Neurophysiological mechanisms involved in language learning in adults

摘要

Little is known about the brain mechanisms involved in word learning during infancy and in secondlanguage acquisition and about the way these new words become stable representations that sustainlanguage processing. In several studies we have adopted the human simulation perspective, studyingthe effects of brain-lesions and combining different neuroimaging techniques such as event-relatedpotentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging in order to examine the language learning(LL) process. In the present article, we review this evidence focusing on how different brain signa-tures relate to (i) the extraction of words from speech, (ii) the discovery of their embeddedgrammatical structure, and (iii) how meaning derived from verbal contexts can inform us aboutthe cognitive mechanisms underlying the learning process. We compile these findings and framethem into an integrative neurophysiological model that tries to delineate the major neural networksthat might be involved in the initial stages of LL. Finally, we propose that LL simulations can helpus to understand natural language processing and how the recovery from language disorders ininfants and adults can be accomplished.