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Language, mind and brain

Nature Human Behaviour volume 1, pages 713–722 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Language serves as a cornerstone of human cognition. However, our knowledge about its neural basis is still a matter of debate, partly because ‘language’ is often ill-defined. Rather than equating language with ‘speech’ or ‘communication’, we propose that language is best described as a biologically determined computational cognitive mechanism that yields an unbounded array of hierarchically structured expressions. The results of recent brain imaging studies are consistent with this view of language as an autonomous cognitive mechanism, leading to a view of its neural organization, whereby language involves dynamic interactions of syntactic and semantic aspects represented in neural networks that connect the inferior frontal and superior temporal cortices functionally and structurally.

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Fig. 1: Structural connectivity between language regions.
Fig. 2: Brain recognition of impossible syntactic rules.
Fig. 3: Activation of phrase structure building during a merge computation.
Fig. 4: Fibre tract pathways in human and non-human primates.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to R. Huybregts for his comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. J.J.B. is part of the Consortium on Individual Development (CID), which is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant number 024.001.003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Angela D. Friederici

  2. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Noam Chomsky

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Robert C. Berwick

  4. University School for Advanced Studies IUSS - Pavia, I-27100, Pavia, Italy

    Andrea Moro

  5. Helmholtz Institute and Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Johan J. Bolhuis

  6. Department of Zoology and St. Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK

    Johan J. Bolhuis

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  1. Angela D. Friederici
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  2. Noam Chomsky
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Correspondence to Angela D. Friederici.

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Friederici, A.D., Chomsky, N., Berwick, R.C. et al. Language, mind and brain. Nat Hum Behav 1, 713–722 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0184-4

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