{
  "abstract": "In adults, left hemisphere (LH) damage often leads to aphasia, but many cases of early damage leave linguistic processing intact, with a functional language system developing in the right hemisphere. To explain this early apparent equipotentiality of the two hemispheres for language, some have proposed that the language system is more bilateral during early development and becomes increasingly left-lateralized with age. We examined language lateralization using fMRI in two large developmental cohorts (total n=273 children aged 4-16 years; n=107 adults). Strong, adult-like LH lateralization (in response magnitude and activation volume) was evident by age 4, although other features of the LH language network showed protracted development, including the magnitude of language response and the strength of functional connectivity. Thus, although the RH can take over language function in some cases of early brain damage, this plasticity occurs in spite of adult-level LH bias present by age 4 years.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. oozernov@mit.edu",
    "Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. oozernov@mit.edu",
    "McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States",
    "McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA",
    "Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA",
    "MIT/Harvard University",
    "Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA",
    "Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States",
    "School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK",
    "University of Edinburgh",
    "Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA",
    "University of Maryland",
    "Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States",
    "Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA",
    "University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill",
    "Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA",
    "Boston University",
    "Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. evelina9@mit.edu",
    "McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. evelina9@mit.edu",
    "Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. evelina9@mit.edu"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Ola Ozernov‐Palchik",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0055-6642"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Amanda M. O’Brien",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5350-5457"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        3,
        7,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Elizabeth Jiachen Lee"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Hilary Richardson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3444-805X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10,
        11
      ],
      "name": "Rachel R. Romeo",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0315-4385"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Moshe Poliak",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5000-6668"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        3,
        12
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Lipkin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7465-5315"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Hannah Small",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2472-468X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15,
        16
      ],
      "name": "Jimmy Capella",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3326-294X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        7,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Alfonso Nieto-Castañón",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3451-3475"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        3,
        7,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca R. Saxe",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2377-1791"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        3,
        7,
        2
      ],
      "name": "John D. E. Gabrieli",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1158-5692"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        17,
        18,
        19
      ],
      "name": "Evelina G. Fedorenko",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3823-514X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4hba7c7pq62xn.bib",
  "cited_by": 28,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4hba7c7pq62xn",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "2805|Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience"
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  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72916-5_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC11118489",
  "pmid": "38798360",
  "published": "2026-05-16",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4hba7c7pq62xn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:53Z",
      "native_id": "W4396973866",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
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  "title": "Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age",
  "title_text": "Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4hba7c7pq62xn",
  "venue": "Nature Communications",
  "versions": []
}