Medical Research Council (MRC), Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Neuroscientist. 2012 Aug;18(4):312-9. doi: 10.1177/1073858411420299. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Humans are unique in developing large lexicons as their communication tool; to achieve this, they are able to learn new words rapidly. However, neural bases of this rapid learning, which may be an expression of a more general cognitive mechanism likely rooted in plasticity at cellular and synaptic levels, are not yet understood. In this update, the author highlights a selection of recent studies that attempted to trace word learning in the human brain noninvasively. A number of brain areas, most notably in hippocampus and neocortex, appear to take part in word acquisition. Critically, the currently available data not only demonstrate the hippocampal role in rapid encoding followed by slow-rate consolidation of cortical word memory traces but also suggest immediate neocortical involvement in the word memory trace formation. Echoing early behavioral studies in ultra-rapid word learning, the reviewed neuroimaging experiments can be taken to suggest that our brain may effectively form new cortical circuits online, as it gets exposed to novel linguistic patterns in the sensory input.
人类在发展大型词汇作为交流工具方面具有独特性；为了实现这一点，他们能够快速学习新单词。然而，这种快速学习的神经基础，可能是一种更普遍的认知机制的表达，这种机制可能源于细胞和突触水平的可塑性，目前还不为人知。在这篇更新中，作者强调了最近的一些研究，这些研究试图在不进行侵入性操作的情况下追踪人类大脑中的单词学习过程。许多大脑区域，尤其是海马体和新皮层，似乎参与了单词的获取。关键是，目前可用的数据不仅表明了海马体在快速编码后，皮质单词记忆痕迹的缓慢巩固过程中的作用，而且还表明了新皮层在单词记忆痕迹形成中的即时参与。这些神经影像学实验与早期关于超快速单词学习的行为研究相呼应，可以表明我们的大脑在接触到感觉输入中的新语言模式时，可以有效地在线形成新的皮质回路。
