Chapter 4
Bilingualism and language control
From neurolinguistics to neuropsychology
The field of neuropsychology can contribute to
bilingualism research from a multidisciplinary perspective that
ranges from psycholinguistics and brain imaging studies. While the
psycholinguistic approach provides the outlook on linguistic
processes in experimental study of patients with brain damage,
neural models define the underlying brain areas of such processes
and help to predict language deficits in said patients. Current
neural models of bilingualism do not provide accurate predictions of
deficits in bilinguals with brain damage since they have not been
tested in a systematic way. However, they do offer a roadmap for the
underlying cognitive and linguistic processes of bilingual language
control and speech production. In this chapter, I propose how a
neurolinguistic approach to bilingualism might be implemented in
neuropsychology by including: (a) the application of traditional
methods of cognitive (neuro)psychology to the field of bilingualism,
such as dissociations, (b) the use of psycholinguistic methods, and
(c) how neurodegenerative diseases may be a neuropsychological
paradigm in which one can study bilingual language processes.
Article outline
- The neural pathways of the bilingual language control
network
- How can neuropsychology contribute to bilingualism
research?
- Language control and basal ganglia
- Speech production and brain damage: Future directions
- Conclusions
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References