State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Brain Struct Funct. 2021 May;226(4):963-977. doi: 10.1007/s00429-021-02218-7. Epub 2021 Jan 27.
Many studies have examined the cognitive and neural mechanisms of bilingual language control, but few of them have captured the pattern information of brain activation. However, language control is a functional combination of both cognitive control and language production which demonstrates distinct patterns of neural representations under different language contexts. The first aim of the present study was to explore the brain activation patterns of language control using multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA). During the experiment, Chinese-English bilinguals were instructed to name pictures in either Chinese or English according to a visually presented cue while being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that patterns of neural activity in frontal brain regions including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left inferior frontal gyrus, left supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral precentral gyri, and the left cerebellum reliably discriminated between switch and non-switch conditions. We then modeled causal interactions between these regions by applying effective connectivity analyses based on an extended unified structure equation model (euSEM). The results showed that frontal and fronto-cerebellar connectivity were key components of the language control network. These findings further reveal the engagement of the cognitive control network in bilingual language production.
许多研究都考察了双语语言控制的认知和神经机制，但很少有研究能够捕捉到大脑激活的模式信息。然而，语言控制是认知控制和语言产生的功能组合，在不同的语言环境下表现出不同的神经表示模式。本研究的首要目的是使用多体素模式分析 (MVPA) 来探索语言控制的大脑激活模式。在实验中，中文-英文双语者被要求根据视觉呈现的提示用中文或英文命名图片，同时进行功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 扫描。我们发现，包括左外侧前额叶皮层、左额下回、左辅助运动区、前扣带皮层、双侧中央前回和左小脑在内的额区的神经活动模式可以可靠地区分转换和非转换条件。然后，我们通过基于扩展统一结构方程模型 (euSEM) 的有效连接分析来模拟这些区域之间的因果相互作用。结果表明，额区和额-小脑连接是语言控制网络的关键组成部分。这些发现进一步揭示了认知控制网络在双语语言产生中的参与。
