Elmer Stefan, Hänggi Jürgen, Jäncke Lutz
Division Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Division Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC), University of Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program (URPP) "Dynamic of Healthy Aging", University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Special Education, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Cortex. 2014 May;54:179-89. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.02.014. Epub 2014 Mar 11.
Until now, considerable effort has been made to determine structural brain characteristics related to exceptional multilingual skills. However, at least one important question has not yet been satisfactorily addressed in the previous literature, namely whether and to which extent the processing demands upon cognitive, linguistic, and articulatory functions may promote grey matter plasticity in the adult multilingual brain. Based on the premise that simultaneous interpretation is a highly demanding linguistic task that places strong demands on executive and articulatory functions, here we compared grey matter volumes between professional simultaneous interpreters (SI) and multilingual control subjects. Thereby, we focused on a specific set of a-priori defined bilateral brain regions that have previously been shown to support neurocognitional aspects of language control and linguistic functions in the multilingual brain. These regions are the cingulate gyrus, caudate nucleus, frontal operculum (pars triangularis and opercularis), inferior parietal lobe (IPL) (supramarginal and angular gyrus), and the insula. As a main result, we found reduced grey matter volumes in professional SI, compared to multilingual controls, in the left middle-anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral pars triangularis, left pars opercularis, bilateral middle part of the insula, and in the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Interestingly, grey matter volume in left pars triangularis, right pars opercularis, middle-anterior cingulate gyrus, and in the bilateral caudate nucleus was negatively correlated with the cumulative number of interpreting hours. Hence, we provide first evidence for an expertise-related grey matter architecture that may reflect a composite of brain characteristics that were still present before interpreting training and training-related changes.
到目前为止，人们已经付出了相当大的努力来确定与卓越的多语言技能相关的大脑结构特征。然而，至少有一个重要问题在以往的文献中尚未得到令人满意的解决，即对认知、语言和发音功能的处理需求是否以及在何种程度上可能促进成年多语言者大脑中的灰质可塑性。基于同声传译是一项对语言要求极高的任务，对执行和发音功能有强烈要求这一前提，我们在此比较了专业同声传译人员（SI）和多语言对照受试者之间的灰质体积。因此，我们聚焦于一组事先定义好的特定双侧脑区，这些脑区先前已被证明支持多语言大脑中语言控制和语言功能的神经认知方面。这些区域包括扣带回、尾状核、额下回（三角部和眶部）、顶下小叶（IPL）（缘上回和角回）以及脑岛。主要结果是，与多语言对照者相比，我们发现专业同声传译人员在左侧中前扣带回、双侧三角部、左侧眶部、双侧脑岛中部以及左侧缘上回（SMG）的灰质体积减少。有趣的是，左侧三角部、右侧眶部、中前扣带回以及双侧尾状核的灰质体积与口译时长的累计数呈负相关。因此，我们首次提供了与专业技能相关的灰质结构的证据，这可能反映了解译训练前就已存在的大脑特征与训练相关变化的综合情况。
