ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2024
White matter plasticity during second language learning within and across hemispheres.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuroplasticity in adult second language learning: a systematic scoping review of structural and functional neuroimaging evidence.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Cognitive Stimulation and Activity-Dependent Myelination: Oligodendroglial Mechanisms Linking Neural Activity and Brain Plasticity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Early life shifts in cortical inhibitory-excitatory balance underlies sensitive periods and skill development.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Brain-Inspired Multisensory Learning: A Systematic Review of Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Outcomes in Adult Multicultural and Second Language Acquisition.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Long arcuate fascicle in wild and captive chimpanzees as a potential structural precursor of the language network.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Common and unique white matter fractional anisotropy patterns in patients with schizophrenia with medication-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations: a retrospective tract-based spatial statistics study.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Music training and language learning improve verbal memory performance but do not change white matter characteristics of the splenium: a longitudinal DTI study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- White matter connectivity linked to novel word learning in children.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Musical Sophistication and Multilingualism: Effects on Arcuate Fasciculus Characteristics.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
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-connectivity are correlated with L2 performance. The observed changes in subnetworks of the two hemispheres suggest a network reconfiguration due to lexical learning. The reduced interhemispheric connectivity may indicate a key role of the corpus callosum in L2 learning by reducing the inhibition of the language-dominant left hemisphere. Our study highlights the dynamic changes within and across hemispheres in adult language-related networks driven by L2 learning.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.