Anelis Kaiser

Recommendations for sex/gender neuroimaging research: key principles and implications for research design, analysis, and interpretation

Neuroimaging (NI) technologies are having increasing impact in the study of complex cognitive and social processes. In this emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience, a central goal should be to increase the understanding of the interaction between the neurobiology of the individual and the environment in which humans develop and function. The study of sex/gender is often a focus for NI research, and may be motivated by a desire to better understand general developmental principles, mental health problems that show female-male disparities, and gendered differences in society. In order to ensure the maximum possible contribution of NI research to these goals, we draw attention to four key principles—overlap, mosaicism, contingency and entanglement—that have emerged from sex/gender research and that should inform NI research design, analysis and interpretation. We discuss the implications of these principles in the form of constructive guidelines and suggestions for researchers, editors, reviewers and science communicators.

The Age of Second Language Acquisition Determines the Variability in Activation Elicited by Narration in Three Languages in Broca's and Wernicke's Area.

It is generally accepted that the presence of a second language (L2) has an impact on the neuronal substrates build up and used for language processing; the influence of the age of L2 exposure, however, is not established. We tested the hypothesis that the age of L2 acquisition has an effect on the cortical representation of a multilingual repertoire in 44 multilinguals with different age of exposure to a L2 (simultaneous or covert simultaneous exposure to L1 and L2, sequential acquisition of L1 and L2 between 1 and 5 years, late learning of L2 after 9 years of age) and all fluent in a late learned L3. Regional activation in a language production task showed a high in-between-subject variability, which was higher than within-subject variability between L1, L2, and L3. We, therefore, performed a single subject analysis and calculated the within-subject variance in the numbers of activated voxels in Brocas and Wernickes area. Subjects with early exposure to L2 showed low variability in brain activation in all three languages, in the two early as well as the late learned language. In contrast, late multilinguals exhibited higher variability. Thus, cerebral representation of languages is linked to the age of L2 acquisition: early exposure to more than one language gives rise to a language processing network that is activated homogeneously by early and late learned languages, while the inhomogeneous activation in late multilinguals indicates more independent access to the multilingual repertoire. Early passive exposure to L2 results in the same low variance as active bilingual upbringing. Variability in local brain activity increases progressively from the simultaneous to late L2 exposure, indicating a gradual transition from the mode of early bilingual language representation to that of late ones.

Plasticity, plasticity, plasticity…and the rigid problem of sex

Why is popular understanding of female–male differences still based on rigid models of development, even though contemporary developmental sciences emphasize plasticity? Is it because the science of sex differences still works from the same rigid models?

Structural brain changes related to bilingualism: does immersion make a difference?

Within the field of neuroscientific research on second language learning, considerable attention has been devoted to functional and recently also structural changes related to second language acquisition. The present literature review summarizes studies that investigated structural changes related to bilingualism. Furthermore, as recent evidence has suggested that native-like exposure to a second language (i.e., a naturalistic learning setting or immersion) considerably impacts second language learning, all findings are reflected with respect to the learning environment. Aggregating the existing evidence, we conclude that structural changes in left inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions have been observed in studies on cortical gray matter changes, while the anterior parts of the corpus callosum have been repeatedly found to reflect bilingualism in studies on white matter (WM) connectivity. Regarding the learning environment, no cortical alterations can be attributed specifically to naturalistic or classroom learning. With regard to WM changes, one might tentatively propose that changes in IFOF and SLF are possibly more prominently observed in studies investigating bilinguals with a naturalistic learning experience. However, future studies are needed to replicate and strengthen the existing evidence and to directly test the impact of naturalistic exposure on structural brain plasticity.

Re-queering the brain

Are women taking contraceptive drugs brighter than women not using the birth control pill? Does testosterone make people’s behavior more masculine through its effects on the brain? And can there ever be a neuro-gaydar?

Age of second language acquisition in multilinguals has an impact on gray matter volume in language-associated brain areas.

Numerous structural studies have established that experience shapes and reshapes the brain throughout a lifetime. The impact of early development, however, is still a matter of debate. Further clues may come from studying multilinguals who acquired their second language at different ages. We investigated adult multilinguals who spoke three languages fluently, where the third language was learned in classroom settings, not before the age of 9 years. Multilinguals exposed to two languages simultaneously from birth (SiM) were contrasted with multinguals who acquired their first two languages successively (SuM). Whole brain voxel based morphometry revealed that, relative to SuM, SiM have significantly lower gray matter volume in several language-associated cortical areas in both hemispheres: bilaterally in medial and inferior frontal gyrus, in the right medial temporal gyrus and inferior posterior parietal gyrus, as well as in the left inferior temporal gyrus. Thus, as shown by others, successive language learning increases the volume of language-associated cortical areas. In brains exposed early on and simultaneously to more than one language, however, learning of additional languages seems to have less impact. We conclude that – at least with respect to language acquisition – early developmental influences are maintained and have an effect on experience-dependent plasticity well into adulthood.

Journal of neuroscience research policy on addressing sex as a biological variable: Comments, clarifications, and elaborations

Gina Rippon,* Rebecca Jordan-Young, Anelis Kaiser, Daphna Joel, and Cordelia Fine Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham, UK* Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, USA Social Psychology and Social Neuroscience, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel History & Philosophy of Science Program, School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia