Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Ultra-detailed brain map shows neurons that encode words’ meaning

For the first time, scientists identify individual brain cells linked to the linguistic essence of a word.
  1. Sara Reardon

    1. Sara Reardon is a freelance journalist based in Bozeman, Montana.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

By eavesdropping on the brains of living people, scientists have created the highest-resolution map yet of the neurons that encode the meanings of various words1. The results hint that, across individuals, the brain uses the same standard categories to classify words — helping us to turn sound into sense.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 631, 264 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02146-6

References

  1. Jamali, M. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07643-2 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Tang, J., LeBel, A., Jain, S. & Huth, A. G. Nature Neurosci. 26, 858–866 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links