Brain potentials reveal how emotion filters native language access when bilinguals read words in their second language.

It is now well established that reading words in a second language (L2) automatically activates native language (L1) translations in bilinguals. Although there is evidence that access to such representations is inhibited when words have a negative emotional valence, the mechanism underlying such inhibition is elusive, and it is unknown whether inhibition arises online as L2 is being processed or whether negative valence affects subsequent L1 processing. Here, we recorded event-related brain potentials in Chinese-English bilinguals engaged in an implicit translation-priming paradigm involving L2 (English) word pairs.

Network analysis links adolescent depression with childhood, peer, and family risk environment factors.

Background: Adolescent mental health is influenced by various adverse environmental conditions. However, it remains unclear how these factors jointly affect adolescent depression. This study aimed to use network analysis to assess the associations between different environmental factors and depressive symptoms in adolescents and to identify key pathways between them.

Multivariate decoding methods reveal how speaking two dialects affects executive functions.

How speaking two languages affects executive functions has been a long-standing debate and the mechanisms underlying the observed cognitive advantages of bilingualism remain unspecified. Here, using multivariate pattern classification methods, we decoded spatial patterns of neural signals associated with Flanker task performance in mono-dialectal and bi-dialectal speakers of Chinese. While univariate approach to even-related potentials (ERPs) showed no between-group difference, decoding accuracy of ERPs was reduced in bi-dialectal as compared to mono-dialectal speakers in both congruent-neutral and incongruent-neutral classifications.

How processing emotion affects language control in bilinguals.

Research has shown that several variables affect language control among bilingual speakers but the effect of affective processing remains unexplored. Chinese-English bilinguals participated in a novel prime-target language switching experiment in which they first judged the affective valence (i.e.

Rapid learning of a phonemic discrimination in the first hours of life.

Human neonates can discriminate phonemes, but the neural mechanism underlying this ability is poorly understood. Here we show that the neonatal brain can learn to discriminate natural vowels from backward vowels, a contrast unlikely to have been learnt in the womb. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we examined the neuroplastic changes caused by 5 h of postnatal exposure to random sequences of natural and reversed (backward) vowels (T1), and again 2 h later (T2).

Brain structural abnormalities in adult major depressive disorder revealed by voxel- and source-based morphometry: evidence from the REST-meta-MDD Consortium.

Background: Neuroimaging studies on major depressive disorder (MDD) have identified an extensive range of brain structural abnormalities, but the exact neural mechanisms associated with MDD remain elusive. Most previous studies were performed with voxel- or surface-based morphometry which were univariate methods without considering spatial information across voxels/vertices.

Methods: Brain morphology was investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and source-based morphometry (SBM) in 1082 MDD patients and 990 healthy controls (HCs) from the REST-meta-MDD Consortium.

Inhibitory control training reveals a common neurofunctional basis for generic executive functions and language switching in bilinguals.

Background: The neural networks underpinning language control and domain-general executive functions overlap in bilinguals, but existing evidence is mainly correlative. Here, we present the first neurofunctional evidence for a transfer effect between (domain-general) inhibitory control and language control through training. We trained Chinese-English bilinguals for 8 days using a Simon task taxing the inhibitory control system, whilst an active control group was trained with a color judgment task that does not tax the inhibitory control system.

The Interplay Between Language Form and Concept During Language Switching: A Behavioral Investigation.

Language switching involves multiple processing stages. Previous studies have not dissociated the cognitive process underlying language form switches and concept switches. Here, we examined the two factors using a novel language-switching paradigm.

Language contexts modulate instant empathic responses to others' pain.

Empathy for others' pain plays a critical role in human social interactions, but the influence of language contexts remains unclear. We examined the foreign-language effect on the behavioral and the underlying neural processes of empathy for others' pain. Chinese-English bilinguals performed a pain empathy task separately in Chinese (native language) and English (foreign language) contexts while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded.

Back to the future? How Chinese-English bilinguals switch between front and back orientation for time.

The ability to conceive time is a corner stone of human cognition. It is unknown, however, whether time conceptualisation differs depending on language of operation in bilinguals. Whilst both Chinese and English cultures associate the future with the front space, some temporal expressions of Chinese involve a configuration reversal due to historic reasons.

Individual differences in inhibitory control abilities modulate the functional neuroplasticity of inhibitory control.

Previous research has shown that training on inhibitory control (IC) leads to functional neural plastic changes, although this effect on individuals with different levels of IC abilities has yet to be studied. Here, we examined the individual differences in IC abilities of 85 participants, who performed a Simon task while undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Participants in the experimental group followed an 8-day training session on IC between the pre- and the post-test, whereas the control group did not receive any training.

Prefrontal sensitivity to changes in language form and semantic content during speech production.

In bilingual speakers, language switching might involve a change in language form, meaning, or both. However, the neural substrates of language control in the three switching conditions have not been specified. We examined bilingual speech production using a picture-naming paradigm that teased apart language and semantic switching.

Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals neural perception of vocal emotions in human neonates.

Processing affective prosody, that is the emotional tone of a speaker, is fundamental to human communication and adaptive behaviors. Previous studies have mainly focused on adults and infants; thus the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of affective prosody in newborns remain unclear. Here, we used near-infrared spectroscopy to examine the ability of 0-to-4-day-old neonates to discriminate emotions conveyed by speech prosody in their maternal language and a foreign language.

Effects of Pulsatile Cupping on Body Pain and Quality of Life in People with Suboptimal Health:A Randomized Controlled Exploratory Trial.

The curative effect of pneumatic pulsatile cupping on pain has been shown. This study was conducted to investigate effects of the pulsating frequency of pneumatic pulsatile cupping, compared with traditional cupping (TC), on body pain and quality of life (QoL) in people with suboptimal health status (SHS). Ninety-six participants with SHS were randomized to low-frequency (LF;  = 24) or high-frequency (HF;  = 24) pulsating cupping, traditional cupping (TC;  = 24), or wait-list (WL;  = 24) groups.

Found in Translation: Late Bilinguals Do Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using It.

In their paper "Do Bilinguals Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using it?", Costa, Pannunzi, Deco, and Pickering (Cognitive Science, 2017) proposed a reinterpretation of Thierry and Wu's (2004, 2007) finding of native language-based (Chinese, L1) ERP effects when they tested Chinese-English late bilinguals exclusively in their second language (English, L2). Using simulations in a six-node Hebbian learning model (three L1 nodes, three L2 nodes), Costa et al. suggested that form overlaps in L1 between otherwise unrelated words create a persistent relationship between their L2 translations.

Bilingual Contexts Modulate the Inhibitory Control Network.

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated influences of language contexts on inhibitory control and the underlying neural processes. Thirty Cantonese-Mandarin-English trilingual speakers, who were highly proficient in Cantonese (L1) and Mandarin (L2), and moderately proficient in English (L3), performed a picture-naming task in three dual-language contexts (L1-L2, L2-L3, and L1-L3). After each of the three naming tasks, participants performed a flanker task, measuring contextual effects on the inhibitory control system.

The role of the putamen in language: a meta-analytic connectivity modeling study.

The putamen is a subcortical structure that forms part of the dorsal striatum of basal ganglia, and has traditionally been associated with reinforcement learning and motor control, including speech articulation. However, recent studies have shown involvement of the left putamen in other language functions such as bilingual language processing (Abutalebi et al. 2012) and production, with some authors arguing for functional segregation of anterior and posterior putamen (Oberhuber et al.

Brain potentials predict language selection before speech onset in bilinguals.

Studies of language production in bilinguals have seldom considered the fact that language selection likely involves proactive control. Here, we show that Chinese-English bilinguals actively inhibit the language not-to-be used before the onset of a picture to be named. Depending on the nature of a directive cue, participants named a subsequent picture in their native language, in their second language, or remained silent.

Does Speaking Two Dialects in Daily Life Affect Executive Functions? An Event-Related Potential Study.

Whether using two languages enhances executive functions is a matter of debate. Here, we take a novel perspective to examine the bilingual advantage hypothesis by comparing bi-dialect with mono-dialect speakers' performance on a non-linguistic task that requires executive control. Two groups of native Chinese speakers, one speaking only the standard Chinese Mandarin and the other also speaking the Southern-Min dialect, which differs from the standard Chinese Mandarin primarily in phonology, performed a classic Flanker task.

A novel approach for improving the drying behavior of sludge by the appropriate foaming pretreatment.

Foaming pretreatment has long been recognized to promote drying materials with sticky and viscous behaviors. A novel approach, CaO addition followed by appropriate mechanical whipping, was employed for the foaming of dewatered sludge at a moisture content of 80-85%. In the convective drying, the foamed sludge at 0.

Speaking two languages at once: unconscious native word form access in second language production.

Bilingualism research has established language non-selective lexical access in comprehension. However, the evidence for such an effect in production remains sparse and its neural time-course has not yet been investigated. We demonstrate that German-English bilinguals performing a simple picture-naming task exclusively in English spontaneously access the phonological form of -unproduced- German words.

The thin-layer drying characteristics of sewage sludge by the appropriate foaming pretreatment.

As dewatered sludge is highly viscous and sticky, the combination of foaming pretreatment and drying process seems to be an alternative method to improve the drying performance of dewatered sludge. In this study, CaO addition followed by mechanical whipping was employed for foaming the dewatered sludge. It was found that the foams were stable and the diameters of bubbles mainly ranged from 0.

Non-selective lexical access in bilinguals is spontaneous and independent of input monitoring: evidence from eye tracking.

Language non-selective lexical access in bilinguals has been established mainly using tasks requiring explicit language processing. Here, we show that bilinguals activate native language translations even when words presented in their second language are incidentally processed in a nonverbal, visual search task. Chinese-English bilinguals searched for strings of circles or squares presented together with three English words (i.

Fast modulation of executive function by language context in bilinguals.

Mastering two languages has been associated with enhancement in human executive control, but previous studies of this phenomenon have exclusively relied on comparisons between bilingual and monolingual individuals. In the present study, we tested a single group of Welsh-English bilinguals engaged in a nonverbal conflict resolution task and manipulated language context by intermittently presenting words in Welsh, English, or both languages. Surprisingly, participants showed enhanced executive capacity to resolve interference when exposed to a mixed compared with a single language context, even though they ignored the irrelevant contextual words.