The Extended Language Network: Language-Responsive Brain Areas Whose Contributions to Language Remain To Be Discovered
- 1McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- 2Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- 3Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology (SHBT), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Abstract
Although language neuroscience has largely focused on ‘core’ left frontal and temporal brain areas and their right-hemisphere homotopes, numerous other areas—cortical and subcortical—have been implicated in linguistic processing. However, these areas’ contributions to language remain unclear given that the evidence for their recruitment comes from diverse paradigms, many of which conflate language processing with perceptual, motor, or task-related cognitive processes. Using fMRI data from 772 participants (438 females, 334 males) performing an extensively validated language ‘localizer’ paradigm that isolates language processing from other processes, we a) delineate a comprehensive set of areas that respond reliably to language across written and auditory modalities, and b) evaluate these areas’ selectivity for language relative to a demanding non-linguistic task. In line with prior claims, many areas outside the core fronto-temporal network respond during language processing, and most of them show selectivity for language relative to general task demands. These language-selective areas of the extended language network include areas around the temporal poles, in the medial frontal cortex, in the hippocampus, and in the cerebellum, among others. Although distributed across many parts of the brain, the extended language-selective network still only comprises a small fraction (<5%) of the grey matter volume, challenging the view that the entire brain processes language. These newly identified language-selective areas can now be systematically characterized to decipher their contributions to language processing, including testing whether these contributions differ from those of the core language areas. Significance statement Language processing consistently recruits a left-lateralized fronto-temporal brain network, but language tasks often additionally engage areas outside this core system. In an fMRI dataset of 772 participants performing a validated language localizer task, we identified 17 brain areas outside the core fronto-temporal network that respond to both auditory and written language. Most of these areas show selectivity for language, including regions in the temporal poles, medial frontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum. Despite its large number of components, this extended language network still only takes up a small fraction of the grey matter volume, challenging the view that the entire brain processes language. These findings lay the foundation for systematic characterization of these newly identified non-canonical language areas.
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BibTeX
@article{wolna2026extended,
title = {{The Extended Language Network: Language-Responsive Brain Areas Whose Contributions to Language Remain To Be Discovered}},
author = {Agata Wolna and Aaron Wright and Colton Casto and Samuel Hutchinson and Benjamin Lipkin and Evelina G. Fedorenko},
journal = {Journal of Neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1523/jneurosci.0638-25.2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0638-25.2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The Extended Language Network: Language-Responsive Brain Areas Whose Contributions to Language Remain To Be Discovered
AU - Agata Wolna
AU - Aaron Wright
AU - Colton Casto
AU - Samuel Hutchinson
AU - Benjamin Lipkin
AU - Evelina G. Fedorenko
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/29
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
DO - 10.1523/jneurosci.0638-25.2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0638-25.2026
AB - Although language neuroscience has largely focused on ‘core’ left frontal and temporal brain areas and their right-hemisphere homotopes, numerous other areas—cortical and subcortical—have been implicated in linguistic processing. However, these areas’ contributions to language remain unclear given that the evidence for their recruitment comes from diverse paradigms, many of which conflate language processing with perceptual, motor, or task-related cognitive processes. Using fMRI data from 772 participants (438 females, 334 males) performing an extensively validated language ‘localizer’ paradigm that isolates language processing from other processes, we a) delineate a comprehensive set of areas that respond reliably to language across written and auditory modalities, and b) evaluate these areas’ selectivity for language relative to a demanding non-linguistic task. In line with prior claims, many areas outside the core fronto-temporal network respond during language processing, and most of them show selectivity for language relative to general task demands. These language-selective areas of the extended language network include areas around the temporal poles, in the medial frontal cortex, in the hippocampus, and in the cerebellum, among others. Although distributed across many parts of the brain, the extended language-selective network still only comprises a small fraction (<5%) of the grey matter volume, challenging the view that the entire brain processes language. These newly identified language-selective areas can now be systematically characterized to decipher their contributions to language processing, including testing whether these contributions differ from those of the core language areas. Significance statement Language processing consistently recruits a left-lateralized fronto-temporal brain network, but language tasks often additionally engage areas outside this core system. In an fMRI dataset of 772 participants performing a validated language localizer task, we identified 17 brain areas outside the core fronto-temporal network that respond to both auditory and written language. Most of these areas show selectivity for language, including regions in the temporal poles, medial frontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum. Despite its large number of components, this extended language network still only takes up a small fraction of the grey matter volume, challenging the view that the entire brain processes language. These findings lay the foundation for systematic characterization of these newly identified non-canonical language areas.
SN - 0270-6474
SN - 1529-2401
ER -