Linguists 'have different brains'

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From BBC.com

Linguists 'have different brains'

Gifted linguists could have a different brain shape and structure from
those of other people, a study suggests.  Neuroscientists at University
College London say they have more "white brain matter" in a part of the
brain which processes sound. Their brains could also be less symmetrical
than others. It is hoped the research, published in the journal Cerebral
Cortex, could be used help to identify reasons for language difficulties.

Those involved in the trial - all native French speakers - were asked to
distinguish between two similar sounds from different languages. The first
was the "d" sound found in their own language which is made by placing the
tip of the tongue against the top teeth. The second was a "d" found in
Hindi, which is pronounced by curling the tongue upwards towards the roof
of the mouth. Both types of d were followed by the letter a, so the
participants heard "da".

The differences between the sounds are heard in the first 40 milliseconds.
Researchers tested the speed at which participants could process the
information. Those who identified more than 80% of sounds correctly were
then asked to listen to even more acoustically similar sounds. Some of the
fastest learners were able to tell these apart within a few minutes, while
the slowest learners were only able to make random guesses at the less
difficult stage after 20 minutes of training.

Predicting abilities

Dr Narly Golestani from UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience said the
brain's white matter was involved in the efficient processing of sound
information into the lower levels of the brain - known as the primary
cortex. Its fibres are involved in connecting brain regions together. Fast
language learners had a greater volume, and that may mean they have more
or perhaps thicker fibres, she said. "The bigger picture is that we are
starting to understand that brain shape and structure can be informative
about people's abilities or pathologies - why people are good at some
things and not others is evident from these scans," she said.

White brain matter is involved in connecting different parts of the brain
together, and greater amounts of this could indicate an increased ability
to process sound. In faster learners, brain scans showed a greater volume
of white matter in the left auditory region known as Heschl's gyrus, where
sound is processed. And there was a difference in its position in the
right brain hemisphere between faster and slower learners.

The researchers also found there was greater asymmetry in the volume of
the parietal lobes, which are also involved in the processing of speech
sound in the left hemisphere of the brain. Previous research suggested
that having a talent for music was linked to the structure of grey matter
in the brain. This latest research could be extended to other
applications, Dr Narly said. "We can start to make predictions regarding
whether people will be good at something or not based on their brain
structure," she said," or diagnose clinical problems."

Brain structure predicts the learning of foreign speech sounds, by Narly
Golestani, Nicolas Molko, Stanislas Dehaene, Denis LeBihan and Christophe
Pallier, is published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/education/4883418.stm