Neuroscience and Bilingualism: Effects of the Mother Tongue

Abstract

Based on a neurobiological perspective, the authors of this work address the effects ofthe mother tongue on learning a second language. Although studies on the problemhave been conducted in a number of countries, few deal with a neurobiological approach,and much less when it comes to Spanish as the first language. A compilationof descriptive and experimental literature was developed to acquire the data necessaryto accomplish the objectives of the study, and a qualitative meta-analysis of thedata obtained as such was performed using correlation tables. The data indicate thatacquiring a second language will be influenced invariably by the pre-establishedschemes of the first language and there are neurobiological aspects underlying certainmechanisms involving interference and the acquisition of a second language. Italso was found that the more similar the languages, the more the underlying neuralmechanisms facilitate the transfer from one to another.