Functional specificity for high-level linguistic processing in the human brain

“…also showed less overlap with the language network, by either having less anatomical overlap with the established functional language localizer map or showing anatomical overlap with superior frontal and posterior temporal brain areas less reliably activated in language studies 9,10,16,17,25,26 .”

“…day it was and out on the wide ... remarkable selectivity for language processing compared to various non-linguistic inputs and tasks, such as music perception (Fedorenko et al., 2012a; Chen et al., 2023) or arithmetic computation (Fedorenko et al., 2011) (for review, see (Fedorenko et al., 2024)).”

“With these images, we measured and analyzed behavioral tasks alongside image features derived from pre-trained data-rich models.”

“…that the ROIs selected for the present study do form part of the more general “ language network ” , highlighted by extensive fMRI research (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011; Hagoort, 2014; Price, 2012) and confirming the picture already painted by lesion studies in the 19th century (Broca, 1861;…”

“…with numerous previous neuroimaging studies of L1 spoken languages that report greater Broca’s area activation for reading sentences than word lists (Fedorenko et al., 2010, 2011, 2012a,b,c; Fedorenko and Kanwisher, 2011; Blank et al., 2016), as well as with previous neuroimaging and…”

“This cluster has a high overlap with the language-selective region within Broca ’ s area (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Fedorenko and Blank, 2020).”

“However, the causal relevance of LpIFG for syntactic processes remains largely unclear (Blank & Fedorenko, 2017; Buchsbaum et al., 2005; Diachek et al., 2020; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Hickok et al., 2003; Santi & Grodzinsky, 2007b, 2010).”

“Based on prior research mean ERP amplitudes were calculated for the N400 in the 300–500 ms time window5 over a centroparietal Region-of-Interest (ROI) including 18 electrodes (31, 37, 53, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62, 67, 72, 77, 78, 79, 80, 85, 86, 87, REF); for the later frontal and parietal effects in the 600–800 time window…”

“, lexicalsemantics/syntax) (Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“Despite plenty supporting experimental evidence, recent studies have challenged the view that language and music make use of shared brain areas for their syntactic processing (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Fitch and Martins, 2014) or a common syntactic parser (Perruchet and Poulin-Charronnat, 2013; Bigand et al.”

“It is possible that more contemporary approaches to fMRI analysis may allow a similar demonstration of functional specificity at the spatial level (Fedorenko et al., 2011) but this would still not offer the temporal segregation that can be offered by EEG/MEG techniques, nor the insights offered by examining oscillator…”

“One source of inspiration for our method is long-standing work in the field of neuroscience that suggests certain areas of the brain are reserved for specific tasks [16, 36] (i.e. functional specificity).”

“…selectively recruits the fusiform face area [Kanwisher et al., 1997], language processing relies on a set of specialized regions called the language network [Fedorenko et al., 2011], and theory of mind reasoning relies on an area in the temporo-parietal junction [Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003].”

“This evidence includes the lack of activity in the language brain regions during non-linguistic tasks that allegedly require language (e.g., Amalric & Dehaene, 2016, 2019; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Ivanova et al., 2021; Monti et al., 2009, 2012), the retained ability of some individuals with aphasia to perform such task…”

“However, the empirical literature that is used to support this position (from both neuroimaging and neuropsychology) widely assumes that spatial coordinates in the brain implement the same function across individuals—an assumption that is known to be incorrect for the language system and to lead systematically both to…”

“LSTG, LMFG, and LIFG contain acknowledged important components of the brain language network [7].”

“In recent decades, the large progress in fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) technology has led to major breakthroughs in neurolinguistics research [2], [3].”

“…responses in higher cortical areas show specializations for object shape, face identity, place, and many other properties (e.g., (Deen et al., 2017; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Saygin et al., 2016; Vul et al., 2012)), and that focal lesions to these areas produce correspondingly specific cognitive…”

“…has been localised to BA 44 does not imply that this area is not a crucial part of the syntactic network, uniquely involved in processing language (Fedorenko, Behr, and Kanwisher, 2011) and especially hierarchical structure (Musso et al., 2003), independent of other cognitive functions such as…”

“These networks have also been found to be distinct from a third, spatially adjacent system sensitive to linguistic content ( 27 , 28 ).”

“The language network—which spans regions within the temporal, lateral frontal, and medial cortices—is associated with the processing, production, and comprehension of language (Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“…2019), music (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011; Rogalsky et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2023), logic (e.g., Monti et al., 2009), executive control (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011; Mineroff, Blank et al., 2018), action/gesture observation (e.g., Pritchett et al., 2018; Jouravlev et al., 2019), Theory of…”

“We used the reading task as a test case for number of reasons: on one the hand, the reading of sentences engages rich and relatively non-specialized cognitive processing (but see: Fedorenko et al., 2011); on other hand, this task is unrelated to the processing of faces; in addition, Table 3.”

“Alternatively, the left middle frontal gyrus has been associated with verbal working memory for sentence processing (Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“Given the well-documented interindividual variability in the precise locations of the MD and language areas (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011, 2013; Shashidhara et al., 2020), an anatomical location cannot be used to interpret an effect as arising within the MD network vs. the language network.”

“In contrast, the overlap Correlations of factors with maps of the language network and multiple-demand network 47,48 show a relatively stronger overlap of executive speech functions and language with the language network.”

“…that have previously been associated with language representations: the high-level auditory cortex (AC), the superior temporal sulcus (STS), Broca’s area and the superior ventral premotor speech area (sPMv) (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Huth et al., 2016; de Heer et al., 2017; Deniz et al., 2019).”

“…al., 2021; Rapoport et al., 2000; Schmahmann, 2019; Schmahmann et al., 2019; Strick et al., 2009) and language in particular (Casto et al, 2025 b; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Highnam & Bleile, 2011; LeBel et al., 2021; Mariën & Borgatti, 2018; Smet et al., 2007; Starowicz-Filip et al., 2017), as…”

“…performance (accuracy, p = 0.302; log RTs, p = 0.372), nor an interaction between trial type and tDCS condition (accuracy, p = 0.466; log RTs, p = 0.127), indicating that performance did not di ff er meaning-fully between brain stimulation conditions (for full coe ffi cient estimates, see Table 4).”

“A network of frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, principally in the left hemisphere, have been identified to be involved in sentence processing (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Matchin & Hickok, 2020; Uddén et al., 2022).”

“These results are shown in Figure 5A. Healthy controls showed significant activation in these voxels for the left (V=66, p=0.001) and right hemisphere (V=63, p=0.003).”

“According to advanced fMRI techniques pioneered more than a decade ago (5), “the system responds in the same way to speaking, writing—all the kinds of languages a person knows and speaks, including sign languages,” says psychologist Anna Ivanova at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who is a…”

“…multiple parallel and partially dissociable human brain networks possess symbolic abilities and deploy them in different domains such as natural language, music and mathematics (Amalric and Dehaene, 2017; Chen et al., 2021; Dehaene et al., 2022; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Fedorenko and Varley, 2016).”

“Fedorenko and colleagues too have reported weak Stroop effects in some language-specific functional ROIs in some studies (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Fedorenko et al., 2012).”

“The non-verbal task is a spatial working memory task (Fedorenko et al., 2011) that demands more visuospatial attention than does the verbal task.”

“…(as defined by standard versions of the language localizer task) are highly selective for language relative to diverse non-linguistic inputs and tasks (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011; Ivanova et al., 2020, 2021; Chen et al., 2023; for reviews, see Fedorenko & Blank, 2020; Fedorenko et al., 2024).”

“This possibility, however, would need to reconcile the fact that mathematical, rather than language areas, seem to represent the algebraic auditory patterns [8,53].”

“At the same time, the rise in “mathematics” (3.76) underscores how the abstract logic of mathematical notation clashes with the linear structure of natural language—an issue that warrants targeted empirical research on L2 authors [114–116].”

“This dataset includes the time series of BOLD signals of several functional regions of interest (fROIs) in the language network (Fedorenko et al., 2011), which were identified with a localizer task.”

“This task has been shown to be robust to the materials, task, and modality of presentation 73,112,192,193 .”

“…narratives increased activation more than neutral narratives in several neocortical and cerebellar regions typically activated by language in both adults and children ( Enge et al., 2020; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Friederici, 2011; Hiersche et al., 2024; Ozernov-Palchik et al., 2024; Price, 2010).”

“This network consists of left lateral frontal and lateral temporal areas and selectively supports language comprehension and production (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“These regions are the main constitutes of 657 the canonical language system that is more activated by language tasks compared with 658 control tasks (Fedorenko et al., 2011; Fedorenko & Thompson-Schill, 2014).”

“These areas are thought to support linguistic, semantic and social processes (Buckner et al., 2008; Hassabis et al., 2007; Binder et al., 2009; Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“For a full description of the procedure, see (10).”

“Conversely, Sub2’s activation primarily clustered in: (1) Broca’s area within the inferior frontal gyrus, which coordinates speech motor planning and production 47 ; and (2) Wernicke’s area in the posterior superior temporal gyrus, supporting language comprehension.”

“6,48 Conversely, the MD fCOI was identified as the channel showing the maximum contrast between the hard and easy conditions of the cognitive control task.”

“…Gorno-Tempini et al., 2004; Mesulam et al., 2014, 2015), task-based fMRI ( Badzakova-Trajkov et al., 2010; Binder et al., 2011; Bishop et al., 2024; Fedorenko et al., 2010, 2011; Friederici et al., 2000; Gerrits et al., 2020; Ivanova et al., 2021; Labache et al., 2020; Lipkin et al., 2022; Mazoyer…”

“, anterior BA 44) which do not overlap with non-linguistic processes (e.g., Campbell & Tyler, 2018; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Jouravlev et al., 2019; Papitto et al., 2020).”

“It has also been harnessed to distinguish a “core” part of the language network from regions recruited across other cognitive domains (Fedorenko et al. 2011; 2012), or to explore how a given task (e.”

“For instance, the language network is often described as unilateral (Mazoyer et al., 2014) but several lines of evidence suggest it is at least partially bilateral but asymmetric (Lambon Ralph et al., 2001; Fedorenko et al., 2011).”

“First, some authors have proposed music as a protolanguage (Darwin, 1871, and see Fitch, 2006, for a discussion), and neural bases of language and music possibly overlap substantially (Patel, 2003; Koelsch, 2005; Fedorenko et al., 2009; Peretz et al., 2015, but see Fedorenko et al., 2011, 2012).”

“To identify fROIs in this network we relied on its profile of deactivation during tasks that tax executive functions for the processing of external stimuli, and used a visuo-spatial working-memory localizer that included a “hard” condition requiring the memorization of 8 locations on a 3×4 grid (Fedorenko et al., 2011…”

“While responses were recorded for the whole brain, we focus on two specific regions, involved in either linguistic or visual processing: the left-hemisphere Language network (Fedorenko et al., 2011) and the Visual network (Power et al., 2011; Buckner et al., 2008).”

“…(e.g., the inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal areas), and premotor cortex (Baddeley, 2003; Hickok and Poeppel, 2007; Koelsch et al., 2009; Fedorenko et al., 2011; Buchsbaum et al., 2005), as well as the bilateral auditory cortices for retaining stimulus-specific features of auditory…”

“https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02382-1 the frontotemporal network, which is anatomically separate from the medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and entorhinal cortex—regions central to the compositional abilities discussed earlier 73–75 .”

“Following their decomposition, our design mirrors four canonical networks: the language network (Fedorenko et al., 2011), multiple-demand network (Duncan, 2010), theory-of-mind network (Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003), and default-mode network (Gus-nard et al., 2001).”