“Je früher desto besser?” – Zur Neuroplastizität des Spracherwerbs

Résumé

Can one acquire one or more foreign languages equally well at any age? From the perspective of cognitive neuroscience, this article takes stock of the current situation. In this context, the limitations and possibilities of the imaging methods used today to examine brain structures and functions are discussed. In summary, from the point of view of brain research it can be said that the ability to learn foreign languages decreases over the course of one’s life, which can be explained both by processes of maturation (specialisation) and degradation (dedifferentiation). However, future research in this area will have to give greater weight to individual aspects and focus on the use of longitudinal models and innovative statistical models.