BCBL Research Center Analyzes Speech Response of Babies Growing in Monolingual and Bilingual Households in Gipuzkoa.
A neuroimaging technique in the form of a cap helped capture the brain activity of the little ones while they slept and listened to different phrases.
The results, published in the scientific journal Developmental Science , demonstrate that the brains of newborns adapt to learn in more complex linguistic environments.
(Donostia, October 9, 2024) Language acquisition begins as soon as we hear spoken language, approximately 3 months before birth. Therefore, one of the factors influencing the capacity to learn new languages and language itself is the environment surrounding us from the earliest months of life.
This fact opens numerous lines of research, such as discovering whether exposure to a bilingual environment from infancy alters our brain functions, compared to babies growing up in a monolingual environment.
In this context, a new study from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), whose results have been published in the scientific journal Developmental Science , has tested the brain response to speech of 4-month-old babies growing in monolingual and bilingual households in their shared mother tongue: Spanish.
“During the first year of life, neuroplasticity is at its peak, making this period particularly relevant for studying the neural consequences of the simultaneous acquisition of two languages,” emphasizes Borja Blanco, the researcher who led the study at BCBL and currently works at the University of Cambridge.
The results obtained, according to experts, indicate that early exposure to two different languages triggers and awakens unique patterns of brain activation during speech processing, supporting the notion that the neural bases of bilingual language acquisition are established at a very early age, as well as the importance of this early linguistic experience in shaping brain plasticity.
“We observed that the brain response of bilingual babies was very similar across stimuli, involving the frontal and lower temporal regions. In contrast, the brains of monolinguals exhibited different responses depending on the speech condition. That is, bilinguals seem to adapt their brain functions to facilitate learning in a more complex linguistic environment,” adds Blanco.
Stimuli During Sleep
The group of experts at the Basque research center employed one of the neuroimaging techniques available in their BabyLab laboratory to carry out the experimental work: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
The tool, in the form of a cap, incorporates a series of infrared light emitting and receiving sensors that harmlessly record the brain activity of babies, measuring changes in blood oxygen concentration in different regions of the brain, “a measure that indicates those areas that consume the most oxygen, i.e., the most active during task performance.”
The recording took place during sleep. The sleeping babies received oral stimuli in Spanish, the common language between monolingual and bilingual babies, while they were randomly played forward and backward.
“Backward phrases were used as an experimental control of the forward phrases to isolate auditory from linguistic processes. Although they have similar acoustic characteristics, backward phrases lack a linguistic component, which gave us the opportunity to study the response to each of those components separately,” explains Blanco.
The study was conducted in Gipuzkoa, where monolingual and bilingual families prevail similarly, providing a unique opportunity to study the effect of early language experience on the brain mechanisms involved in speech processing. Nearly 60 babies participated in total.
“We are very grateful to all the families that collaborated in the research and helped us carry it out. The participation of society in this type of projects is essential to continue advancing knowledge of the brain mechanisms related to language and learning,” concludes the expert.
This research project has been part of Borja Blanco’s doctoral thesis, supervised by César Caballero-Gaudes, leader of the “Signal Processing in Neuroimaging” group at BCBL and Ikerbasque researcher.
About BCBL
The Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) is an international interdisciplinary research center based in San Sebastián for the study of cognition, the brain, and language. It is promoted by the Basque Government with the aim of fostering science and research in the Basque Country. Additionally, it has partnerships with Ikerbasque, Innobasque, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, and the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU).
For more information and interviews:
Unai Macias | unai@guk.eus | 690 212 067
Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL)
Cognition, Brain, Neuroscience, Research, Language.
