Review of language organisation in bilingual patients: what can we learn from direct brain mapping?

摘要

Although the majority of people worldwide are bilingual, the brain representation of language in bilingual persons is still a matter of debate. Since the beginning of the studies conducted on bilinguals, most authors denied that learning a new language requires a new semantic processing or the involvement of new cortical areas. In this paper, we review neurosurgical studies using direct electrocortical or subcortical stimulation techniques for brain mapping in bilingual subjects and compare this data with that obtained from other brain mapping methods. The authors focused on the most controversial issue whether multiple languages are represented in common or distinct cerebral areas.