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Abstract:
Introduction
Mapping Brain Structure and Personality in an Adult Sample of Personality is perceived to be a stable, enduring aspect of the individual, which might have major influences on the learning behaviour. The impact of personality on second language acquisition has been discussed from different aspects (Hu & Reiterer, in press; Dewaele & Furnham, 1999). Especially, empathetic capacity is supposed to be an important factor in second language pronunciation talent. The current study aimed at investigating the personality influences on the second language (L2) pronunciation talent on the brain structure level. We differentiated the pronunciation talent for unknown (no prior experience) and “known” (with prior experience) L2, since impact of personality on it might be mediated through the learning process.
Methods
Mapping Brain Structure and Personality in an Adult Sample of The L2 pronunciation talent of a group of native German speaker students (n = 110, age = 26 ± 5.5, 41 males) has been assessed, both in a trained second language (English) by a professional phonetician, and in a totally unknown language (Hindi) by a group of native Hindi speaking raters (n=30). All the subjects underwent neuropsychological assessment with respect to intelligence (verbal & non-verbal), working memory (digit span & non-word syllable span), musicality (tonal & rhythm perception), and personality (empathy). A subgroup of right handed subjects (n=59, age = 26 ± 5, 29 males) were assigned to structural MRI examination. Correlation analysis for the behavioural data and Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for the structural MRI data were undertaken.
Results
Mapping Brain Structure and Personality in an Adult Sample of Correlation analysis for behavioural data revealed that Hindi pronunciation talent score (HPTS) was significantly correlated with English pronunciation talent score (EPTS: r = .41, p <.001). HPTS was significantly correlated with verbal IQ (r = .20, p <.05), digit span (r = .35, p <.001), non-word syllable span (r = .37, p <.001), and rhythm perception (r = .19, p <.05). While EPTS was significantly correlated with tonal perception (r = .20, p <.05), rhythm perception (r = .22, p <.05), and empathy (r = .20, p <.05). VBM analysis revealed that empathy scores were significantly correlated with brain volume in the Broca language area (t = 5.62, p(FWE-corrected) <.05).
Conclusions
Mapping Brain Structure and Personality in an Adult Sample of The results indicated the cognitive advantages for the pronunciation talented person based on an unknown language (in comparison to a trained language). Musicality seems favourable for pronunciation ability in both cases: for trained and untrained language imitation. The impact of the personality on the trained pronunciation talent might be mediated by the learning process, which might have compensated the cognitive disadvantages.
