Grey matter volume in the cerebellum is related to processing of grammatical rules in a second language: a structural Voxel-Based Morphometry study

Pliatsikas, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7093-1773, Johnstone, T. and Marinis, T. (2014) Grey matter volume in the cerebellum is related to processing of grammatical rules in a second language: a structural Voxel-Based Morphometry study. The Cerebellum, 13 (1). pp. 55-63. ISSN 1473-4230 doi: 10.1007/s12311-013-0515-6

Abstract/Summary

The experience of learning and using a second language (L2) has been shown to affect the grey matter (GM) structure of the brain. Importantly, GM density in several cortical and subcortical areas has been shown to be related to performance in L2 tasks. Here we show that bilingualism can lead to increased GM volume in the cerebellum, a structure that has been related to the processing of grammatical rules. Additionally, the cerebellar GM volume of highly proficient L2 speakers is correlated to their performance in a task tapping on grammatical processing in a L2, demonstrating the importance of the cerebellum for the establishment and use of grammatical rules in a L2.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/34093
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Clinical Language Sciences Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Language and Cognition
Uncontrolled Keywords	Cerebellum, VBM, Grammatical processing, Second language
Publisher	Springer
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