Christos Pliatsikas
Biographic Data
| ID | 2496751 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christos Pliatsikas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christos |
| FAMILY NAME | Pliatsikas |
| SIGNATURE | PLIATSIKAS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad Nebrija |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7093-1773 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 19 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Mapping the functional dynamics of language control and executive functions in the bilingual brain with magnetoencephalography
Bilingualism has been associated with differences in brain function and organization, although findings remain inconsistent. This review examines magnetoencephalography (MEG) as a method that contributes to understanding the neural implementation of language control and executive functions in bilinguals. By directly measuring neural activity with millisecond temporal resolution, MEG can reveal the timing, spatial distribution, and frequency-speci…
Applying advanced quantitative methods in bi-/multilingualism
Hippocampal adaptations in Mild Cognitive Impairment patients are modulated by bilingual language experiences
Bilingualism has been shown to contribute to increased resilience against cognitive aging. One of the key brain structures linked to memory and dementia symptom onset, the hippocampus, has been observed to adapt in response to bilingual experience – at least in healthy individuals. However, in the context of neurodegenerative pathology, it is yet unclear what role previous bilingual experience might have in terms of sustaining integrity of this s…
Executive functions are modulated by the context of dual language use
Studies investigating the role of dual language use in modulating executive functions have reported mixed results, with some studies reporting benefits in older adults. These studies typically focus on bilingual settings, while the role of dual language use in diglossic settings is rarely investigated. In diglossia, the two language varieties are separated by context, making it an ideal test case for the effects on cognition of Single Language Co…
Subcortical restructuring as a function of multilingualism
Subcortical structures implicated in language control and processing adapt structurally with increasing language experience. However, the adaptation patterns across different subcortical structures remain unclear. Previous findings from bilinguals and multilinguals reveal renormalisation patterns, lending support to the Dynamic Restructuring Model (Pliatsikas, 2020). These patterns are composed of increasing volumes during the initial stages of l…
Examining functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as a tool to study brain function in bilinguals
There is increasing evidence that using more than one languages has significant effects on brain function. These effects have been observed in the developing, adult and aging brain, and have been suggested to have implications for cognitive and brain decline in bilinguals and multilinguals. Aside from extensive investigations with behavioral methods, such effects are now commonly investigated with functional neuroimaging methods, mostly functiona…
Brain structure adapts dynamically to highly demanding bilingual experiences
It remains an open question how the brain adapts structurally to handle strenuous cognitive challenges. Interpreters and translators rely on high cognitive control to regulate two languages in their jobs, which makes them ideal models in investigating experience-based neuroplasticity induced by exceptional cognitive demands. Using structural MRI, we compare volumes of the caudate nucleus and putamen, structures involved in bilingual language cont…
The effects of using two varieties of one language on cognition
Although the question of whether and how bilingualism affects executive functions has been extensively debated, less attention has been paid to the cognitive abilities of speakers of different varieties of the same language, in linguistic situations such as bidialectalism and diglossia. Similarly to the bilingual situation, in bidialectalism and diglossia speakers have two language varieties that are active at the same time. However, these situat…
Online Psycholinguistic Methods in Second Language Acquisition Research
Second language acquisition (SLA) research has traditionally used paper‐and‐pencil tasks, such as grammaticality judgment and completion tasks. In such tasks, participants usually have time to read the whole sentence, think and reflect about its form and meaning, and then make a conscious judgment about its grammaticality or how to complete it. This is why these tasks are called offline; that is, the information we get is after the participant ha…
Is There an Effect of Diglossia on Executive Functions? An Investigation among Adult Diglossic Speakers of Arabic
Recent studies investigating whether bilingualism has effects on cognitive abilities beyond language have produced mixed results, with evidence from young adults typically showing no effects. These inconclusive patterns have been attributed to many uncontrolled factors, including linguistic similarity and the conversational contexts the bilinguals find themselves in, including the opportunities they get to switch between their languages. In this …
Multiple sclerosis and bilingualism
It has been suggested that bilingualism is beneficial for executive control and could have positive long-term effects by delaying the onset of symptoms of degenerative diseases. This research investigates, for the first time, the impact of bilingualism on executive control (monitoring and inhibitory control) in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease which commonly causes deficiencies in the cognitive system. Bilingu…
Bilingualism and the declining brain
Preview this article: Bilingualism and the declining brain, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/lab.00031.int-1.gif
Understanding structural plasticity in the bilingual brain
Research on the effects of bi- and multi-lingualism on brain structure has so far yielded variable patterns. Although it cannot be disputed that learning and using additional languages restructures grey (cortical, subcortical and cerebellar) and white matter in the brain, both increases and reductions in regional volume and diffusivity have been reported. This paper revisits the available evidence from simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, mult…
Brain changes associated with language development and learning
The Many Shades of Bilingualism
Recent years have seen an expansion in the research related to structural brain adaptations related to the acquisition and processing of additional languages. However, the accumulating evidence remains to a great extent inconsistent, with a large variety of cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar effects reported in various studies. Here we propose that the variability in the data can be explained by the differences in the language background and e…
Redefining bilingualism as a spectrum of experiences that differentially affects brain structure and function
Learning and using an additional language is shown to have an impact on the structure and function of the brain, including in regions involved in cognitive control and the connections between them. However, the available evidence remains variable in terms of the localization, extent, and trajectory of these effects. Variability likely stems from the fact that bilingualism has been routinely operationalized as a categorical variable (bilingual/mon…
MultiPic
Numerous studies in psychology, cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics have used pictures of objects as stimulus materials. Currently, authors engaged in cross-linguistic work or wishing to run parallel studies at multiple sites where different languages are spoken must rely on rather small sets of black-and-white or colored line drawings. These sets are increasingly experienced as being too limited. Therefore, we constructed a new set of 7…
Evidence from neurolinguistic methodologies
This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramat…
Processing empty categories in a second language
An ongoing debate on second language (L2) processing revolves around whether or not L2 learners process syntactic information similarly to monolinguals (L1), and what factors lead to a native-like processing. According to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006a), L2 learners’ processing does not include abstract syntactic features, such as intermediate gaps of wh-movement, but relies more on lexical/semantic information. Other r…
The Many Shades of Bilingualism
Recent years have seen an expansion in the research related to structural brain adaptations related to the acquisition and processing of additional languages. However, the accumulating evidence remains to a great extent inconsistent, with a large variety of cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar effects reported in various studies. Here we propose that the variability in the data can be explained by the differences in the language background and e…
Is There an Effect of Diglossia on Executive Functions? An Investigation among Adult Diglossic Speakers of Arabic
Recent studies investigating whether bilingualism has effects on cognitive abilities beyond language have produced mixed results, with evidence from young adults typically showing no effects. These inconclusive patterns have been attributed to many uncontrolled factors, including linguistic similarity and the conversational contexts the bilinguals find themselves in, including the opportunities they get to switch between their languages. In this …
Evidence from neurolinguistic methodologies
This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramat…
Brain changes associated with language development and learning
Processing empty categories in a second language
An ongoing debate on second language (L2) processing revolves around whether or not L2 learners process syntactic information similarly to monolinguals (L1), and what factors lead to a native-like processing. According to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006a), L2 learners’ processing does not include abstract syntactic features, such as intermediate gaps of wh-movement, but relies more on lexical/semantic information. Other r…
Evidence from neurolinguistic methodologies
This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramat…
MultiPic
Numerous studies in psychology, cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics have used pictures of objects as stimulus materials. Currently, authors engaged in cross-linguistic work or wishing to run parallel studies at multiple sites where different languages are spoken must rely on rather small sets of black-and-white or colored line drawings. These sets are increasingly experienced as being too limited. Therefore, we constructed a new set of 7…
Redefining bilingualism as a spectrum of experiences that differentially affects brain structure and function
Learning and using an additional language is shown to have an impact on the structure and function of the brain, including in regions involved in cognitive control and the connections between them. However, the available evidence remains variable in terms of the localization, extent, and trajectory of these effects. Variability likely stems from the fact that bilingualism has been routinely operationalized as a categorical variable (bilingual/mon…
Understanding structural plasticity in the bilingual brain
Research on the effects of bi- and multi-lingualism on brain structure has so far yielded variable patterns. Although it cannot be disputed that learning and using additional languages restructures grey (cortical, subcortical and cerebellar) and white matter in the brain, both increases and reductions in regional volume and diffusivity have been reported. This paper revisits the available evidence from simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, mult…
Brain changes associated with language development and learning
The Many Shades of Bilingualism
Recent years have seen an expansion in the research related to structural brain adaptations related to the acquisition and processing of additional languages. However, the accumulating evidence remains to a great extent inconsistent, with a large variety of cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar effects reported in various studies. Here we propose that the variability in the data can be explained by the differences in the language background and e…
Multiple sclerosis and bilingualism
It has been suggested that bilingualism is beneficial for executive control and could have positive long-term effects by delaying the onset of symptoms of degenerative diseases. This research investigates, for the first time, the impact of bilingualism on executive control (monitoring and inhibitory control) in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease which commonly causes deficiencies in the cognitive system. Bilingu…
Bilingualism and the declining brain
Preview this article: Bilingualism and the declining brain, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/lab.00031.int-1.gif
Online Psycholinguistic Methods in Second Language Acquisition Research
Second language acquisition (SLA) research has traditionally used paper‐and‐pencil tasks, such as grammaticality judgment and completion tasks. In such tasks, participants usually have time to read the whole sentence, think and reflect about its form and meaning, and then make a conscious judgment about its grammaticality or how to complete it. This is why these tasks are called offline; that is, the information we get is after the participant ha…
Is There an Effect of Diglossia on Executive Functions? An Investigation among Adult Diglossic Speakers of Arabic
Recent studies investigating whether bilingualism has effects on cognitive abilities beyond language have produced mixed results, with evidence from young adults typically showing no effects. These inconclusive patterns have been attributed to many uncontrolled factors, including linguistic similarity and the conversational contexts the bilinguals find themselves in, including the opportunities they get to switch between their languages. In this …
Brain structure adapts dynamically to highly demanding bilingual experiences
It remains an open question how the brain adapts structurally to handle strenuous cognitive challenges. Interpreters and translators rely on high cognitive control to regulate two languages in their jobs, which makes them ideal models in investigating experience-based neuroplasticity induced by exceptional cognitive demands. Using structural MRI, we compare volumes of the caudate nucleus and putamen, structures involved in bilingual language cont…
The effects of using two varieties of one language on cognition
Although the question of whether and how bilingualism affects executive functions has been extensively debated, less attention has been paid to the cognitive abilities of speakers of different varieties of the same language, in linguistic situations such as bidialectalism and diglossia. Similarly to the bilingual situation, in bidialectalism and diglossia speakers have two language varieties that are active at the same time. However, these situat…
Hippocampal adaptations in Mild Cognitive Impairment patients are modulated by bilingual language experiences
Bilingualism has been shown to contribute to increased resilience against cognitive aging. One of the key brain structures linked to memory and dementia symptom onset, the hippocampus, has been observed to adapt in response to bilingual experience – at least in healthy individuals. However, in the context of neurodegenerative pathology, it is yet unclear what role previous bilingual experience might have in terms of sustaining integrity of this s…
Executive functions are modulated by the context of dual language use
Studies investigating the role of dual language use in modulating executive functions have reported mixed results, with some studies reporting benefits in older adults. These studies typically focus on bilingual settings, while the role of dual language use in diglossic settings is rarely investigated. In diglossia, the two language varieties are separated by context, making it an ideal test case for the effects on cognition of Single Language Co…
Subcortical restructuring as a function of multilingualism
Subcortical structures implicated in language control and processing adapt structurally with increasing language experience. However, the adaptation patterns across different subcortical structures remain unclear. Previous findings from bilinguals and multilinguals reveal renormalisation patterns, lending support to the Dynamic Restructuring Model (Pliatsikas, 2020). These patterns are composed of increasing volumes during the initial stages of l…
Examining functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as a tool to study brain function in bilinguals
There is increasing evidence that using more than one languages has significant effects on brain function. These effects have been observed in the developing, adult and aging brain, and have been suggested to have implications for cognitive and brain decline in bilinguals and multilinguals. Aside from extensive investigations with behavioral methods, such effects are now commonly investigated with functional neuroimaging methods, mostly functiona…
Applying advanced quantitative methods in bi-/multilingualism
Mapping the functional dynamics of language control and executive functions in the bilingual brain with magnetoencephalography
Bilingualism has been associated with differences in brain function and organization, although findings remain inconsistent. This review examines magnetoencephalography (MEG) as a method that contributes to understanding the neural implementation of language control and executive functions in bilinguals. By directly measuring neural activity with millisecond temporal resolution, MEG can reveal the timing, spatial distribution, and frequency-speci…
Psychology (17 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (16 works) · Cognitive psychology (13 works) · Linguistics (13 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Cognition (11 works) · Neuroscience (11 works) · Neuroscience of multilingualism (11 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (10 works) · Language Development and Disorders (9 works)