ReviewCortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior2019
The frontal aslant tract (FAT) and its role in speech, language and executive function.
Review in Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 127 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
127 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Intraoperative mapping of the right hemisphere: a systematic review of protocols that evaluate cognitive and social cognitive functions.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Speech, voice, and language outcomes following deep brain stimulation: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Microsurgical resection of gliomas of the cingulate gyrus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2023Pooled it
- The Frontal Aslant Tract: A Systematic Review for Neurosurgical Applications.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Pooled it
- Three-Dimensional Identification of the Frontal Aslant Tract in the Human Brain: Tractography Study.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Network-level disconnectivity tracks poststroke depressive symptom improvement.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Observational
- Objective characterization of displacement of the frontal aslant tract in low-grade glioma: a quantitative tractography study.Neuroradiology · 2026Article
- Reduced integrity in the frontal aslant tract's premotor connections is associated with dysfluency severity in stuttering.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Linking speech patterns to brain structure in affective and psychotic disorders: an integrative natural language processing approach.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Brain tumor surgery affecting the left frontal aslant tract and clinical outcome: a study of 23 glioma patients.Brain & spine · 2026Article
- Dentate Gyrus activation during visual but not auditory pattern separation: an investigation of perceptual modality differences in young and old individuals using fMRI.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations of local white matter geometry with network efficiency, macrostructural abnormalities, and clinical severity in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Structural Brain Correlates of Poor Reading Comprehension.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Diffusion connectometry reveals white matter substrates of individual differences in loss aversion.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Brain Connectivity, Neural Networks, and Resilience in Aging and Neurodegeneration.The American journal of pathology · 2025Review
- Article
- Causal contributions of left inferior and medial frontal cortex to semantic and executive control.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Sleep, Physical Activity, and Executive Functions in Students: A Narrative Review.Clocks & sleep · 2025Review
- Inferior and Middle Longitudinal Fasciculus and Fornix Support Allocentric Representation.Hippocampus · 2025Article
- Right-Hemispheric White Matter Organization Is Associated With Speech Timing in Autistic Children.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2025Article
67 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In this review, we examine the structural connectivity of a recently-identified fiber pathway, the frontal aslant tract (FAT), and explore its function. We first review structural connectivity studies using tract-tracing methods in non-human primates, and diffusion-weighted imaging and electrostimulation in humans. These studies suggest a monosynaptic connection exists between the lateral inferior frontal gyrus and the pre-supplementary and supplementary motor areas of the medial superior frontal gyrus. This connection is termed the FAT. We then review research on the left FAT's putative role in supporting speech and language function, with particular focus on speech initiation, stuttering and verbal fluency. Next, we review research on the right FAT's putative role supporting executive function, namely inhibitory control and conflict monitoring for action. We summarize the extant body of empirical work by suggesting that the FAT plays a domain general role in the planning, timing, and coordination of sequential motor movements through the resolution of competition among potential motor plans. However, we also propose some domain specialization across the hemispheres. On the left hemisphere, the circuit is proposed to be specialized for speech actions. On the right hemisphere, the circuit is proposed to be specialized for general action control of the organism, especially in the visuo-spatial domain. We close the review with a discussion of the clinical significance of the FAT, and suggestions for further research on the pathway.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.