Pereira Soares Sergio Miguel, Prystauka Yanina, DeLuca Vincent, Rothman Jason
Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Jul 28;16:910910. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.910910. eCollection 2022.
The present study uses EEG time-frequency representations (TFRs) with a Flanker task to investigate if and how individual differences in bilingual language experience modulate neurocognitive outcomes (oscillatory dynamics) in two bilingual group types: late bilinguals (L2 learners) and early bilinguals (heritage speakers-HSs). TFRs were computed for both incongruent and congruent trials. The difference between the two (Flanker effect vis-à-vis cognitive interference) was then (1) compared between the HSs and the L2 learners, (2) modeled as a function of individual differences with bilingual experience within each group separately and (3) probed for its potential (a)symmetry between brain and behavioral data. We found no differences at the behavioral and neural levels for the between-groups comparisons. However, oscillatory dynamics (mainly theta increase and alpha suppression) of inhibition and cognitive control were found to be modulated by individual differences in bilingual language experience, albeit distinctly within each bilingual group. While the results indicate adaptations toward differential brain recruitment in line with bilingual language experience variation overall, this does not manifest uniformly. Rather, earlier versus later onset to bilingualism-the bilingual type-seems to constitute an independent qualifier to how individual differences play out.
本研究使用脑电图时频表征（TFRs）和侧翼任务，以调查双语语言经验的个体差异是否以及如何调节两种双语群体类型（晚期双语者（第二语言学习者）和早期双语者（传承语者-HSs））的神经认知结果（振荡动力学）。针对不一致和一致试验均计算了TFRs。然后，将两者之间的差异（相对于认知干扰的侧翼效应）进行了如下比较：（1）在传承语者和第二语言学习者之间进行比较；（2）分别将其建模为每组内双语经验个体差异的函数；（3）探究其在大脑和行为数据之间的潜在（非）对称性。我们发现，在组间比较中，行为和神经水平均未发现差异。然而，抑制和认知控制的振荡动力学（主要是θ波增加和α波抑制）被发现受到双语语言经验个体差异的调节，尽管在每个双语群体中调节方式有所不同。虽然结果总体上表明大脑招募方式会根据双语语言经验的变化而进行调整，但这种调整并不统一。相反，双语开始的早晚——双语类型——似乎是个体差异如何表现的一个独立决定因素。
