SECOND LANGUAGE NEWS

[Thomas Paikeday]

Does anyone have more information on this [new?] discovery reported at "an
international conference on the frontal lobes" held in Toronto last week,
sponsored by the Rotman Research Institute of Toronto:

"And so from the perch of technology [MRI brain scans], scientists have been able
to pinpoint the physical location of human traits and functions. Counting.
Spelling. Laughing. They know where a joke is processed (the right frontal lobe).
They know where the brain tucks its recognition of facial expressions (the
amygdala). THEY CAN HAVE A SUBJECT SPEAK A SECOND LANGUAGE AND TELL WHETHER HE
LEARNED IT AS A CHILD OR AN ADULT BY WHICH BRAIN AREA LIGHTS UP [capitals mine]."

Reported by Carolyn Abraham, Medical Reporter, in the Toronto Globe & Mail, Mar.
25, 2000, p. A15.