Reading Brains in Chinese-English Bilingual Children: An fMRI Study
Poster No:
814
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Hsin-Yu Lin1, Chiao-Yi Wu2, Phoebe Si Qi Chia1, SH Annabel Chen3
Institutions:
1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, 2National Institute of Education, Nanyang technological university, Singapore, Singapore, 3Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Not applicable
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Research on bilingual individuals has demonstrated that neural processing varies across languages, engaging distinct neural pathways during reading [1,2]. Specifically, reading transparent scripts, such as Spanish, predominantly engages sublexical grapheme-to-phoneme conversion processes, and engage the dorsal regions of the brain. In contrast, reading opaque scripts, like Chinese, relies more heavily on lexico-semantic processing within the ventral pathway [3,4]. However, there is limited understanding of how early balanced bilingual children, proficient in both opaque (Chinese) and less opaque (English) scripts, navigate these distinct reading processes. Our study aims to elucidate the neural mechanisms supporting reading in such children by examining script-specific patterns of brain activation during Chinese and English reading. Additionally, we compare with these patterns with adult reading networks observed in previous research [5].
Methods:
34 Chinese-English bilingual children participated in the study, undergoing a paediatric MRI training protocol to minimise head motion during scanning. After accounting for dropouts and excluding data with excessive motion artifacts, 20 children aged 7 to 8 years were included in the final analysis. All participants were early bilinguals with good proficiency in both languages. High-resolution T1w images (TR/TE = 2000/2.26) and functional images (TR/TE=1500/30) were acquired using a 3T Siemens Prisma scanner equipped with a 32-channel head coil. During the fMRI reading task, participants identified whether a presented word was a human word (real-word, RW) or an alien word (non-word, NW). The task comprised 4 runs per language, with the order of languages, word lists, and left/right button-press responses counterbalanced across participants to minimize order effects (Fig. 1). MRI data preprocessing and whole-brain univariate analysis were conducted using SPM12 [6]. Bad slices and volumes with motion artifacts were detected and corrected using ARTrepair [7]. Participants were excluded if more than 25% of the total volumes exceeded a motion threshold of 0.6 mm.
·Figure 1
Results:
Fig. 2a presents the participants' task performance, showing a significant difference in accuracy between Chinese and English NW (p < 0.0125, Bonferroni corrected). No significant differences or main effects were observed between RW and NW in either language. Functional MRI analysis revealed activation patterns in bilingual children during RW and NW reading in both Chinese and English. Notably, there was stronger activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, pars opercularis) and bilateral middle occipital gyri (MOG) compared to English, as depicted in Figure 2b. The left IFG, particularly the pars opercularis, is associated with language processing and production. The MOG is involved in visual processing, which is crucial for reading. For comparison, the activation map for adult bilinguals in our previous study [5] was also shown in Fig. 2b.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that Chinese engages greater activation in visual regions than English reading among bilingual children. This is consistent with previous studies on bilingual adults, showing activation in bilateral occipital gyrus and fusiform gyrus [5]. Furthermore, reading Chinese activated the left pars opercularis (IFG) more strongly, which may reflect higher demands in phonological processing. This finding may reflect distinct dorsal/ventral pathways in children is yet fully developed, with greater reliance on a single pathway. The observed bilateral activation is consistent with previous studies showing greater right hemisphere activation in bilinguals reading a second language [8]. These findings highlight the distinct neural patterns of bilingual children's reading brains during development, contributing to our understanding of how balanced bilingual children process different scripts and how their brain networks vary depending on the language.
·Figure 2
Language:
Reading and Writing 1
Language Other 2
Lifespan Development:
Lifespan Development Other
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI)
Keywords:
Development
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Language
Other - Bilingual reading
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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[2] Oliver M., Carreiras M., & Paz-Alonso P. M. (2017). Functional Dynamics of Dorsal and Ventral Reading Networks in Bilinguals, Cerebral Cortex, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 5431-5443.
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[5] Wu C.-Y., Lin H.-Y., O’Brien B., Rapp, B., Oishi K., Desmond J., and Chen S.H. A. (2023). Impact of Script Sets on the Functional Reading Networks in Bilinguals. The 29th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Montreal, Canada.
[6] Statistical Parametric Mapping software, SPM; Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, London, U.K. www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm
[7] ArtRepair for robust fMRI (RRID:SCR_005990) https://www.nitrc.org/projects/art_repair/
[8] Ding G, Perry C, Peng D, Ma Lin, Li D, Xu S, Luo Q, Xu D, Yang J. Neural mechanisms underlying semantic and orthographic processing in Chinese –English bilinguals. NeuroReport 14(12):p 1557-1562, August 26, 2003.