ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explain the relationship between the bilingual’s languages and the further cognitive effects of bilingualism on the adult brain. M. Hernandez et al suggest that the seemingly small differences between Italian and English may require activating a different part of the brain for each language. An equally important line of research pursued by psychologists and neurolinguists is the extent to which early bilingual language exposure does or does not affect language processing. In the case of the former, differences in neural activation would suggest that monolinguals and bilinguals process language in a different manner from each other. Technological advances have allowed researchers to peer into the brain as it performs various language tasks, providing a deeper understanding of the brain in general as well as of the processing similarities and differences between monolingual brains and bilingual brains.
