Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

4.0K
Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
4.0K
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

10.0K
Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
10.0K
Lateralization01:28

Lateralization

1.1K
Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.
1.1K
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

8.4K
The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....
8.4K
Lobes of the Cerebrum01:22

Lobes of the Cerebrum

5.1K
The cerebral cortex, a critical structure of the brain, is intricately divided into two hemispheres, each consisting of four distinct lobes: occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal. These lobes function cooperatively to regulate various cognitive and sensory functions, forming the basis of our complex neural capabilities.
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobes, located behind the forehead, are the command center of our brain, controlling personality, intelligence, and voluntary muscle movements....
5.1K
Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

891
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
891

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Children with lower language skill show additional recruitment of bilateral neural mechanisms during sentence comprehension.

Scientific reports·2026
Same author

Influence of multidimensional determinants on physical activity behavior: a perspective from health promotion and behavior change theories.

Frontiers in public health·2026
Same author

The Longitudinal Role of Mother-Child Synchrony in Predicting Functional Connectivity in Early Childhood.

Developmental science·2026
Same author

Short-Term Developmental Trajectories of Dorsal-Ventral Pathways and Their Relationships with First-Grade Learning.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Five-year-old children engage temporal but not frontal mechanisms during morphosyntactic processing of sentences.

Brain and language·2026
Same author

Improving structural heart disease screening: AI-ECG and novice AI-guided focused cardiac ultrasound.

NPJ digital medicine·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
05:38

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

2.9K

Dynamic spatial organization of the occipito-temporal word form area for second language processing.

Yue Gao1, Yafeng Sun2, Chunming Lu1

  • 1National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China.

Neuropsychologia
|June 15, 2017
PubMed
Summary

Second language (L2) visual word processing differs spatially in the brain compared to native language (L1) processing. L2 proficiency influences brain activation patterns, showing either assimilation to L1 mechanisms or accommodation to L2 mechanisms depending on the language pair.

Keywords:
BilingualOccipito-temporal regionProficiencyVisual word form

More Related Videos

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

18.1K
Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
06:48

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: June 25, 2019

9.9K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
05:38

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

2.9K
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

18.1K
Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
06:48

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: June 25, 2019

9.9K

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psycholinguistics

Background:

  • The left occipito-temporal region is consistently activated in visual word form processing across languages.
  • Mechanisms of second language (L2) visual word processing in this region are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how native (L1) and second (L2) language visual word forms are processed in the left occipito-temporal region in bilinguals.
  • To explore the influence of L2 proficiency on these processing mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan 16 Chinese-English and 14 English-Chinese late bilinguals.
  • Participants performed lexical decision tasks on visually presented words in both L1 and L2.

Main Results:

  • Visual word form processing engaged different spatial areas of the left occipito-temporal region for L1 versus L2.
  • For Chinese-English bilinguals, L2 processing was more medial/posterior than L1; higher L2 proficiency correlated with more lateral (L1-preferred) activation.
  • For English-Chinese bilinguals, L2 processing was more lateral/anterior than L1; higher L2 proficiency correlated with more lateral/anterior (L2-preferred) activation.

Conclusions:

  • L1 and L2 recruit distinct spatial areas in the occipito-temporal region for visual word processing, especially with different writing systems.
  • L2 proficiency dynamically modulates the spatial organization of this region, leading to assimilation (Chinese-English) or accommodation (English-Chinese) of L2 processing.