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Bilingual language lateralization: a meta-analytic tale of two hemispheres
1Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4235, USA. rhull@tamu.edu
Neuropsychologia
|April 17, 2007
Summary
Age of language acquisition significantly impacts bilingual brain lateralization. Early bilinguals show bilateral language processing, while late bilinguals exhibit left-hemisphere dominance, influenced by proficiency and language.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Bilingualism research explores how acquiring multiple languages affects brain function.
- Cerebral lateralization, the brain's specialization of functions, is a key area of interest in bilingualism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate factors influencing functional cerebral lateralization in bilingual adults.
- To analyze how age of acquisition and proficiency relate to language processing in the brain.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two meta-analyses synthesizing data from 66 behavioral studies.
- Examined functional cerebral lateralization for each language in brain-intact bilingual adults.
Main Results:
- Age of onset is the primary determinant of language lateralization.
- Early bilinguals (before age 6) display bilateral hemispheric involvement for both languages.
- Late bilinguals (after age 6) show left-hemisphere dominance, with greater leftward bias for less proficient speakers, English as L2, and dichotic listening tasks.
Conclusions:
- Age of acquisition critically shapes the neurocognitive organization of bilingual language processing.
- Findings inform theories of bilingualism and neurocognitive models of brain function.
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