Differences in Early and Late Bilinguals

    In the 2017 metanalysis, Early Bilingualism, Language Attainment, and Brain Development, Berken et al., review existing and recent literature on the connections between age of language acquisition and brain organization. The authors use bilingualism as a model to further examine the neural intricacies between ‘early bilinguals’ and ‘late bilinguals.’ The authors cite several studies, summarizing the importance of the phonological optimal period in development and sensory experiences during utero and infancy. Early bilinguals are defined as people who learn two languages simultaneously in infancy and early childhood. Because this learning happens while language, speech, and motor areas of the brain are still being developed, early bilinguals typically present stronger, more distributed connectivity between the language network, larger size of these language areas, and neural activation that is more efficient. This also tends to extend the optimal period, which feeds back into the benefits of early language acquisition For late bilinguals, where language is learned after the brain has established its language, speech, and motor circuits – connectivity is less interconnected across the cortex. Activation patters are also more pronounced, which in this context translates to evidence of more metabolically expensive and compensatory efforts on the brain’s part. In either form of language acquisition, the brain’s configuring or reconfiguring as a response to its environment is referred to as its plasticity. 

    What does this mean for the adult actively trying to learn a new language? It is valuable to know that your brain can still adapt itself! Learning a new language later in life will be more difficult, but most of the work our brain does to compensate for this different mode of learning is automatic. In fact, a 2018 news article from the BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation, 

What is the best age to learn a language?, argues that learning new languages later in life might not be worse, just different. Author Sophie Hardach consults Antonella Sorace, PhD., a developmental linguistics professor at the University of Edinburgh and director of Bilingualism Matters, and Danijela Trenkic, PhD., a professor of psycholinguistics at the University of York, on the possible benefits of learning a language as an adult. Sorace poses the difference in implicit and explicit learning. Adults are much better at explicit learning than young children – improved attention and memory functions. Trenkic brings attention to different social contexts that children and adults navigate. She adds that the social and emotional motivations for learning a new language play big rule in how quickly or effectively a language is learned. 

    All in all, Berken et al. and other researchers in the field, are closer to understanding the neurobiological components and innerworkings of neuroplasticity, especially as it pertains to language learning. Early exposure to multiple languages proves beneficial for neurodevelopment, as it is a robust sensory experience. Additionally, learning languages later in life is also made possible by the plastic nature of our brains. Understanding how these learning modes manifest differently in the brain is an important contribution to the literature.  

Berken, Jonathan A., et al. “Early Bilingualism, Language Attainment, and Brain Development.” Neuropsychologia, vol. 98, Apr. 2017, pp. 220-227, 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.08.031.