Study of Polyglots Shows How Brain Deals with Language

Study of Polyglots² Shows How Brain Deals with Language

　　Most people around the world speak one or two languages. But some can speak three or more. These people are called polyglots. And they are helping³ researchers better understand how the human brain deals with language.

　　In a new study, a team of scientists monitored the brain activity of 34 polyglots. The polyglots spoke⁴ between five and 54 languages.

　　The scientists used a method called functional⁵ magnetic resonance⁶ imaging, or fMRI. In fMRI, the brain is studied through images that measure changes in blood flow in different areas of the brain. The researchers used fMRI to study the brain as the polyglots listened to different languages.

　　The researchers found that, when the polyglots heard a language they knew, activity increased in an area of the brain involved with language processing. That area is the cerebral⁷ cortex. When they listened to a language they did not know or knew less well, there was less activity in the cerebral cortex.

　　Evelina Fedorenko is a brain scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She was also a senior writer of the study, which recently appeared in the publication Cerebral Cortex.

　　She explained the findings.

　　"We think this is because when you process a language that you know well, you can engage the full suite⁸ of linguistic⁹ operations - the operations that the language system in your brain supports," Fedorenko said.

　　However, an exception caught the attention of the researchers. For many of the polyglot¹ participants, listening to their native language produced less of a brain response compared to hearing other languages they knew. On average, the response was about 25 percent less. And in some of the polyglots, listening to their native language activated¹¹ only one part of the brain's language network, not the whole thing.

　　Olessia Jouravlev is a brain scientist at Carleton University in Canada. He also helped write the report. He said that the brain's neural¹² processes were more efficient, or effective, when the polyglots heard their native language.

　　"Therefore, the language network in the brain does not activate¹⁰ as much when they do native versus¹³ non-native language processing," Jouravlev said.

　　The brain's language network involves a few areas in its frontal and temporal lobes¹⁵.

　　Saima Malik-Moraleda is a doctoral student at the Harvard/MIT Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology. She was one of the lead writers of the study. She said the findings suggest that the way the brain finds, or extracts, meaning in language governs the brain's response to language.

　　"The more meaning you can extract from the language input¹⁶ you are receiving, the greater the response in language regions - except for the native language," she said.

　　Of the 34 polyglots who took part in the study, 20 were men and 14 were women. They were between 19 and 71 years old. Twenty-one were native English speakers. The rest were native speakers of French, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, German, Hungarian, and Mandarin¹⁷ Chinese.

　　Researchers monitored the polyglots' brain activity as they listened to recordings¹⁸ in eight languages. One was their native language. Three were languages they spoke well, somewhat well or somewhat. The other four were languages they did not know.

　　Half heard recordings of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The other half heard recordings of stories from the Christian¹⁹ religious book the Bible.

　　Fedorenko noted²⁰ that a lot of work in language research has been centered on individuals with linguistic difficulties.

　　But she said there is a lot that researchers can learn about the language process by studying so-called language "experts," too. That includes polyglots, Fedorenko added.

　　Words in This Story

　　monitor – v. to watch, observe, listen to, or check (something) for a special purpose over a period of time

　　engage – v. to become involved with and try to understand something/somebody

　　suite – n. a group of things forming a unit or constituting a collection: set

　　linguistic – adj. connected with language or the scientific study of language

　　participant – n. a person who is involved in an activity or event

　　lobe¹⁴ – n. a curved or rounded part of something (such as a leaf or a part of the body)

　　response – n. something that is done as a reaction to something else

1 polyglot   

adj.通晓数种语言的；n.通晓多种语言的人

参考例句：

• He was a round old man with a guttural,polyglot accent.他是一位肥胖的老人,讲话时带有多种语言混合的多喉音的声调。
• Thanks to his polyglot aptitude,he made rapid progress.由于他有学习语言的天才，他学习的进度很快。

2 polyglots   

n.通晓多种语言的人( polyglot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

6 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

7 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

8 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

9 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

10 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

11 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

12 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

14 lobe   

n.耳垂，（肺，肝等的）叶

参考例句：

• Tiny electrical sensors are placed on your scalp and on each ear lobe.小电器传感器放置在您的头皮和对每个耳垂。
• The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for controlling movement.大脑前叶的功能是控制行动。

15 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

16 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

17 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

18 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

19 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

20 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。