THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG GRAY MATTER CORTICAL THICKNESS, ACTIVITY, AND BILINGUAL BACKGROUND VARIABLES

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dc.contributor.advisorHernandez, Arturo E.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberYoshida, Hanako
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFoss, Donald J.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSchnur, Tatiana T.
dc.creatorRamos Nuñez, Aurora I.
dc.creator.orcid0000-0003-1581-2071
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-03T21:57:54Z
dc.date.available2016-09-03T21:57:54Z
dc.date.createdDecember 2015
dc.date.issued2015-12
dc.date.updated2016-09-03T21:57:54Z
dc.description.abstractA bilingual person’s brain has to manage two languages. According to psycholinguistic models, lexical representations of the two languages are always active and to select the correct language, the other has to be inhibited (Green, 1998). This includes cognitive control processes (e.g. language planning, response inhibition, maintenance of representation) that might require additional brain networks beyond those classically involved in language processing. Regions such as prefrontal, anterior cingulate cortices, inferior parietal lobule, and caudate have been found to be involved in cognitive control processes (Abutalebi & Green, 2007). The present study examined whether or not bilingual experience shapes the structure and function of the brain by examining relationships among language proficiency, second language age of acquisition, and structural and functional correlates. Participants were 49 Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English between the ages of 0 and 17 years. Cortical thickness measures as well as functional activity during a picture-naming task requiring switching between the two languages on a trial-by-trial basis were acquired using a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner. The results indicate that age of acquisition of the second language but not proficiency is related to gray matter structure in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a cognitive control region and that gray matter cortical thickness is related to functional activity during a condition that requires switching in naming pictures between two languages. These results carry implications for the understanding of how language experience shapes the functional and neural correlates of the bilingual brain.
dc.description.departmentPsychology, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10657/1474
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectBilingualism
dc.subjectCortical thickness
dc.subjectAge of acquisition
dc.titleTHE RELATIONSHIP AMONG GRAY MATTER CORTICAL THICKNESS, ACTIVITY, AND BILINGUAL BACKGROUND VARIABLES
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentPsychology, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology, Developmental
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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