Long-term experience with Chinese language shapes the fusiform asymmetry of English reading

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of the bilateral fusiform gyrus in the processing of Chinese and English. The present study tested the possibility that long-term experience with Chinese language affects the fusiform laterality of English reading by comparing three samples: Chinese speakers, English speakers with Chinese experience, and English speakers without Chinese experience. We found that, when reading words in their respective native language, Chinese and English speakers without Chinese experience differed in functional laterality of the posterior fusiform region (right laterality for Chinese speakers, but left laterality for English speakers). More importantly, compared with English speakers without Chinese experience, English speakers with Chinese experience showed more recruitment of the right posterior fusiform cortex for English words and pseudowords, which is similar to how Chinese speakers processed Chinese. These results suggest that long-term experience with Chinese shapes the fusiform laterality of English reading and have important implications for our understanding of the cross-language influences in terms of neural organization and of the functions of different fusiform subregions in reading.

Keywords: Bilingual; Cross-language influence; Native language; Reading; Second language; fMRI.

Fig. 1

Functional laterality in the anterior, middle, and posterior fusiform regions for native Chinese and native English speakers. Asymmetry index (AI) was calculated by subtracting the neural activity in the right region from that in the left region. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. Fus_ant = anterior fusiform region; Fus_mid = middle fusiform region; and Fus_pos = posterior fusiform region. * p < .05.

Fig. 2

Brain regions showing greater activation for English speakers with Chinese experience than those without Chinese experience when reading English words (A), alphabetic pseudowords (B), and Chinese words (C). R = right.

Fig. 3

Functional laterality in the anterior, middle, and posterior fusiform regions for native English speakers with or without Chinese experience when reading English words (A), alphabetic pseudowords (B), and Chinese words (C). See Fig. 1 caption for AI calculation, brain region abbreviations, and meaning of error bars. * p < .05 and ** p < .01.

Fig. 4

Brain regions showing greater activations for pseudowords relative to words in English speakers with (A) and without (B) Chinese experience. Compared with reading words, reading pseudowords elicited greater activations in the bilateral occipitotemporal cortex for both groups of English speakers and in the left inferior frontal gyrus only for English speakers with Chinese experience. The left inferior frontal gyrus also showed greater activation for pseudowords relative to words in native English speakers without Chinese experience when a relatively liberal threshold (Z > 2.3, uncorrected) was used. No regions showed greater activations for words. In addition, the neural activations in the contrast of pseudowords minus words did not significantly differ across the two groups of English speakers. All activations were thresholded at z > 2.3 (whole-brain corrected). R = right.

Fig. 5

Functional laterality in the anterior, middle, and posterior fusiform regions for bilinguals and monolinguals of native English speakers without Chinese experience when reading English words (A) and alphabetic pseudowords (B). See Fig. 1 caption for AI calculation, brain region abbreviations, and meaning of error bars.