Neural Bilingualism: A New Look at an Old Problem

Abstract

Our brain is an inherited survival system, the result of a relentless struggle to live, evolving and adapting to countless primordial challenges. As such, brain evolution can be viewed as a mirror image of the history of the species: language has evolved in as many diverse and complex forms as there have been historical and sociocultural settings. And now, here we are, in this digital age, where multiple languages co-existing in the same brain is (more often than not) the norm. Digitalization and globalization, furthermore, are driving a paradigm shift that relentlessly challenges us to keep pace with an ever accelerating life. Recent research has shown that language acquisition is based upon an innate ability of statistical learning formed by evolution, an idea supported also by second language acquisition studies. Moreover, there is abundant evidence indicating that both long-term bilingual experience and second language learning results in effective structural as well as functional connectivity in the brain, due to neural plasticity. Evidence suggests that effective connectivity due to second language learning enhances the capacity for language processing and general executive control by reorganizing neural circuitries. By using non-invasive brain imaging technology, effective reorganization of structural and functional connection in the brains of successful second language learners has been shown in lots of recent studies, even when dealing with adult learners whose age was way past the so called critical period of language acquisition. It must be noted that age of acquisition is not the only critical factor responsible for successful second language performance; language proficiency, individual differences, and training paradigm also have to be considered. Research in the last several decades shows us that the bilingual learner integrates two separate language-specific lexica into an effective bilingual lexicon. In this regard, neural imaging evidence shows that cross-language code-switching enhances inhibition control of the non-target language and also the ability to carry out code-switch executive control. As a result, throughout a bilingual lifespan, brain circuitries are being constantly rewired, giving an enhanced cognitive control advantage to the bilingual elderly. What other effects can modern life have on the brain? Human interaction with emerging multisensory media and communication technology nowadays in the digital environment must affect the operations of our brains: our perception, cognition, memory, navigation, access, and executive control. The impact of digital-technological tools may well be changing the underlying mechanisms of bilingualism and learning. Based on what we now know about " one brain for all languages", both spoken and written, the old question of " When does lateralization begin?" has to be replaced with " When does lateralization stop (if ever)?" This new perspective can help us understand linguistic aspects of brain evolution and may even redefine the meaning and measurement of human intelligence in the future.