Alejandro Peréz, Margaret Gillon Dowens, Nicola Molinaro, Yasser Iturria-Medina, Paulo Barraza, Lorna García-Pentón, and Manuel Carreiras

Previous research using ERP ERP-Event Related Potential: measured brain response that is the direct result of a specific sensory, cognitive, or motor event. Problem: Doesn’t show a consistent picture in regards to similar or different neural patterns. New Method: brain complex network analysis Based on a mathematical framework (graph theory)

Whether the neural mechanisms that underlie the processing of a second language in highly proficient late (adult) bilinguals are similar or not to those that underlie the processing of the first language.

L2 learners of Spanish and native speakers of Spanish Morphosyntactic Agreement Tasks Gender Agreement Tasks Sentences presented word by word

12 Late L2 speakers, native speakers of English Ages Females, 2 Males All started to learn Spanish after the age of 20 At least 12 years of immersion 12 Native speakers Ages Males, 2 Females All participants were matched in terms of education background and socioeconomic structure

80 Sentences 40 correct sentences 40 incorrect sentences Show article-noun gender agreement/disagreement at the start of the sentence Medium-High Frequency words Words contain between four and nine letters Words consist between 2-4 syllables

Monitor positioned between cm in front of the participant Performed a grammatical decision task. Asked to avoid eye movements and blinks if at all possible during while the sentences were being shown Favor Accuracy over speed

1. Similar patterns between bilinguals and monolinguals when reading a correct sentence (and searching for possible errors) 2. Different patterns when reading a sentence which is grammatically incorrect in gender, as it is not present in English

3. Late L2 Learners: differences between processing correct and incorrect sentences 3. L2 learners devote more attentional resources when trying to fit a mismatching word into a sentence 4. Lower parallel transfer 4. Monolinguals: No difference in processing correct sentences to incorrect sentences 3. No change in parallel transfer