Bilingual corpus callosum variability

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to produce midsagittal images of the corpus callosum of 19 right-handed adult male and female subjects. The preliminary findings of this study indicate that significant adaptation in the anterior midbody of the corpus callosum has occurred to accommodate multiple language capacity in bilingual individuals compared to monolingual individuals. The main interpretation of this finding is that the precentral gyrus is involved in bilingual faculty adaptation assuming a role consistent with the somatotopical input to areas dedicated to the mouth, and input to association tracts connecting the premotor and supplementary motor cortices. This paper discusses possible implications to neuroscientists, second language educators, and their students. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.