Language Area of Brain Become More Localized with Age, April 7, 2006

In studies performed by Dr. Rhawn Joseph, and others, it was established that the left and right hemisphere of the infant and child have the ability to acquire the denotative and gramamtical aspects of langauge, which is why, following early left hemisphere injury, language can migrate and become localized to the right hemisphere.

As also theorized by Dr. Joseph and colleagues during the 1980s and 1990s, a considerable amount of "pruning" occurs such that as the left hemisphere acquires language, redundant or less specilized neurons drop out--which is why children can more easily acquire more than one language, whereas adults have considerable difficulty.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have also found that the number of neural areas in children's brains devoted to language decreases as children age.

According to Dr. Jerzy Szaflarski, his research also indicates that as a child grows more language proficient, recalling words may involve less effort because the language areas in the brain are more flexible when children are younger and become more specialized as they mature," said Szaflarski. "This raises hope for rehabilitation of brain function in children after stroke or traumatic brain injuries."

Szaflarski and senior co-author Scott Holland, a pediatrics professor, studied 30 children for five years, monitoring their responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

According to this research, more brain areas are involved during a language exercise in a 5-year-old than in an 11-year-old.

The research was presented Thursday in San Diego during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology and also appears in the journal Annals of Neurology.