Developmental Differences’ Effect on Neuroplasticity

 It is very interesting to observe how things learned in one's childhood cause differences in the baseline of their unique brain development. This baseline is the foundation for new learning and neuroplastic changes; it could determine a person's proficiency in a certain area. Understanding differences in neuroplastic development during the age of acquisition may help with understanding learning.   

Early bilingualism, language attainment, and brain development studies the neuroplastic changes that occur in the brain due to language. More specifically, the brain development caused by learning a second language in early childhood, the ideal period for language acquisition (simultaneous bilinguals), compared to learning a second language after that window has closed (sequential bilinguals). Although changes in neuroplasticity were observed with sequential bilinguals, they were overall different from those that formed in early childhood and are built off foundations set in early childhood (Berken et al. 2017). Native speakers exhibited a similar activation when speaking both English and French in the bilateral motor cortex, auditory cortices, basal ganglia, and the cerebellum (Berken et al., 2017). Significantly more areas (the left premotor cortex, left inferior frontal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, bilateral pre-supplementary motor areas, right lateral inferior occipital cortex, and cerebellar vermis) were activated for English monolinguals reading out-loud in French, while both bilingual groups had similar areas of activation when asked to read in either language (Berken et al., 2017).  

Since the age of acquisition plays a critical role for learning a language, it may be the case for many other types of development as well. Parental Language and Learning Directed to the Young Child found that the home learning environment more broadly, shape young children’s brains and, ultimately, their developmental and academic outcomes (Kapengut et al., 2020).  

References 

Berken, J. A., Gracco, V. LI ., & Klein, D. (2017). Early bilingualism, language attainment, and brain development. Neuropsychologia, 98, 220–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.08.031 

 

Kapengut, Dina, and Kimberly G. Noble. “Parental Language and Learning Directed to the Young Child.” The Future of Children, vol. 30, no. 2, Princeton University, 2020, pp. 71–92.