Expertise modifies neural responses to causal inference during language comprehension
- 1Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Linguistic communication relies on shared common ground, yet different individuals in a community have specialized semantic knowledge. As a key example, physicians acquire rich knowledge about the causes of illness. An open question is whether such "causal expertise" influences the neural basis of language comprehension. Here we tested the hypothesis that when understanding everyday language like, "Holly used a grimy faucet during her overseas plane ride. Now she has the stomach flu," medical experts retrieve richer representations in semantic networks of the brain. Physicians (n=16) and age- and education-matched controls (n=16) undergoing fMRI read two-sentence vignettes that elicited implicit causal inferences about illness or object mechanics as well as control vignettes that did not elicit causal inferences. Vignettes were linguistically matched across conditions and were accessible to experts and non-experts alike. Across both groups, causal vignettes about illness engaged a temporoparietal semantic network previously implicated in thinking about animates, i.e., people and animals (precuneus and left temporoparietal junction), whereas causal vignettes about object mechanics engaged a semantic network associated with places and objects. Critically, physicians' responses in the animacy network were more robust and self-similar, suggesting the activation of richer semantic knowledge. Medical expertise effects were specific to biological inferences rather than mechanical or mental state inferences. By contrast, individually localized frontotemporal language and frontoparietal reasoning networks did not respond preferentially to causally connected sentences or show effects of expertise. Our findings suggest that causal expertise alters neural responses to causal inferences that unfold automatically during language comprehension.
Related
- What Shapes Brain Alignment of Large Language Models during Dialogue? Insights from Language Production and Comprehension
- Deep-layer cortical tracking abruptly collapses in the absence of language comprehension
- A domain-general basal ganglia mechanism for inhibitory control during language comprehension
- Inside a Programmer's Brain: Dissociating Code and Language Comprehension Networks Using a Novel fMRI-ESM Protocol.
- Spoken language comprehension relies on context-dependent neural weighting of syntax and prosody
BibTeX
@misc{hauptman2026expertise,
title = {{Expertise modifies neural responses to causal inference during language comprehension}},
author = {M. Hauptman and M. Bedny},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.64898/2026.11.01.763546},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763546v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Expertise modifies neural responses to causal inference during language comprehension
AU - M. Hauptman
AU - M. Bedny
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.11.01.763546
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763546v1
AB - Linguistic communication relies on shared common ground, yet different individuals in a community have specialized semantic knowledge. As a key example, physicians acquire rich knowledge about the causes of illness. An open question is whether such "causal expertise" influences the neural basis of language comprehension. Here we tested the hypothesis that when understanding everyday language like, "Holly used a grimy faucet during her overseas plane ride. Now she has the stomach flu," medical experts retrieve richer representations in semantic networks of the brain. Physicians (n=16) and age- and education-matched controls (n=16) undergoing fMRI read two-sentence vignettes that elicited implicit causal inferences about illness or object mechanics as well as control vignettes that did not elicit causal inferences. Vignettes were linguistically matched across conditions and were accessible to experts and non-experts alike. Across both groups, causal vignettes about illness engaged a temporoparietal semantic network previously implicated in thinking about animates, i.e., people and animals (precuneus and left temporoparietal junction), whereas causal vignettes about object mechanics engaged a semantic network associated with places and objects. Critically, physicians' responses in the animacy network were more robust and self-similar, suggesting the activation of richer semantic knowledge. Medical expertise effects were specific to biological inferences rather than mechanical or mental state inferences. By contrast, individually localized frontotemporal language and frontoparietal reasoning networks did not respond preferentially to causally connected sentences or show effects of expertise. Our findings suggest that causal expertise alters neural responses to causal inferences that unfold automatically during language comprehension.
ER -