White matter plasticity during second language learning within and across hemispheres.

ABSTRACT: Adult second language (L2) learning is a challenging enterprise inducing neuroplastic changes in the human brain. However, it remains unclear how the structural language connectome and its subnetworks change during adult L2 learning. The current study investigated longitudinal changes in white matter (WM) language networks in each hemisphere, as well as their interconnection, in a large group of Arabic-speaking adults who learned German intensively for 6 mo. We found a significant increase in WM-connectivity within bilateral temporal-parietal semantic and phonological subnetworks and right temporal-frontal pathways mainly in the second half of the learning period. At the same time, WM-connectivity between the two hemispheres decreased significantly. Crucially, these changes in WM-connectiv

SUBMITTER: Wei X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10786292 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature