Involuntary language switching in two bilingual patients during the Wada test and intraoperative electrocortical stimulation

We present two bilingual patients without language disorders in whom involuntary language switching was induced. The first patient switched from Dutch to English during a left-sided amobarbital (Wada) test. Functional magnetic resonance imaging yielded a predominantly left-sided language distributio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and language 2007-04, Vol.101 (1), p.31-37
Main Authors: Kho, Kuan H., Duffau, Hugues, Gatignol, Peggy, Leijten, Frans S.S., Ramsey, Nick F., van Rijen, Peter C., Rutten, Geert-Jan M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amobarbital test
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Astrocytoma - surgery
Behavioral psychophysiology
Bilingualism
Bilingualism. Multilingualism
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - physiology
Brain Hemisphere Functions
Brain Mapping
Brain Neoplasms - surgery
Chinese
Code Switching (Language)
Cortical stimulation
Diagnostic Tests
Electric Stimulation
French
Functional Laterality - physiology
Functional MRI
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Glioma - surgery
Humans
Indo European Languages
Language
Language Processing
Language switching
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Multilingualism
Patients
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Stimulation
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Description
Summary:We present two bilingual patients without language disorders in whom involuntary language switching was induced. The first patient switched from Dutch to English during a left-sided amobarbital (Wada) test. Functional magnetic resonance imaging yielded a predominantly left-sided language distribution similar for both languages. The second patient switched from French to Chinese during intraoperative electrocortical stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus. We conclude that the observed language switching in both cases was not likely the result of a selective inhibition of one language, but the result of a temporary disruption of brain areas that are involved in language switching. These data complement the few lesion studies on (involuntary or unintentional) language switching, and add to the functional neuroimaging studies of switching, monitoring, and controlling the language in use.
ISSN:0093-934X
1090-2155
DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2006.11.009