Figs. 1(a) (SnT condition) and 2(b) (FST condition) show participant-based results from univariate Searchlight analysis, as MVPA is essentially a single-subject analysis. Fig. 1(c) shows group-based results from the two conditions.

For the situational non-translation (SnT) language switching condition, we found two large and some small clusters in the results of the univariate Searchlight. The peak of the first cluster was located in the left fusiform gyrus, and that of the second http://www.selleckchem.com/ALK.html one was found in the right inferior occipital gyrus. The other small clusters were distributed in the right superior temporal gyrus, the right precuneus, and the left superior temporal gyrus. For the focused simultaneous translation (FST) language-switch condition, the most informative voxels were concentrated in the left fusiform gyrus, the left cerebellum and the left lingual gyrus. Other large clusters observed were in the right lingual gyrus, the right middle occipital gyrus and the right calcarine. One small cluster was also found in the left middle temporal gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus. The GLM analysis also revealed some significant clusters for the following contrasts (Table 1 and Fig. 1(d)). For the SnT condition, we use the acronyms “k2k-vs-c2c”

standing for “Korean (as stimulus) to Korean (as task)” versus “Chinese (as stimulus) to Chinese (as task)”, and “c2c-vs-k2k”, meaning “Chinese (as stimulus) to Chinese (as task)” versus “Korean (as stimulus) to Korean (as task)”. Bcl-xL protein For the FST condition, we use the acronym “c2k-vs-k2c” standing for “Chinese (as stimulus)

to Korean (as task)” versus Cell press “Korean (as stimulus) to Chinese (as task)”. The contrast of the opposite direction is noted here as “k2c-vs-c2k” following the same notation. k2k-vs-c2c: significant activation was found in the left middle frontal gyrus (Broca’s area), the left precentral and the left caudate. c2c-vs-k2k: we found that the right superior frontal gyrus, the left postcentral as well as the left medial superior frontal gyrus were activated at the peak level but were not significant at a cluster level. k2c-vs-c2k: this condition significantly activated a wide range of brain regions distributed in the frontal, temporal and parietal areas. The strongly activated areas were the left middle frontal gyrus, the right supplementary motor area, the left middle temporal gyrus, the right middle temporal gyrus, the left inferior parietal gyrus, the left postcentral, and the right postcentral. c2k-vs-k2c: the occipital regions of the brain were significantly activated, including the left middle occipital gyrus, the left inferior occipital gyrus and the right superior occipital gyrus. In the present study, we focused on Korean–Chinese early bilinguals and language-switching tasks to explore the nature of bilingualism.