Functional lateralization of tool-sound and action-word processing in a bilingual brain
Loading...
Date
2020-01-31
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title alternative
Abstract
The impact of bilingualism on lateralized brain functions such as praxis – the control of skilled actions – and language representations themselves, particularly in the auditory domain, is still largely unknown. Recent studies suggest that bilingualism affects both basic (fundamental frequency) sound and action-related speech processing. Whether it can impact non-verbal action sound processing is a question of debate. Here we examined twenty bilinguals using a dichotic listening paradigm, in which in addition to repeating the just heard action words, participants named – in Polish or English – one of two simultaneously presented tool sounds from attended ears. The results were compared with data from these same participants tested with reading the same words in a visual-half field paradigm. In contrast to typical outcomes from monolinguals, the laterality indices of action-related sound processing (verbal and non-verbal) were not left lateralized but hemispherically balanced. Notably, despite similar organization of tool- and action-word sound processing, their auditory (balanced) and visual-language (left-lateralized) representations might be independent because there were no significant correlations between any of their laterality indices. This indicates that bilingualism might involve reshuffling/reorganization of typically lateralized brain functions and such plasticity will have consequences for second language learning strategies, as well as for neurorehabilitation.
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
bilingualism, tool sounds, action words, praxis, language learning
Citation
Klichowski, M., Nowik, A.M., Kroliczak, G., Lewis, J.W. (2020). Functional lateralization of tool-sound and action-word processing in a bilingual brain. Health Psychology Report, 8(1), 10-30. doi: 10.5114/hpr.2020.92718.