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Science 4 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5749, pp. 815 - 819
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113530
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Viewpoint

Language Acquisition and Brain Development

Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

Language acquisition is one of the most fundamental human traits, and it is obviously the brain that undergoes the developmental changes. During the years of language acquisition, the brain not only stores linguistic information but also adapts to the grammatical regularities of language. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging have substantially contributed to systems-level analyses of brain development. In this Viewpoint, I review the current understanding of how the "final state" of language acquisition is represented in the mature brain and summarize new findings on cortical plasticity for second language acquisition, focusing particularly on the function of the grammar center.

Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. Core Research of Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi-shi 332-0012, Japan.

E-mail: sakai{at}mind.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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