{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,19]],"date-time":"2026-05-19T12:05:47Z","timestamp":1779192347968,"version":"3.51.4"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,15]]},"group-title":"Neuroscience","reference-count":29,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,15]],"date-time":"2026-05-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778803200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000055","name":"The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["T32DC019481"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["T32DC019481"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000055","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"The National Science Foundation","award":["SBE0541953"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SBE0541953"]}]},{"name":"Georgetown University's Office of Biomedical Graduate Education"},{"name":"Office of the Dean for Research at the School of Arts and Sciences","award":["via the Concentration in Cognitive Science"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["via the Concentration in Cognitive Science"]}]},{"name":"Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging"},{"name":"Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Research Centers"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Prior studies in bilinguals have reported relationships between brain structure and the dimensions of (i) language proficiency or (ii) language balance (the discrepancy between a bilingual\u2019s two proficiencies), but rarely both, even though they are highly related. These studies were often conducted in late bilinguals and the analyses limited to regions of interest. Here, we tested for relationships between brain structure and these two dimensions in 46 early cultural Spanish-English bilinguals (mean age = 16.7 years) at the level of the whole brain for gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness (CT). Results revealed a positive association between GMV and proficiency in the weaker language in the right angular gyrus (AG; BA 39) extending into the superior temporal gyrus (BA 22). More balanced bilingualism was also associated with more GMV in the AG (BA 39), in addition to less GMV in left postcentral gyrus (BA 1), right cerebellum lobule IX and right superior occipital gyrus (BA 18). However, these relationships between GMV and balance disappeared after controlling for language proficiency. No significant associations were observed for CT and these two dimensions of language. Our findings suggest that relationships between GMV and balance are driven by language proficiency, and that the relationship between GMV and language proficiency likely does not involve language-specific mechanisms, given the location of the association is in the right inferior parietal cortex. Together, this study separates the neuroanatomical bases of these two language dimensions and places them in brain regions outside those usually targeted in prior studies.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Highlights<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:list list-type=\"order\">\n                    <jats:list-item>\n                      <jats:p>Neuroanatomy was correlated with proficiencies in early Spanish-English bilinguals<\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:list-item>\n                      <jats:p>Right angular gyrus gray matter volume (GMV) was positively related to proficiency<\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:list-item>\n                      <jats:p>GMV was positively related to balance, but not after controlling for proficiency<\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:list-item>\n                      <jats:p>Relations with these language dimensions are located outside of language cortex<\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:list-item>\n                      <jats:p>No significant associations were observed for cortical thickness<\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:list-item>\n                  <\/jats:list>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.05.14.725184","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,15]],"date-time":"2026-05-15T08:25:16Z","timestamp":1778833516000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Associations between brain structure and both language proficiency and language balance in early bilinguals"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9582-4998","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mia R.","family":"Coutinho","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for the Study of Learning, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 2007, USA"},{"name":"Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, 20057, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8066-1276","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edith","family":"Brignoni-P\u00e9rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for the Study of Learning, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 2007, USA"},{"name":"Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, 20057, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1618-1112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nasheed I.","family":"Jamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for the Study of Learning, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 2007, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5942-1497","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guinevere F.","family":"Eden","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for the Study of Learning, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 2007, USA"},{"name":"Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, 20057, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026051904100985000_2026.05.14.725184v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/desc.12654"},{"key":"2026051904100985000_2026.05.14.725184v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2007.07.007"},{"key":"2026051904100985000_2026.05.14.725184v1.3","unstructured":"Ashburner, J. 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