes continue to take place across the lifespan and are strongly related to the quantity and quality of bilingual immersion, even in highly-immersed adult bilingual populations.

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Immersion

KW - Longitudinal

KW - Neuroplasticity

KW - Structural MRI

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052644210&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S1366728918000883

DO - 10.1017/S1366728918000883

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85052644210

VL - 22

SP - 1160

EP - 1175

JO - Bilingualism

JF - Bilingualism

SN - 1366-7289

IS - 5

ER -