Everything about Language processing in the brain

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: Language processing in the brainA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Temporal structure of natural language processing in the human brain corresponds to layered hierarchy of large language modelsInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: Social cognitionThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: The Brain Basis of Language Processing: From Structure to FunctionCited 1,752 times
5. Go sideways: Superior temporal gyrusA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: Transverse temporal gyrusA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• The Brain Basis of Language Processing: From Structure to Function

  Angela D. Friederici · 2011 · Physiological Reviews · 1,752 citations

• Brain signatures of artificial language processing: Evidence challenging the critical period hypothesis

  Angela D. Friederici, Karsten Steinhauer, Erdmut Pfeifer · 2002 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 247 citations

• Pitch processing in the human brain is influenced by language experience

  Jack Gandour, Donald Wong, Gary Hutchins · 1998 · NeuroReport · 95 citations

• Brain drain: The cognitive neuroscience of foreign language processing in multinational corporations

  Stefan Volk, Tine Köhler, Markus Pudelko · 2014 · Journal of International Business Studies · 94 citations

• Language-specific activations in the brain: Evidence from inflectional processing in bilinguals

  Minna Lehtonen, Victor Vorobyev, Anna Soveri · 2009 · Journal of Neurolinguistics · 37 citations

• Neurolinguistic processing when the brain matures without language

  Rachel I. Mayberry, Tristan Davenport, Austin Roth · 2018 · Cortex · 35 citations

• Complementary hemispheric lateralization of language and social processing in the human brain

  Reza Rajimehr, Arsalan Firoozi, Hossein Rafipoor · 2022 · Cell Reports · 34 citations

• Non-invasive brain stimulation and language processing in the healthy brain

  Agnes Flöel · 2012 · Aphasiology · 31 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Temporal structure of natural language processing in the human brain corresponds to layered hierarchy of large language models

  Ariel Goldstein, Eric Ham, Mariano Schain · 2025 · Nature Communications · 27 citations

• Increasing alignment of large language models with language processing in the human brain

  Changjiang Gao, Zhengwu Ma, Jiajun Chen · 2025 · Nature Computational Science · 17 citations

• Cognitive Computational Neuroscience of Language: Using Computational Models to Investigate Language Processing in the Brain

  Alessandro Lopopolo, Evelina Fedorenko, Roger Levy · 2024 · Neurobiology of Language · 14 citations

• Sign and Spoken Language Processing Differences in the Brain: A Brief Review of Recent Research

  Hayley Bree Caldwell · 2022 · Annals of Neurosciences · 10 citations

• Personalized neuroimaging reveals the impact of children’s interests on language processing in the brain

  Halie A. Olson, Kristina T. Johnson, Shruti Nishith · 2024 · Imaging Neuroscience · 5 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• Social cognitionSusan T. Fiske, Shelley E. Taylor · 1984
• Born to talkLloyd M. Hulit, Merle R. Howard · 1992
• Natural religionF. Max Müller · 1888
• The Computer and the BrainJohn von Neumann · 1958
• Teaching with the brain in mindEric Jensen · 1998
• Introduction to psycholinguisticsMatthew J. Traxler · 2011
• Technical Analysis Plain & SimpleMichael N. Kahn · 1999
• Higher level language processes in the brainF. Schmalhofer, Charles A. Perfetti · 2007

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• Superior temporal gyrus The superior temporal gyrus (STG) is one of three (sometimes two) gyri in the temporal lobe of the human brain, which is located laterally to the head…
• Transverse temporal gyrus The transverse temporal gyrus, also called Heschl's gyrus (/ˈhɛʃəlz ˈdʒaɪrəs/) or Heschl's convolutions, is a gyrus found in the area of each primary auditory…
• Inferior frontal gyrus The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; also gyrus frontalis inferior) is the lowest positioned gyrus of the frontal gyri, of the frontal lobe, and is part of…
• Neuroscience of music The neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include…
• Superior temporal sulcus The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is the sulcus separating the superior temporal gyrus from the middle temporal gyrus, in the temporal lobe of the mammalian…
• Conduction aphasia Conduction aphasia, also called associative aphasia, is an acquired language disorder, most commonly caused by left-hemisphere cerebrovascular injury.…
• Auditory cortex The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory…
• Auditory agnosia Auditory agnosia is a form of agnosia that manifests itself primarily in the inability to recognize or differentiate between sounds. It is not a defect…