Event Details

This event is co-organised by the Multilingualism and Cognition Research Group, the Heritage Language 2 Consortium (HL2C), and UiT’s Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C/LaBL) Brain Domain. We are delighted to welcome Dr. John Anderson (Carleton University) as our invited speaker in our joint seminar series.

Title: A Balloon Model of Bilingual Plasticity: From Development to Cognitive Reserve

Abstract:

Like a balloon stretching as it fills with air, the cortex expands and thins as white matter grows. We propose that this Balloon Model provides a unifying biomechanical account of how experience, particularly bilingual language use, reshapes brain structure and function. By conceptualizing cortical morphology as dynamically coupled to subcortical expansion and mechanical tension, this model explains why bilingual experience produces distributed, nonuniform effects across grey and white matter. We argue that tension-driven expansion fosters functional segregation and network specialization, providing a mechanistic pathway to cognitive reserve. The framework links sustained attention, mediated by the cholinergic system, to microstructural changes in grey and white matter, to morphometric cortical remodelling, and, finally, to the reinforcement of large-scale functional connections. The Balloon Model thus yields testable predictions connecting white matter microstructure, cortical morphometry, and network integration across the lifespan.

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