Trends in Cognitive Sciences
OpinionReworking the language network
Section snippets
In search of the language organ
Many deeply important questions in cognition hinge on whether two mental processes rely on the same pool of cognitive and neural resources. Is processing faces distinct from processing other classes of visual objects? Do we use the same mechanisms to extract meaning from words versus pictures? Does resolving linguistic ambiguity draw on the same resources as other demanding tasks? This is one class of question where functional MRI (fMRI) can inform and constrain cognitive theories (cf. [1]; see
Scaling up the notion of functional specialization: from nodes to networks
What does it mean for a collection of brain regions to be functionally specialized for some mental process x? There are at least three ways to approach this question.
One strategy is to focus on the functional profiles of the individual nodes. For example, a network may be functionally specialized for mental process x if all of its nodes are functionally specialized for x (e.g., Figure 1A). Alternatively, perhaps the presence of at least one functionally specialized node is sufficient to qualify
The language network of interest
We turn now to our primary topic; namely, the language network. To ask questions about the nodes, edges, or dynamics of the language network, as described above, we need to define the language network. Immediately, we have a problem: what is language? That is, whatever task (or task comparison) one might choose to define the language network will require assumptions about what putative operations comprise language. One could rightly question whether it even makes sense to ask about a language
Is the language network functionally specialized?
The extent to which language – including its many components (like speech perception, letter/word recognition, articulation, and syntactic processing; Box 2) – relies on functionally specialized versus domain-general cognitive and neural machinery has been long debated. One important take-away message from the preceding section is that, under many definitions, the language network includes both relatively functionally specialized brain regions 24, 28, 29, 30 and brain regions better thought of
Concluding remarks
For many years, we – both as the individual scientists coauthoring this opinion article and as two representative researchers of the neurobiology of language – have been trying to understand the cognitive and neural architecture of language using regionally specific fMRI responses. Much of this work has been framed as a debate about the functional specificity of regions recruited during language processing, and we have contributed to each side of this debate. One of us has argued that there is
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Danielle Bassett, Ted Gibson, Nancy Kanwisher, and Sarah Solomon for comments on drafts of this manuscript. They were supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD R00 award HD-057522 to E.F. and NIH R01 DC009209 to S.L.T-S.
References (76)
Dynamic functional connectivity: promises, issues, and interpretations
Neuroimage
(2013)The multiple-demand (MD) system of the primate brain: mental programs for intelligent behaviour
Trends Cogn. Sci.
(2010)- et al.
Wernicke's area revisited: parallel streams and word processing
Brain Lang.
(2013) Unification of sentence processing via ear and eye: an fMRI study
Cortex
(2011)- et al.
Retrieval of abstract semantics
Neuroimage
(2004) Language-selective and domain-general regions lie side by side within Broca's area
Curr. Biol.
(2012)Loss of reliable temporal structure in event-related averaging of naturalistic stimuli
Neuroimage
(2012)Effects of repetition and competition on activity in left prefrontal cortex during word generation
Neuron
(1999)The frontal lobes and the regulation of mental activity
Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.
(2005)The nature of working memory in linguistic, arithmetic and spatial integration processes
J. Mem. Lang.
(2007)
The role of domain-general frontal systems in language comprehension: evidence from dual-task interference and semantic ambiguity
Brain Lang.
Role of working memory in explaining the performance of individuals with specific reading comprehension difficulties: a meta-analysis
Learn. Individ. Differ.
Resolving sentence ambiguity with planning and working memory resources: evidence from fMRI
Neuroimage
fMRI evidence for strategic decision-making during resolution of pronoun reference
Neuropsychologia
Modularity and cognition
Trends Cogn. Sci.
White matter integrity, fiber count, and other fallacies: the do's and don’ts of diffusion MRI
Neuroimage
Functional network organization of the human brain
Neuron
An fMRI investigation of syllable sequence production
Neuroimage
Constructions: a new theoretical approach to language
Trends Cogn. Sci.
Linguistic complexity: locality of syntactic dependencies
Cognition
Memory structures that subserve sentence comprehension
J. Mem. Lang.
Computational principles of working memory in sentence comprehension
Trends Cogn. Sci.
Expectation-based syntactic comprehension
Cognition
Experimental and theoretical approaches to conscious processing
Neuron
How can functional neuroimaging inform cognitive theories?
Perspect. Psychol. Sci.
How fMRI can inform cognitive theories
Perspect. Psychol. Sci.
The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?
Science
Functional and effective connectivity: a review
Brain Connect.
Informational connectivity: identifying synchronized discriminability of multi-voxel patterns across the brain
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Large-scale neurocognitive networks and distributed processing for attention, language, and memory
Ann. Neurol.
Multi-task connectivity reveals flexible hubs for adaptive task control
Nat. Neurosci.
Differential coupling of visual cortex with default or frontal–parietal network based on goals
Nat. Neurosci.
Top-down attention switches coupling between low-level and high-level areas of human visual cortex
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Dynamic reconfiguration of human brain networks during learning
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Broad domain generality in focal regions of frontal and parietal cortex
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Development of white matter and reading skills
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Functional MRI assessment of orofacial articulators: neural correlates of lip, jaw, larynx, and tongue movements
Hum. Brain Mapp.
New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects
J. Neurophysiol.
Cited by (402)
Disentangling neuroplasticity mechanisms in post-stroke language recovery
2024, Brain and LanguageFrom task structures to world models: what do LLMs know?
2024, Trends in Cognitive SciencesNeurobiological mechanisms for language, symbols and concepts: Clues from brain-constrained deep neural networks
2023, Progress in NeurobiologyThe effects of second-language age of acquisition on brain structural networks: A DTI study of high-proficient bilinguals
2023, Journal of NeurolinguisticsEvolutionary neuroanatomical expansion of Broca's region serving a human-specific function
2023, Trends in Neurosciences