Introducing the brain: the bilingual infant's brain (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, February 12, 2024, 21:27 (284 days ago) @ David Turell

Different at four months:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2416169-babies-in-bilingual-homes-have-distinct-br...

"Babies as young as 4 months old who are born into a bilingual environment show distinct brain patterns related to how they process speech. The findings emphasise how language exposure shapes the brain during early life.

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"Previous studies have shown that babies who hear just one language can distinguish between people speaking their mother tongue and unfamiliar languages at only 3-and-a-half months old, suggesting that they are already adapting to language exposure. But few studies have looked into the brain mechanisms that underlie bilingual speech-processing in infants.

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"In the Spanish-only babies, the recordings elicited activity in areas of the left frontal and temporal lobes, which are known to play a role in speech-processing. In the bilingual-exposed babies, the recordings similarly evoked responses in these areas, but they were larger and wider. These infants also had activation in the equivalent areas of their brains’ right hemispheres.

"In another part of the experiment, where the same recordings were played backwards, the two groups of infants also responded differently. While the infants exposed to both Spanish and Basque showed similar brain activation patterns for the backwards and forwards recordings, those who were only exposed to Spanish exhibited larger responses to the backwards speech.

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"Writing in their paper, the researchers say their study provides evidence that a bilingual environment induces changes in the brain mechanisms underlying speech-processing in young infants, adding weight to the idea that the neural basis of learning two or more languages is established very early in life.

“'This is interesting because it tells us that left hemisphere lateralisation for language is the product of development and is strongly influenced by language experience,” says Evelyne Mercure at Goldsmiths, University of London. “A more diverse language environment that includes more than one language leads to more widespread and bilateral activation."”

Comment: just more evidence how baby brains sop up language like a sponge. That bilingualism creates differences in the brain is expected.