Proficiency-Dependent Reorganisation of Language and Control Networks during Second Language Processing: An fMRI Study of Korean-English Bilinguals

Abstract

Second language (L2) processing engages both language-specific and domain-general control systems, yet how these systems vary with L2 proficiency remains unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural activity during L2 English processing in Korean-English (K-E) bilinguals across three proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced). Participants performed rhyme and spelling judgement tasks manipulating orthographic-phonological conflict. Behaviourally, conflict conditions reduced accuracy, with proficiency effects observed selectively in the rhyme task. fMRI results showed that conflict processing recruited frontoparietal control regions, including inferior frontal and parietal cortices, accompanied by deactivation in default mode network regions. Critically, proficiency-related effects differed by task. During rhyme judgement, advanced bilinguals showed greater activation in the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and cerebellum, whereas intermediate bilinguals exhibited greater recruitment of the left middle orbital gyrus and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. During spelling judgement, advanced bilinguals showed greater thalamic activation alongside greater deactivation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Activity in the left SMG and cerebellum was positively associated with L2 reading score, and cerebellar activity was also associated with rhyme-task performance, whereas right DLPFC activity was negatively associated with the scores. These findings suggest that increasing L2 proficiency is associated less with altered recruitment of core reading regions than with task-specific shifts in the balance between phonological-specialized, subcortical attentional, and domain-general control systems supporting L2 processing.