Person-specific connectivity mapping uncovers differences of bilingual language experience on brain bases of attention in children.

Bilingualism influences children's cognition, yet bilinguals vary greatly in their dual-language experiences. To uncover sources of variation in bilingual and monolingual brain function, the present study used standard analysis and innovative person-specific connectivity models combined with a data-driven grouping algorithm. Children (ages 7-9; N = 52) completed a visuo-spatial attention task while undergoing functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging. Both bilingual and monolingual groups performed similarly, and engaged bilateral frontal and parietal regions. However, bilinguals showed greater brain activity than monolinguals in left frontal and parietal regions. Connectivity models revealed two empirically-derived subgroups. One subgroup was composed of monolinguals and bilinguals who were more English dominant, and showed left frontal-parietal connections. The other was composed of bilinguals who were balanced in their dual-language abilities and showed left frontal lobe connections. The findings inform how individual variation in early language experiences influences children's emerging cortical networks for executive function, and reveal efficacy of data-driven approaches.