Assimilation and accommodation patterns in ventral occipitotemporal cortex in learning a second writing system
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Using fMRI, we compared the patterns of fusiform activity produced by viewing English and Chinese for readers who were either English speakers learning Chinese or Chinese-English bilinguals. The pattern of fusiform activity depended on both the writing system and the reader's native language. Native Chinese speakers fluent in English recruited bilateral fusiform areas when viewing both Chinese and English. English speakers learning Chinese, however, used heavily left-lateralized fusiform regions when viewing English, but recruited an additional right fusiform region for viewing Chinese. Thus, English learners of Chinese show an accommodation pattern, in which the reading network accommodates the new writing system by adding neural resources that support its specific graphic requirements. Chinese speakers show an assimilation pattern, in which the reading network established for L1 includes procedures sufficient for the graphic demands of L2 without major change.
Source: Human Brain Mapping
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20551
Institutions: Liaoning Normal University, University of Pittsburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2136333992