Yang Jing, Ye Jianqiao, Wang Ruiming, Zhou Ke, Wu Yan Jing
Bilingual Cognition and Development Lab, Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2018 Mar 27;9:395. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00395. eCollection 2018.
The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated influences of language contexts on inhibitory control and the underlying neural processes. Thirty Cantonese-Mandarin-English trilingual speakers, who were highly proficient in Cantonese (L1) and Mandarin (L2), and moderately proficient in English (L3), performed a picture-naming task in three dual-language contexts (L1-L2, L2-L3, and L1-L3). After each of the three naming tasks, participants performed a flanker task, measuring contextual effects on the inhibitory control system. Behavioral results showed a typical flanker effect in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition, but not in the L1-L2 condition, which indicates contextual facilitation on inhibitory control performance by the L1-L2 context. Whole brain analysis of the fMRI data acquired during the flanker tasks showed more neural activations in the right prefrontal cortex and subcortical areas in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition on one hand as compared to the L1-L2 condition on the other hand, suggesting greater involvement of the cognitive control areas when participants were performing the flanker task in L2-L3 and L1-L3 contexts. Effective connectivity analyses displayed a cortical-subcortical-cerebellar circuitry for inhibitory control in the trilinguals. However, contrary to the right-lateralized network in the L1-L2 condition, functional networks for inhibitory control in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition are less integrated and more left-lateralized. These findings provide a novel perspective for investigating the interaction between bilingualism (multilingualism) and inhibitory control by demonstrating instant behavioral effects and neural plasticity as a function of changes in global language contexts.
本功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究调查了语言环境对抑制控制及潜在神经过程的影响。30名粤语-普通话-英语三语使用者，他们粤语（第一语言）和普通话（第二语言）水平很高，英语（第三语言）水平中等，在三种双语环境（第一语言-第二语言、第二语言-第三语言和第一语言-第三语言）下完成了图片命名任务。在这三项命名任务中的每一项之后，参与者完成了一项侧翼任务，以测量环境对抑制控制系统的影响。行为结果显示，在第二语言-第三语言和第一语言-第三语言条件下出现了典型的侧翼效应，但在第一语言-第二语言条件下未出现，这表明第一语言-第二语言环境对抑制控制表现有促进作用。对侧翼任务期间采集的fMRI数据进行全脑分析表明，一方面，与第一语言-第二语言条件相比，在第二语言-第三语言和第一语言-第三语言条件下，右侧前额叶皮层和皮层下区域有更多的神经激活，这表明当参与者在第二语言-第三语言和第一语言-第三语言环境中执行侧翼任务时，认知控制区域的参与度更高。有效连接性分析显示了三语使用者抑制控制的皮层-皮层下-小脑回路。然而，与第一语言-第二语言条件下的右侧化网络相反，第二语言-第三语言和第一语言-第三语言条件下的抑制控制功能网络整合性较差，且更偏向左侧化。这些发现通过展示即时行为效应和作为全球语言环境变化函数的神经可塑性，为研究双语（多语）与抑制控制之间的相互作用提供了一个新的视角。
