ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026
The emergence of the language system in the toddler brain.
Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Toddlerhood is a time when children's language competence undergoes a dramatic transformation, making it a key period to examine the emergence of the brain's language system. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 29 awake toddlers (19-36 months) scanned on a child-friendly language task reveal that, already at this young age, areas in the left frontal and temporal cortex respond more to comprehensible language (i.e., videos of puppets speaking in English) than the control condition (matched videos with incomprehensible audio). Although the magnitude of response to language is substantially weaker than in adults, the topography is already adult-like, challenging claims that the frontal component or left-hemispheric dominance do not emerge until later in life.
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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.