TY - JOUR

T1 - Individual differences in the bilingual brain

T2 - The role of language background and DRD2 genotype in verbal and non-verbal cognitive control

AU - Vaughn, Kelly A.

AU - Ramos Nuñez, Aurora I.

AU - Greene, Maya R.

AU - Munson, Brandin A.

AU - Grigorenko, Elena L.

AU - Hernandez, Arturo E.

N1 - Funding Information: Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number R03HD079873 (“ Effects of genetic differences and bilingual status on cognitive control ”; 2015–2017) and R21HD059103 (“ Neural correlates of lexical processing in child L2 learners ”; 2009–2013). Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2016/11/1

Y1 - 2016/11/1

N2 - Bilingual language control may involve cognitive control, including inhibition and switching. These types of control have been previously associated with neural activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In previous studies, the DRD2 gene, related to dopamine availability in the striatum, has been found to play a role in neural activity during cognitive control tasks, with carriers of the gene's A1 allele showing different patterns of activity in inferior frontal regions during cognitive control tasks than non-carriers. The current study sought to extend these findings to the domain of bilingual language control. Forty-nine Spanish-English bilinguals participated in this study by providing DNA samples through saliva, completing background questionnaires, and performing a language production task (picture-naming), a non-verbal inhibition task (Simon task), and a non-verbal switching task (shape-color task) in the fMRI scanner. The fMRI data were analyzed to determine whether variation in the genetic background or bilingual language background predicts neural activity in the IFG and ACC during these three tasks. Results indicate that genetic and language background variables predicted neural activity in the IFG during English picture naming. Variation in only the genetic background predicted neural activity in the ACC during the shape-color switching task; variation in only the language background predicted neural activity in the ACC and IFG during the Simon task. These results suggest that variation in the DRD2 gene should not be ignored when drawing conclusions about bilingual verbal and non-verbal cognitive control.

AB - Bilingual language control may involve cognitive control, including inhibition and switching. These types of control have been previously associated with neural activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In previous studies, the DRD2 gene, related to dopamine availability in the striatum, has been found to play a role in neural activity during cognitive control tasks, with carriers of the gene's A1 allele showing different patterns of activity in inferior frontal regions during cognitive control tasks than non-carriers. The current study sought to extend these findings to the domain of bilingual language control. Forty-nine Spanish-English bilinguals participated in this study by providing DNA samples through saliva, completing background questionnaires, and performing a language production task (picture-naming), a non-verbal inhibition task (Simon task), and a non-verbal switching task (shape-color task) in the fMRI scanner. The fMRI data were analyzed to determine whether variation in the genetic background or bilingual language background predicts neural activity in the IFG and ACC during these three tasks. Results indicate that genetic and language background variables predicted neural activity in the IFG during English picture naming. Variation in only the genetic background predicted neural activity in the ACC during the shape-color switching task; variation in only the language background predicted neural activity in the ACC and IFG during the Simon task. These results suggest that variation in the DRD2 gene should not be ignored when drawing conclusions about bilingual verbal and non-verbal cognitive control.

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Cognitive control

KW - DRD2

KW - Language control

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032069431&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.06.008

DO - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.06.008

M3 - Article

VL - 40

SP - 112

EP - 127

JO - Journal of Neurolinguistics

JF - Journal of Neurolinguistics

SN - 0911-6044

ER -