Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35856094›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2022

An investigation across 45 languages and 12 language families reveals a universal language network.

Saima Malik-Moraleda, Dima Ayyash, Jeanne Gallée, Josef Affourtit, Malte Hoffmann, Zachary Mineroff, Olessia Jouravlev, Evelina Fedorenko

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
132citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

132 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
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  8. Article
  9. 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 · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. A Shared Neural Mechanism for Abstract Grammatical Computations across Languages in Bilinguals.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Right hemisphere language network plasticity in aphasia.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Bilingual language processing relies on shared semantic representations that are modulated by each language.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  20. Article

72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Saima Malik-Moraleda *Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. smalikmoraleda@g.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1224-5323
Dima Ayyash *Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jeanne GalléeProgram in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9338-2727
Josef AffourtitDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Malte HoffmannAthinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5511-0739
Zachary MineroffDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Olessia JouravlevDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Evelina FedorenkoDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. evelina9@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3823-514X

Funding

The neural architecture of pragmatic processingR01DC016607 · NIDCD · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI FEDORENKO, EVELINA · 2018 to 2022
$2.4M
fMRI investigations of the functional architecture of the language systemR00HD057522 · NICHD · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI FEDORENKO, EVELINA · 2014 to 2016
$738k
NICHD NIH HHS R00 HD057522NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC016607
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To understand the architecture of human language, it is critical to examine diverse languages; however, most cognitive neuroscience research has focused on only a handful of primarily Indo-European languages. Here we report an investigation of the fronto-temporo-parietal language network across 45 languages and establish the robustness to cross-linguistic variation of its topography and key functional properties, including left-lateralization, strong functional integration among its brain regions and functional selectivity for language processing.

Indexed as

LanguageLinguisticsBrainHumans

Identifiers

PMID35856094
PMCPMC10414179

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.