A specific area of the brain may be responsible for language selection in bilingual people.

It is well known that specific areas of the brain are involved in processing language. An interesting question arises in people who are proficient in more than one language: do separate 'modules' exist for each language? If not, how does the brain 'know' which language to process sounds in?

Functional imaging studies have shown that the same brain areas are active in a bilingual person whichever language they are using. Now, however, Cathy Price and colleagues have managed to identify a key difference in bilingual people's brain activity, again using functional imaging techniques. Neuronal responses in the left caudate region of the cerebral cortex seem to be associated with changes in the language being used.

Furthermore, this effect is seen in both German–English and Japanese–English bilingual people, suggesting it is a general phenomenon of bilingual language processing.

External links

• Crinion J et al. Language control in the bilingual brain. Science 2006;312(5779):1537–40.

• Image: Cut-away fMRI of brain, courtesy of Mark Lythgoe and Chloe Hutton, Medical Photographic Library