Brain white matter structure and COMT gene are linked to second-language learning in adults.

ABSTRACT: Adult human brains retain the capacity to undergo tissue reorganization during second-language learning. Brain-imaging studies show a relationship between neuroanatomical properties and learning for adults exposed to a second language. However, the role of genetic factors in this relationship has not been investigated. The goal of the current study was twofold: (i) to characterize the relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and second-language immersion using diffusion tensor imaging, and (ii) to determine whether polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene affect the relationship. We recruited incoming Chinese students enrolled in the University of Washington and scanned their brains one time. We measured the diffusion properties of the white matte

SUBMITTER: Mamiya PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4932981 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature