Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, USA; Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, University of Washington, USA; University of Washington Institute for Neuroengineering, WA, USA.
Neuroimage. 2018 Jul 1;174:44-56. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.02.010. Epub 2018 Feb 24.
Research on the neural bases of bilingual language control has largely overlooked the role of preparatory processes, which are central to cognitive control. Additionally, little is known about how the processes involved in global language selection may differ from those involved in the selection of words and morpho-syntactic rules for manipulating them. These processes were examined separately in an fMRI experiment, with an emphasis on understanding how and when general cognitive control regions become activated. Results of region-of-interest analyses on 23 early Spanish-English bilinguals showed that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was primarily engaged during the language preparation phase of the task, whereas the left prefrontal (DLPFC) and pre-supplementary motor areas showed increasing activation from preparation to execution. Activation in the basal ganglia (BG), left middle temporal lobe, and right precentral cortical regions did not significantly differ throughout the task. These results suggest that three core cognitive control regions, the ACC, DLPFC, and BG, which have been previously implicated in bilingual language control, engage in distinct neurocognitive processes. Specifically, the results are consistent with the view that the BG "keep track" of the target language in use throughout various levels of language selection, that the ACC is particularly important for top-down target language preparation, and that the left prefrontal cortex is increasingly involved in selection processes from preparation through task execution.
双语语言控制的神经基础研究在很大程度上忽略了预备过程的作用，而预备过程是认知控制的核心。此外，人们对于全局语言选择中涉及的过程与用于操作它们的单词和形态句法规则的选择过程有何不同知之甚少。在 fMRI 实验中分别检查了这些过程，重点是了解一般认知控制区域何时以及如何被激活。对 23 名早期西班牙语-英语双语者的感兴趣区域分析结果表明，在前扣带皮层 (ACC) 在任务的语言准备阶段主要参与，而左侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC) 和补充运动前区则显示出从准备到执行的激活增加。在整个任务过程中，基底神经节 (BG)、左颞中回和右中央前皮质区域的激活没有显著差异。这些结果表明，三个核心认知控制区域，即前扣带皮层 (ACC)、左侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC) 和基底神经节 (BG)，以前与双语语言控制有关，参与了不同的神经认知过程。具体来说，结果与以下观点一致，即 BG“在各种语言选择水平上跟踪”正在使用的目标语言，ACC 对于自上而下的目标语言准备特别重要，而左侧前额叶皮层则越来越多地参与从准备到任务执行的选择过程。
