Brain potentials reveal how emotion filters native language access when bilinguals read words in their second language.

It is now well established that reading words in a second language (L2) automatically activates native language (L1) translations in bilinguals. Although there is evidence that access to such representations is inhibited when words have a negative emotional valence, the mechanism underlying such inhibition is elusive, and it is unknown whether inhibition arises online as L2 is being processed or whether negative valence affects subsequent L1 processing. Here, we recorded event-related brain potentials in Chinese-English bilinguals engaged in an implicit translation-priming paradigm involving L2 (English) word pairs. Participants performed a semantic relatedness task, unaware that word pairs could conceal a sound repetition if translated into Chinese. When emotional valence was manipulated in prime position (first word), we observed form repetition priming through L1 translations for positive but not for negative words. However, when emotional valence was manipulated in target position (second word), priming occurred for both positive and negative word valences. This result begins to elucidate the mechanism by which emotion regulates language processing in bilinguals: Negative words in L2 induce a refractory period during which cross-language lexical access is blocked. These findings show that despite being neuroanatomically distinct in the human brain, emotional (limbic) regulation systems can penetrate language processing.

Network analysis links adolescent depression with childhood, peer, and family risk environment factors.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent mental health is influenced by various adverse environmental conditions. However, it remains unclear how these factors jointly affect adolescent depression. This study aimed to use network analysis to assess the associations between different environmental factors and depressive symptoms in adolescents and to identify key pathways between them. METHODS: This study included 610 adolescents with depression from inpatient and outpatient units recruited between March 2020 and November 2021. The mean age was 14.86 ± 1.96, with no significant difference between males (n = 155, 15.10 ± 2.19) and females (n = 455, 14.78 ± 1.88). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Children's Depression Inventory, and individual risk environment factors included childhood trauma, social peer and family risk factors. Network features, including network centrality, stability, and bridge centrality, were investigated. RESULTS: Anhedonia and self-esteem were found to be more central in depressive symptoms. Insult experiences from the social peer and emotional abuse experience from childhood were more central environmental factors. Childhood trauma experiences were more related to adolescent depressive symptoms compared to family and peer factors. Bridge analyses identified emotional abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect as the main bridges linking environment risk to depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS: This was a cross-sectionally designed study, which limited its ability to examine longitudinal dynamic interactions between environmental factors and adolescent depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that childhood trauma experiences might have greater psychological impacts on adolescent depression than family and social peer environments, and should be considered as crucial targets for preventing severe depressive moods.

Multivariate decoding methods reveal how speaking two dialects affects executive functions.

How speaking two languages affects executive functions has been a long-standing debate and the mechanisms underlying the observed cognitive advantages of bilingualism remain unspecified. Here, using multivariate pattern classification methods, we decoded spatial patterns of neural signals associated with Flanker task performance in mono-dialectal and bi-dialectal speakers of Chinese. While univariate approach to even-related potentials (ERPs) showed no between-group difference, decoding accuracy of ERPs was reduced in bi-dialectal as compared to mono-dialectal speakers in both congruent-neutral and incongruent-neutral classifications. There was no effect of bidialectalism, however, on decoding accuracy of alpha-band oscillations, an electrophysiological index implicated in inhibition. Behavioural data analysed using the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) showed facilitating effects of bidialectalism on non-decision times but no effect on drift rates. These findings demonstrate that using two dialects on a daily basis enhances general attentional deployment rather than affecting specific component of executive functions such as inhibitory control. Given that the two dialects of Chinese differed almost exclusively in phonology, the bidialectalism effect was most likely motivated by resolving phonological competition at lexical processing level.

How processing emotion affects language control in bilinguals.

Research has shown that several variables affect language control among bilingual speakers but the effect of affective processing remains unexplored. Chinese-English bilinguals participated in a novel prime-target language switching experiment in which they first judged the affective valence (i.e., positive or negative) of auditorily presented words and then named pictures with neutral emotional valence in either the same (non-switch trial) or different language (switch trial). Brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral performance showed that the typical switch cost (i.e., the calculated difference between switch and non-switch trials) emerged after processing positive words but not after negative words. Brain imaging demonstrated that processing negative words immediately before non-switch picturing naming trials (but not for switch trials) increased activation in brain areas associated with domain-general cognitive control. The opposite patterns were found after processing positive words. These findings suggest that an (emotional) negative priming effect is induced by spontaneous exposure to negative words and that these priming effects may be triggered by reactive emotional processing and that they may interact with higher level cognitive functions.

Rapid learning of a phonemic discrimination in the first hours of life.

Human neonates can discriminate phonemes, but the neural mechanism underlying this ability is poorly understood. Here we show that the neonatal brain can learn to discriminate natural vowels from backward vowels, a contrast unlikely to have been learnt in the womb. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we examined the neuroplastic changes caused by 5 h of postnatal exposure to random sequences of natural and reversed (backward) vowels (T1), and again 2 h later (T2). Neonates in the experimental group were trained with the same stimuli as those used at T1 and T2. Compared with controls, infants in the experimental group showed shorter haemodynamic response latencies for forward vs backward vowels at T1, maximally over the inferior frontal region. At T2, neural activity differentially increased, maximally over superior temporal regions and the left inferior parietal region. Neonates thus exhibit ultra-fast tuning to natural phonemes in the first hours after birth.

Inhibitory control training reveals a common neurofunctional basis for generic executive functions and language switching in bilinguals.

BACKGROUND: The neural networks underpinning language control and domain-general executive functions overlap in bilinguals, but existing evidence is mainly correlative. Here, we present the first neurofunctional evidence for a transfer effect between (domain-general) inhibitory control and language control through training. We trained Chinese-English bilinguals for 8 days using a Simon task taxing the inhibitory control system, whilst an active control group was trained with a color judgment task that does not tax the inhibitory control system. All participants performed a language-switching task before and after training. It has been suggested that the activity of the left DLPFC was associated with domain-general top-down cognitive control (Macdonald et al. Science 288: 1835-1838, 2000) and bilingual language control (Wang et al. Neuroimage 35: 862-870, 2007). In addition, the dACC was closely related to the conflict detection (Abutalebi et al. Cereb Cortex 18:1496-1505, 2008). Last, the activity of the left caudate has been linked with lexical selection (Abutalebi et al. Cereb Cortex 18:1496-1505, 2008), especially the selection of the weak language (Abutalebi et al. Cortex 49: 905-911, 2013). Therefore, we focused on these three regions of interest (ROIs) where neural changes associated with transfer were expected to occur. RESULTS: The results showed a negative correlation between changes in activation levels in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and changes in the switch cost magnitude in the language-switching task in the training group but not in the control group, suggesting that the DLPFC plays a critical role in the transfer effect from domain-general executive functions to language control. However, there was no measurable effect in the anterior cingulate cortex or left caudate nucleus, suggesting that the inhibitory control training increased the neural efficiency for language production in bilinguals in terms of attention shifting and conflict resolution, but the training did not affect conflict detection and lexical selection. CONCLUSION: These findings showed how cognitive training evidence can help establish a causational link between the neural basis of domain-general executive functions and language control in bilinguals.

The Interplay Between Language Form and Concept During Language Switching: A Behavioral Investigation.

Language switching involves multiple processing stages. Previous studies have not dissociated the cognitive process underlying language form switches and concept switches. Here, we examined the two factors using a novel language-switching paradigm. Chinese-English bilinguals named individually presented pictures in either Chinese or English according to a language cue. Pictures in two consecutive trials represented either identical, semantically related, or unrelated concepts. Results showed both language (form) switch costs and concept switch costs. The interaction between these two factors suggested that the effects were additive, with the longest naming response times observed when two pictures were semantically unrelated and involved a switch between languages. These findings suggest that the functional loci of the language control mechanism occur at multiple processing stages. Implications of the findings are discussed within current models of language processing in bilinguals.

Language contexts modulate instant empathic responses to others' pain.

Empathy for others' pain plays a critical role in human social interactions, but the influence of language contexts remains unclear. We examined the foreign-language effect on the behavioral and the underlying neural processes of empathy for others' pain. Chinese-English bilinguals performed a pain empathy task separately in Chinese (native language) and English (foreign language) contexts while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Results showed that bilingual participants reported greater ratings of perceived pain intensity in response to the observation of others' pain in the English as compared to the Chinese context. When comparing the brain responses to painful stimuli with those to non-painful stimuli, a significant empathic response in the early ERP component (N1) was found only in the English, but not in the Chinese context. Empathic response in the P3 component was larger when bilingual participants performed the task in English as compared to Chinese. However, empathic response in the late positive potential (LPP) was comparable between these two language contexts. Furthermore, spontaneous fronto-central α-oscillation power recorded prior to the onset of empathic stimuli was significantly lower in the foreign language as compared to the native-language context. These findings demonstrated a foreign-language effect on both the automatic affective sharing and the top-down cognitive evaluation processes of empathy for others' pain. This effect is most likely to be the result of altered brain states, involving increased vigilance and arousal level when bilingual individuals function in a foreign-language context.

Back to the future? How Chinese-English bilinguals switch between front and back orientation for time.

The ability to conceive time is a corner stone of human cognition. It is unknown, however, whether time conceptualisation differs depending on language of operation in bilinguals. Whilst both Chinese and English cultures associate the future with the front space, some temporal expressions of Chinese involve a configuration reversal due to historic reasons. For instance, Chinese refers to the day after tomorrow using the spatiotemporal metaphor hou-tian - 'back-day' and to the day before yesterday using qian-tian - 'front-day'. Here, we show that native metaphors interfere with time conceptualisation when bilinguals operate in the second language. We asked Chinese-English bilinguals to indicate whether an auditory stimulus depicted a day of the week either one or two days away from the present day, irrespective of whether it referred to the past or the future, and ignoring whether it was presented through loudspeakers situated in the back or the front space. Stimulus configurations incongruent with spatiotemporal metaphors of Chinese (e.g., "Friday" presented in the front of the participant during a session held on a Wednesday) were conceptually more challenging than congruent configurations (e.g., the same stimulus presented in their back), as indexed by N400 modulations of event-related brain potentials. The same pattern obtained for days or years as stimuli, but surprisingly, it was found only when participants operated in English, not in Chinese. We contend that the task was easier and less prone to induce cross-language activation when conducted in the native language. We thus show that, when they operate in the second language, bilinguals unconsciously retrieve irrelevant native language representations that shape time conceptualisation in real time.

Individual differences in inhibitory control abilities modulate the functional neuroplasticity of inhibitory control.

Previous research has shown that training on inhibitory control (IC) leads to functional neural plastic changes, although this effect on individuals with different levels of IC abilities has yet to be studied. Here, we examined the individual differences in IC abilities of 85 participants, who performed a Simon task while undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Participants in the experimental group followed an 8-day training session on IC between the pre- and the post-test, whereas the control group did not receive any training. The fMRI results reported that, in comparison to the control group, the training session elicited different patterns of neural adaptation between participants with high- and low-IC abilities in the experimental group. While training reduced activation levels in the supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral thalamus, and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of individuals with low-IC performance prior to the training, the same pattern was not found in participants with high-IC performance. In addition, individual differences in IC abilities before training also positively correlated with activation reduction in these brain regions after training. These results suggest that individual differences in IC abilities modulate the neural plasticity of IC, and IC training specifically enhanced neural efficiency in individuals with low-IC abilities. Our findings provide a novel perspective for investigating the functional neuroplasticity of the IC system by highlighting the interaction between individual variances in IC abilities and short-term training effects.

Prefrontal sensitivity to changes in language form and semantic content during speech production.

In bilingual speakers, language switching might involve a change in language form, meaning, or both. However, the neural substrates of language control in the three switching conditions have not been specified. We examined bilingual speech production using a picture-naming paradigm that teased apart language and semantic switching. Bilingual participants named two serially presented pictures, which show the same or different object, with one or two languages. The three switching conditions showed distinct neural activation patterns within the prefrontal cortex. Moreover, neural substrates shared by all switching conditions were primarily found in fronto-parietal regions. Besides, forward switching (L1-to-L2) activated a more widespread neural network than backward switching (L2-to-L1). We discuss differential engagement of the cognitive control system as a function of switching type during bilingual speech production.

Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals neural perception of vocal emotions in human neonates.

Processing affective prosody, that is the emotional tone of a speaker, is fundamental to human communication and adaptive behaviors. Previous studies have mainly focused on adults and infants; thus the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of affective prosody in newborns remain unclear. Here, we used near-infrared spectroscopy to examine the ability of 0-to-4-day-old neonates to discriminate emotions conveyed by speech prosody in their maternal language and a foreign language. Happy, fearful, and angry prosodies enhanced neural activation in the right superior temporal gyrus relative to neutral prosody in the maternal but not the foreign language. Happy prosody elicited greater activation than negative prosody in the left superior frontal gyrus and the left angular gyrus, regions that have not been associated with affective prosody processing in infants or adults. These findings suggest that sensitivity to affective prosody is formed through prenatal exposure to vocal stimuli of the maternal language. Furthermore, the sensitive neural correlates appeared more distributed in neonates than infants, indicating a high-level of neural specialization between the neonatal stage and early infancy. Finally, neonates showed preferential neural responses to positive over negative prosody, which is contrary to the "negativity bias" phenomenon established in adult and infant studies.

Found in Translation: Late Bilinguals Do Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using It.

In their paper "Do Bilinguals Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using it?", Costa, Pannunzi, Deco, and Pickering (Cognitive Science, 2017) proposed a reinterpretation of Thierry and Wu's (2004, 2007) finding of native language-based (Chinese, L1) ERP effects when they tested Chinese-English late bilinguals exclusively in their second language (English, L2). Using simulations in a six-node Hebbian learning model (three L1 nodes, three L2 nodes), Costa et al. suggested that form overlaps in L1 between otherwise unrelated words create a persistent relationship between their L2 translations. In this scenario, words in the nascent L2 lexicon overlapping in their L1 translations would become linked during learning because of the form overlap in L1; once the L2 words are learned, the direct link between them would be sufficient to generate robust, apparently "L1-mediated" priming without requiring any activation of L1 translations. Costa et al. contend that links between L2 words remain beyond the learning phase, even after links to L1 representations have been severed, and thus that their model affords an alternative account to (but not a rebuttal of) Thierry and Wu's claim of language non-selective activation-or automatic activation of translation equivalents-in late bilinguals. In this response, we build on Costa et al.'s original simulation code, showing that it can only reproduce L1-independent priming when implementing the L1 disconnection in their particular way. By contrast, when severing inter-language connections bidirectionally, their model fails to retain any sizeable influence of L1 form overlap on L2 activations. The model is not the theory, however, and we discuss several issues that would need to be addressed in further attempts to model language non-selective activation in late bilinguals.

Bilingual Contexts Modulate the Inhibitory Control Network.

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated influences of language contexts on inhibitory control and the underlying neural processes. Thirty Cantonese-Mandarin-English trilingual speakers, who were highly proficient in Cantonese (L1) and Mandarin (L2), and moderately proficient in English (L3), performed a picture-naming task in three dual-language contexts (L1-L2, L2-L3, and L1-L3). After each of the three naming tasks, participants performed a flanker task, measuring contextual effects on the inhibitory control system. Behavioral results showed a typical flanker effect in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition, but not in the L1-L2 condition, which indicates contextual facilitation on inhibitory control performance by the L1-L2 context. Whole brain analysis of the fMRI data acquired during the flanker tasks showed more neural activations in the right prefrontal cortex and subcortical areas in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition on one hand as compared to the L1-L2 condition on the other hand, suggesting greater involvement of the cognitive control areas when participants were performing the flanker task in L2-L3 and L1-L3 contexts. Effective connectivity analyses displayed a cortical-subcortical-cerebellar circuitry for inhibitory control in the trilinguals. However, contrary to the right-lateralized network in the L1-L2 condition, functional networks for inhibitory control in the L2-L3 and L1-L3 condition are less integrated and more left-lateralized. These findings provide a novel perspective for investigating the interaction between bilingualism (multilingualism) and inhibitory control by demonstrating instant behavioral effects and neural plasticity as a function of changes in global language contexts.

Effects of Pulsatile Cupping on Body Pain and Quality of Life in People with Suboptimal Health:A Randomized Controlled Exploratory Trial.

Objective: The curative effect of pneumatic pulsatile cupping on pain has been shown. This study was conducted to investigate effects of the pulsating frequency of pneumatic pulsatile cupping, compared with traditional cupping (TC), on body pain and quality of life (QoL) in people with suboptimal health status (SHS). Materials and Methods: Ninety-six participants with SHS were randomized to low-frequency (LF; n = 24) or high-frequency (HF; n = 24) pulsating cupping, traditional cupping (TC; n = 24), or wait-list (WL; n = 24) groups. The LF, HF, and TC groups received 4 sessions of cupping over 2 weeks. Visual analogue scale (VAS; 0-100 mm) pain level and Short-Form-36 (SF-36) QoL measurements were taken before and after the intervention. Results: Both LF and HF reduced pain significantly (VAS: -28.26; 95% confidence interval [CI] -36.18 to -20.34; and -31.88, 95% CI -39.81 to -23.96; both P = 0.000) and improved QoL more than WL (SF-36, Bodily Pain dimension: 1.46, 95% CI: 0.85 to 2.07; and 1.75, 95% CI: 1.14 to 2.36, both P = 0.000). Compared to TC, LF and HF significantly reduced pain (VAS: -7.92, 95% CI: -15.75 to -0.08, P LT = 0.048; and -11.54, 95% CI: -19.38 to -3.70, P HT = 0.004) and improved QoL (SF-36, Bodily Pain dimension: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.01 to 1.21, P LT = 0.046; and 0.90, 95% CI: 0.30 to 1.50, P HT = 0.004). There was no significant difference between LF and HF. Conclusions: This study showed that, in patients with SHS, pulsatile cupping therapy could have a more-favorable effect to relieve body pain, compared to TC. LF and HF pulsation produced equivalent pain relief. Further studies investigating the underlying mechanism are needed. Trial registration: This trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-INR-16009345).

The role of the putamen in language: a meta-analytic connectivity modeling study.

The putamen is a subcortical structure that forms part of the dorsal striatum of basal ganglia, and has traditionally been associated with reinforcement learning and motor control, including speech articulation. However, recent studies have shown involvement of the left putamen in other language functions such as bilingual language processing (Abutalebi et al. 2012) and production, with some authors arguing for functional segregation of anterior and posterior putamen (Oberhuber et al. 2013). A further step in exploring the role of putamen in language would involve identifying the network of coactivations of not only the left, but also the right putamen, given the involvement of right hemisphere in high order language functions (Vigneau et al. 2011). Here, a meta-analytic connectivity modeling technique was used to determine the patterns of coactivation of anterior and bilateral putamen in the language domain. Based on previous evidence, we hypothesized that left putamen coactivations would include brain regions directly associated with language processing, whereas right putamen coactivations would encompass regions involved in broader semantic processes, such as memory and visual imagery. The results showed that left anterior putamen coactivated with clusters predominantly in left hemisphere, encompassing regions directly associated with language processing, a left posterior putamen network spanning both hemispheres, and cerebellum. In right hemisphere, coactivations were in both hemispheres, in regions associated with visual and orthographic processing. These results confirm the differential involvement of right and left putamen in different language components, thus highlighting the need for further research into the role of putamen in language.

Brain potentials predict language selection before speech onset in bilinguals.

Studies of language production in bilinguals have seldom considered the fact that language selection likely involves proactive control. Here, we show that Chinese-English bilinguals actively inhibit the language not-to-be used before the onset of a picture to be named. Depending on the nature of a directive cue, participants named a subsequent picture in their native language, in their second language, or remained silent. The cue elicited a contingent negative variation of event-related brain potentials, greater in amplitude when the cue announced a naming trial as compared to when it announced a silent trial. In addition, the negativity was greater in amplitude when the picture was to be named in English than in Chinese, suggesting that preparation for speech in the second language requires more inhibition than preparation for speech in the native language. This result is the first direct neurophysiological evidence consistent with proactive inhibitory control in bilingual production.

Does Speaking Two Dialects in Daily Life Affect Executive Functions? An Event-Related Potential Study.

Whether using two languages enhances executive functions is a matter of debate. Here, we take a novel perspective to examine the bilingual advantage hypothesis by comparing bi-dialect with mono-dialect speakers' performance on a non-linguistic task that requires executive control. Two groups of native Chinese speakers, one speaking only the standard Chinese Mandarin and the other also speaking the Southern-Min dialect, which differs from the standard Chinese Mandarin primarily in phonology, performed a classic Flanker task. Behavioural results showed no difference between the two groups, but event-related potentials recorded simultaneously revealed a number of differences, including an earlier P2 effect in the bi-dialect as compared to the mono-dialect group, suggesting that the two groups engage different underlying neural processes. Despite differences in the early ERP component, no between-group differences in the magnitude of the Flanker effects, which is an index of conflict resolution, were observed in the N2 component. Therefore, these findings suggest that speaking two dialects of one language does not enhance executive functions. Implications of the current findings for the bilingual advantage hypothesis are discussed.

Speaking two languages at once: unconscious native word form access in second language production.

Bilingualism research has established language non-selective lexical access in comprehension. However, the evidence for such an effect in production remains sparse and its neural time-course has not yet been investigated. We demonstrate that German-English bilinguals performing a simple picture-naming task exclusively in English spontaneously access the phonological form of -unproduced- German words. Participants were asked to produce English adjective-noun sequences describing the colour and identity of familiar objects presented as line drawings. We associated adjective and picture names such that their onsets phonologically overlapped in English (e.g., green goat), in German through translation (e.g., blue flower - 'blaue Blume'), or in neither language. As expected, phonological priming in English modulated event-related brain potentials over the frontocentral scalp region from around 440ms after picture onset. Phonological priming in German was detectable even earlier, from 300ms, even though German was never produced and in the absence of an interaction between language and phonological repetition priming at any point in time. Overall, these results establish the existence of non-selective access to phonological representations of the two languages in the domain of speech production.