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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Communications

Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age

  • Ola Ozernov‐Palchik1,2,3
  • Amanda M. O’Brien4,5,6
  • Elizabeth Jiachen Lee7,4,8,3
  • Hilary Richardson9,10
  • Rachel R. Romeo11,12
  • Moshe Poliak7,8,3
  • Benjamin Lipkin7,4,13
  • Hannah Small14,15
  • Jimmy Capella16,17
  • Alfonso Nieto-Castañón4,8,3
  • Rebecca R. Saxe7,4,8,3
  • John D. E. Gabrieli7,4,8,3
1 more authors
  • Evelina G. Fedorenko18,19,20
20 affiliations
  1. 1McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
  2. 2Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. [email protected]
  3. 3McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
  4. 4McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  5. 5Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
  6. 6MIT/Harvard University
  7. 7Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  8. 8Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
  9. 9School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  10. 10University of Edinburgh
  11. 11Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
  12. 12University of Maryland
  13. 13Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
  14. 14Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
  15. 15University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  16. 16Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
  17. 17Boston University
  18. 18Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
  19. 19McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
  20. 20Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
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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.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ozernovpalchik2026precision,
  title = {{Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age}},
  author = {Ola Ozernov‐Palchik and Amanda M. O’Brien and Elizabeth Jiachen Lee and Hilary Richardson and Rachel R. Romeo and Moshe Poliak and Benjamin Lipkin and Hannah Small and Jimmy Capella and Alfonso Nieto-Castañón and Rebecca R. Saxe and John D. E. Gabrieli and Evelina G. Fedorenko},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age
AU  - Ola Ozernov‐Palchik
AU  - Amanda M. O’Brien
AU  - Elizabeth Jiachen Lee
AU  - Hilary Richardson
AU  - Rachel R. Romeo
AU  - Moshe Poliak
AU  - Benjamin Lipkin
AU  - Hannah Small
AU  - Jimmy Capella
AU  - Alfonso Nieto-Castañón
AU  - Rebecca R. Saxe
AU  - John D. E. Gabrieli
AU  - Evelina G. Fedorenko
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/16
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72916-5
AB  - 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.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -