Introducing the brain: areas involved in language learning (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, March 28, 2021, 20:07 (1119 days ago) @ David Turell

At least four-plus:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210326104719.htm

"A study with first-time learners of Japanese has measured how brain activity changes after just a few months of studying a new language. The results show that acquiring a new language initially boosts brain activity, which then reduces as language skills improve.

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"'In simple terms, there are four brain regions specialized for language . Even in a native, second or third language, the same regions are responsible," said Sakai.

"Those four regions are the grammar center and comprehension area in the left frontal lobe as well as the auditory processing and vocabulary areas in the temporo-parietal lobe. Additionally, the memory areas of the hippocampus and the vision areas of the brain, the occipital lobes, also become active to support the four language-related regions while taking the tests.

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"Researchers were able to distinguish between two subregions of the hippocampus during the listening tests. The observed activation pattern fits previously described roles for the anterior hippocampus in encoding new memories and for the posterior hippocampus in recalling stored information.

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"'We expect that brain activation goes down after successfully learning a language because it doesn't require so much energy to understand," said Sakai.

"Notably during the second listening test, volunteers had slightly increased activation of the auditory processing area of their temporal lobes, likely due to an improved "mind's voice" while hearing.

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"This pattern of brain activation over time in individual volunteers' brains mirrors results from previous research where Sakai and his collaborators worked with native Japanese-speaking 13- and 19-year-olds who learned English in standard Tokyo public school lessons. Six years of study seemed to allow the 19-year-olds to understand the second language well enough that brain activation levels reduced to levels similar to those of their native language.

"The recent study confirmed this same pattern of brain activation changes over just a few months, not years, potentially providing encouragement for anyone looking to learn a new language as an adult.

"'We all have the same human brain, so it is possible for us to learn any natural language."

Comment: I assume a degree of complexification occurred, while the major point to me is how the brain easily shuttles the information around the different cooperative areas to achieve the necessary result. Let us note this ability was present 315,000 year ago and unused until complex language appeared about 70,000 estimated years ago. It is obvious we humans didn't know how to use our very supple brain until we finally tried it out to its full extent. The stasis must be viewed as a required experimental learning period. The shrinkage from complexification obviously means it was oversized from the beginning. All in anticipation of future usage. dhw has never given a reasonable explanation of the oversized beginning to more than match the current needs use at the time of the initial appearance of this sapiens brain.