Bilingual Brain

Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-982811-1
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 206 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 479 g

Cases of language loss and recovery bring up an intriguing paradox. If two languages are stored in the brain, how can it be that a person can lose one of them, but not the other, and then gain one back without relearning it? The traditional models of how a language is represented in the brain suggest that languages can become inaccessible, even though they are not entirely lost. As the author demonstrates through fascinating cases, stress--whether due to foreign language immersion, sleep deprivation, or brain damage--can lead to the apparent loss of one language, but not the other. Arturo Hernandez presents the results of 25 years of research into the factors that might help us to understand how two (or more) languages are stored in one brain. It is clear that the brain is not egalitarian--some languages are privileged and others are not, but why?

Hernandez will extend recent work that has begun to take a biological or natural systems approach. He proposes that, in bilinguals, two languages live inside a brain almost like two species live in an ecosystem. For the most part they peacefully co-exist and often share resources. But they also compete for resources, particularly when under stress. Although there are still many questions to answer and many puzzles to solve, Hernandez argues that the nonlinear dynamical models, which have been used to uncover the underlying mechanisms seen in natural systems and more recently in language and cognition, can be used to shed considerable light on the neural bases of bilingualism.

Zielgruppe

Academics and educated students with a basic understanding of psychology and neuroscience or a curiosity for case studies about bilingualism and the brain.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hernandez, Arturo E.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sprachpsychologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Psycholinguistik, Neurolinguistik, Kognition

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Antagonists, parasites, and symbiotes
Chapter 2. The sensorimotor nature of early learning
Chapter 4: Proficiency, efficiency and expertise
Chapter 5: Practice what you speak
Chapter 6: Controlled adjustments
Chapter 7: Control, flexibility and the two language dilemma
Chapter 8: The final frontier
Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Arturo Hernandez is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience graduate program at the University of Houston. His major research interest is in the neural underpinnings of bilingual language processing and second language acquisition in children and adults. He has used a variety of neuroimaging methods as well as behavioral techniques to investigate these phenomena which have been published in a number of peer reviewed journal articles. His research is currently funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development. Hernandez's interest in language learning has also been informed by having learned four languages at various points during his life.