How does the activity of mirror neurons differ between monolinguals and bilinguals when learning Russian

The activity of mirror neurons differs between monolinguals and bilinguals during language tasks, including learning Russian, mainly in the way the brain recruits and processes language-related stimuli. Research shows:

• Bilinguals tend to engage mirror neuron systems differently compared to monolinguals when observing and pronouncing emotional and non-emotional words in their native (Russian) and non-native languages, with bilinguals showing more complex patterns of neural activation reflecting the demands of managing two languages. This includes silent lip movements and observed speech activating mirror neurons variably depending on language familiarity and proficiency. ^{1, 2}

• Bilinguals show neural adaptations with stronger and more efficient engagement of language and executive control areas, possibly reflecting enhanced mirror neuron activity related to motor imitation and speech production processes during second language learning. ^{3, 4}

• Monolinguals during second language acquisition may rely differently on memory systems and exhibit different patterns of mirror neuron system activation than bilinguals, who have an already adapted neural architecture from managing multiple languages. ⁴

• The mirror neuron system’s role in bilinguals includes supporting speech imitation and emotional communication in non-native languages, suggesting that bilinguals might experience a form of neural plasticity in these systems supporting second language (like Russian) acquisition compared to monolinguals. ^{2, 1}

In summary, bilinguals typically have more complex and adaptive mirror neuron activity patterns when learning and using Russian, involving greater engagement of speech- and motor-related brain systems, whereas monolinguals show different, less specialized patterns reflecting initial second language learning stages. ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

References

• ACTIVITY OF MIRROR NEURONS IN MONOOLINGUAL AND BILINGUAL PEOPLE WHEN OBSERVING AND PRONUNCIZING EMOTIONAL AND NONEMOTIONAL WORDS IN THE NATIVE AND NATIVE LANGUAGES

• THE SYSTEM OF MIRROR NEURONS – AN INNATE MECHANISM OR A RESULT OF LEARNING?

• Neural correlates of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals

• Neural signatures of second language learning and control

• Studies of speech processes in monolinguals, bilinguals and multilinguals

• Can Virtual Reality Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar Disorder Enhance Specific Skills in Young Adults through Mirror Neuron Activity?—A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

• The Domain-General Multiple Demand Network Is More Active in Early Balanced Bilinguals Than Monolinguals During Executive Processing

• Broken or socially-mistuned mirror neurons in autism? An investigation via transcranial magnetic stimulation

• Mediodorsal Thalamic Neurons Mirror the Activity of Medial Prefrontal Neurons Responding to Movement and Reinforcement during a Dynamic DNMTP Task

• Context-dependent effects of morphosyntax processing in Turkish–Persian bilinguals: Electrophysiological and neuroanatomic correlates

• MIT Open Access Articles The Domain-General Multiple Demand Network Is More Active in Early Balanced Bilinguals Than Monolinguals During Executive Processing

• A neural signature of automatic lexical access in bilinguals

• Where, When and Why Brain Activation Differs for Bilinguals and Monolinguals during Picture Naming and Reading Aloud

• Bilingual Language Experience Shapes Resting-State Brain Rhythms

• Subcortical restructuring as a function of multilingualism: Insights from monolinguals, bilinguals, trilinguals and quadrilinguals

• Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Syntactic Processing and a Possible Neural Signature of Bilingualism

• Bilinguals Use Language-Control Brain Areas More Than Monolinguals to Perform Non-Linguistic Switching Tasks

• Language and cognitive control networks in bilinguals and monolinguals

• Bilingualism Alters the Neural Correlates of Sustained Attention.

• How age of bilingual exposure can change the neural systems for language in the developing brain: A functional near infrared spectroscopy investigation of syntactic processing in monolingual and bilingual children☆