ArticleeLife2020
Comprehension of computer code relies primarily on domain-general executive brain regions.
Article in eLife, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Non-literal language processing is jointly supported by the language and theory of mind networks: Evidence from a novel meta-analytic fMRI approach.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- A cortical gradient in area 55b links language and somato-cognitive action networks.Research square · 2026Article
- A language network in the individualized functional connectomes of 1199 human brains doing arbitrary tasks.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The Extended Language Network: Language-Responsive Brain Areas Whose Contributions to Language Remain To Be Discovered.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Selectivity for high-level language processing is highly localized in individual brains.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Learning to Program "Recycles" Preexisting Frontoparietal Population Codes of Logical Algorithms.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Contributions of the multiple demand network to emergent and skilled reading.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A two-dimensional space of linguistic representations shared across individuals.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Universality of representation in biological and artificial neural networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Constructed languages are processed by the same brain mechanisms as natural languages.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Early-emerging combinatorial thought: Human infants flexibly combine kind and quantity concepts.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Linguistic inputs must be syntactically parsable to fully engage the language network.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Dissociating language and thought in large language models.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- Review
- The language network as a natural kind within the broader landscape of the human brain.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2024Review
- Computer programmers show distinct, expertise-dependent brain responses to violations in form and meaning when reading code.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Functional characterization of the language network of polyglots and hyperpolyglots with precision fMRI.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Computer programming is a novel cognitive tool that has transformed modern society. What cognitive and neural mechanisms support this skill? Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate two candidate brain systems: the multiple demand (MD) system, typically recruited during math, logic, problem solving, and executive tasks, and the language system, typically recruited during linguistic processing. We examined MD and language system responses to code written in Python, a text-based programming language (Experiment 1) and in ScratchJr, a graphical programming language (Experiment 2); for both, we contrasted responses to code problems with responses to content-matched sentence problems. We found that the MD system exhibited strong bilateral responses to code in both experiments, whereas the language system responded strongly to sentence problems, but weakly or not at all to code problems. Thus, the MD system supports the use of novel cognitive tools even when the input is structurally similar to natural language.
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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.