Age of second language acquisition in multilinguals has an impact on gray matter volume in language-associated brain areas.

Numerous structural studies have established that experience shapes and reshapes the brain throughout a lifetime. The impact of early development, however, is still a matter of debate. Further clues may come from studying multilinguals who acquired their second language at different ages.

Structural brain changes related to bilingualism: does immersion make a difference?

Within the field of neuroscientific research on second language learning, considerable attention has been devoted to functional and recently also structural changes related to second language acquisition. The present literature review summarizes studies that investigated structural changes related to bilingualism. Furthermore, as recent evidence has suggested that native-like exposure to a second language (i.

Recommendations for sex/gender neuroimaging research: key principles and implications for research design, analysis, and interpretation.

Neuroimaging (NI) technologies are having increasing impact in the study of complex cognitive and social processes. In this emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience, a central goal should be to increase the understanding of the interaction between the neurobiology of the individual and the environment in which humans develop and function. The study of sex/gender is often a focus for NI research, and may be motivated by a desire to better understand general developmental principles, mental health problems that show female-male disparities, and gendered differences in society.

Plasticity, plasticity, plasticity…and the rigid problem of sex.

Why is popular understanding of female–male differences still based on rigid models of development, even though contemporary developmental sciences emphasize plasticity? Is it because the science of sex differences still works from the same rigid models?

On sex/gender related similarities and differences in fMRI language research.

Again and again, attempts have been made to find correlates of sex/gender differences in the human brain. Despite the insistence with which differences have been stated, empirical results have not been unequivocal: evidence for and against the influence of sex in the makeup of men's and women's brains has been presented. This article focuses on the relevance of sex/gender related differences in fMRI research, especially with regard to language processing.

WITHDRAWN: On sex/gender related similarities and differences in fMRI language research.

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The age of second language acquisition determines the variability in activation elicited by narration in three languages in Broca's and Wernicke's area.

It is generally accepted that the presence of a second language (L2) has an impact on the neuronal substrates build up and used for language processing; the influence of the age of L2 exposure, however, is not established. We tested the hypothesis that the age of L2 acquisition has an effect on the cortical representation of a multilingual repertoire in 44 multilinguals with different age of exposure to a L2 (simultaneous or covert simultaneous exposure to L1 and L2, sequential acquisition of L1 and L2 between 1 and 5 years, late learning of L2 after 9 years of age) and all fluent in a late learned L3. Regional activation in a language production task showed a high in-between-subject variability, which was higher than within-subject variability between L1, L2, and L3.

On females' lateral and males' bilateral activation during language production: a fMRI study.

This study focuses on sex/gender and language in fMRI research. We explore the question of similarities and differences in 22 men and 22 women, respectively, in a fMRI language production task of fluent narration in which covert language production was contrasted with an auditory attentional task. In women, a left-lateralised activation concentrated in BA 44 while in men activation was more frontal in BA 45 and more often bilateral.