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Lee, Baek, Kim, Park, Jeong, Baek, and Yoon: Neural Mechanism of Second Language Processing in Korean-English Bilingual Children
Neuroradiology & Neurointervention
Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology 2019; 80(6): 1160-1178.

Published online: 30 November 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3348/jksr.2019.80.6.1160

Neural Mechanism of Second Language Processing in Korean-English Bilingual Children

Yun Young Lee, MD1, Byung Hyun Baek, MD1, Seul Kee Kim, MD2, Il-woo Park, PhD1, Gwang Woo Jeong, PhD1, Seunghyun Baek, PhD3, Woong Yoon, MD1

1Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.

2Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea.

3Department of English Linguistics and Literature, College of Humanity, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea.

Corresponding author: Woong Yoon, MD. Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, 42 Jebong-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61469, Korea. Tel 82-62-220-5746, Fax 82-62-226-4380, radyoon@jnu.ac.kr

Received 13 November 2018       Revised 3 January 2019       Accepted 5 April 2019

Copyrights © 2019 The Korean Society of Radiology

The Korean Society of Radiology

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the neural mechanism of second language processing in Korean-English bilingual children using functional MRI (fMRI).

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted on 20 Korean elementary school children who were learning English as a foreign language. fMRI was performed during short-passage comprehension tasks in Korean and English languages. We analyzed which brain areas were activated according to the language, English proficiency, and task difficulty.

Results

Higher activities were observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, left basal ganglia, and left temporoparietal and occipital lobes during English comprehension than during Korean comprehension. The low English proficiency group showed higher activities than the high English proficiency group in the frontotemporal cortex, including the prefrontal cortex. Higher activities were observed in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right temporoparietal lobe during the English comprehension task of intermediate difficulty compared to that of low difficulty. However, the brain activities significantly decreased while performing a high-difficulty English task.

Conclusion

Brain activities significantly increased during English comprehension in the lower English proficiency group while performing an intermediate-difficulty task. However, brain activation decreased when the task difficulty exceeded the moderate comprehension level. These results suggest that a proper level of education is important to learn a second language.

Keywords: Brain, Functional MRI, Multilingualism

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Design paradigm for the visual stimulation of the passage comprehension task.

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Fig. 2

Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with a low level of difficulty.

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Fig. 3

Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with an intermediate level of difficulty.

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Fig. 4

Brain activation map for a direct comparison between the high learning level group (A, C) and the low learning level group (B, D) in the English (A, B) and Korean (C, D) tasks with a high level of difficulty.

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Fig. 5

Predominant cortical activation areas associated with English comprehension compared to that with Korean comprehension.

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Fig. 6

Brain areas of greater activation in the low learning level group compared to that in the high learning level group for the English passage comprehension tasks with low (A) and intermediate (B) levels of difficulty.

RAO = right anterior oblique
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Fig. 7

Brain areas of greater activation during the English task with an intermediate level of difficulty compared to that with a low level of difficulty.

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Table 1

Summary of Participants

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Table 2

The Short Passage Comprehension Task Used in the Experiment

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R.T = reaction time

Table 3

Brain Regions with Predominant Activity during English Comprehension Compared to that during Korean Comprehension

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MNI = Montreal Neurological Institute

Table 4

Brain Regions with Predominant Activity in the Low LL Group Compared to that in the High LL Group during the English Passage Comprehension Task with Low and Intermediate Levels of Difficulty

jksr-80-1160-i004

LL = learning level, MNI = Montreal Neurological Institute

Table 5

Brain Regions with Predominant Activity during the English Comprehension Task with an Intermediate Level of Difficulty Compared to that with a Low Level of Difficulty

jksr-80-1160-i005

MNI = Montreal Neurological Institute

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (NRF-2011-0013870).

Notes

Author Contributions

  • Conceptualization, Y.W., B.S., J.G.W.

  • data curation, Y.W., B.S., L.Y.Y.

  • formal analysis, Y.W., J.G.W., L.Y.Y.

  • funding acquisition, Y.W.

  • investigation, L.Y.Y., B.B.H., K.S.K., P.I.

  • methodology, L.Y.Y., B.B.H., K.S.K.

  • project administration, Y.W., B.S.

  • resources, Y.W.

  • supervision, Y.W.

  • visualization, L.Y.Y., B.B.H., K.S.K., P.I., J.G.W.

  • writing—original draft, L.Y.Y.

  • writing—review & editing, Y.W., B.S., P.I., J.G.W.

Conflicts of Interest The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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ORCID iDs

Yun Young Lee
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-9462

Byung Hyun Baek
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8657-1052

Seul Kee Kim
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1508-5057

Il-woo Park
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6022-8363

Gwang Woo Jeong
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0621-3168

Seunghyun Baek
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1907-5163

Woong Yoon
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8598-3127

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