Age of second-language acquisition relates to cortical thickness differences in the inferior frontal gyrus among bilinguals¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Bilingual individuals who acquired a second language later in childhood show thicker cortex in the left inferior frontal gyrus and thinner cortex in the right inferior frontal gyrus, with differences correlated with age of acquisition; simultaneous bilinguals showed no overall cortical thickness difference. → van Duijvenvoorde 2022

Evidence¶

van Duijvenvoorde 2022¶

van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K., Whitmore, L. B., Westhoff, B. & Mills, K. L. (2022). A methodological perspective on learning in the developing brain. npj Science of Learning 7:12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-022-00127-w

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing a cortical thickness study of bilingual and monolingual individuals (Klein et al.), that later-acquired second languages relate to inferior frontal gyrus cortical thickness, with "the magnitude of observed differences correlated with the age of second language acquisition". Simultaneous bilinguals showed no difference in overall cortical thickness.

"However, bilingual individuals who acquired their second language later in childhood show differences in cortical thickness of the inferior frontal gyrus (thicker cortex in the left IFG, thinner cortex in the right IFG), and the magnitude of observed differences correlated with the age of second language acquisition"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

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