ReviewFrontiers in human neuroscience2025
Investigating the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus in language evolution: insights from comparative neuroscience.
Review in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The neural basis of explicit and implicit emotion regulation: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.Oxford open neuroscience · 2026Review
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3 authors.
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Abstract
The evolutionary adaptation of the left inferior frontal gyrus is considered a crucial neural specialization supporting the emergence of human language. As a central node in the language network, it is linked to the temporoparietal cortex via both the ventral and dorsal pathways. These connections enable humans to combine a limited set of vocal elements into infinitely diverse, hierarchically structured sequences. Although homologous brain structures are also present in non-human primates, language remains a uniquely human faculty. This review synthesizes anatomical, functional, and connectivity evidence across species to trace the evolution of the left inferior frontal gyrus in support of language. We argue that language did not emerge from novel cortical areas, but through the gradual repurposing, expansion, and optimization of pre-existing fronto-temporal circuits. Human-specific innovations include vocal neuron specialization, volumetric expansion, strengthened connectivity of the arcuate fasciculus, and a functional shift within the left inferior frontal gyrus from motor control to syntactic processing. Finally, we discuss how lesion studies contribute to our understanding of the brain's potential for language acquisition and its neurobiological constraints.
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