Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...

Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

An optimized framework for simultaneous EEG-fMRI at 7T enabling safe, high-quality human brain imaging with millisecond temporal resolution and sub-millimeter spatial resolution.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2025

Same author

Integrated Behavioral Health Services and Psychosocial Symptoms in Children.

JAMA network open·2025

Same author

Real-world clinical outcomes of sacituzumab govitecan after prior exposure to enfortumab vedotin in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

ESMO open·2025

Same author

Undesired Births, Contraception, and Abortion Before and After the Cairo Consensus: Trends in Conditional Undesired Birth Rates and the Impact of Contraception and Abortion.

Studies in family planning·2025

Same author

High-quality multimodal MRI with simultaneous EEG using conductive ink and polymer-thick film nets.

Journal of neural engineering·2024

Same author

Predicting performance in attention by measuring key metabolites in the PCC with 7T MRS.

Scientific reports·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 3, 2026

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

Published on: June 20, 2012

Chronotype Modulates Language Processing-Related Cerebral Activity during Functional MRI (fMRI).

Jessica Rosenberg¹, Martina Reske², Tracy Warbrick²

¹Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM- 4), Medical Imaging Physics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany; JARA, Translational Brain Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Clinic Aachen, 52074, Aachen, Germany.

|September 24, 2015

Summary

Chronotype influences language processing in the brain. Early and late chronotypes show distinct brain activity patterns during semantic tasks, suggesting neural differences in how we process language.

More Related Videos

Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping

Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping

Published on: August 12, 2019

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 3, 2026

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

Published on: June 20, 2012

Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping

Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping

Published on: August 12, 2019

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Chronobiology

Background:

Individual differences in daily physiological cycles define chronotypes: early (EC), intermediate (IC), and late (LC).
Chronotype affects cognitive task performance, with optimal performance occurring at chronotype-specific times.
Neural mechanisms underlying chronotype-specific cognitive performance, particularly in language processing, remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate chronotype-specific alterations in neural mechanisms of semantic language processing.
To examine functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) differences in brain activation related to chronotype during a semantic priming task.

Main Methods:

Employed a fast event-related fMRI paradigm with 48 healthy male participants (16 ECs, 16 ICs, 16 LCs).
Participants performed a semantic priming task involving word recognition (identifying real words vs. non-words).
Testing was conducted in the evening to ensure high homeostatic sleep pressure and circadian alertness.

Main Results:

Early chronotypes (ECs) exhibited slower reaction times compared to late chronotypes (LCs).
ECs showed reduced Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) responses in language-related areas (e.g., left postcentral gyrus, precentral gyri).
LCs demonstrated increased BOLD responses in task-related areas (e.g., right inferior parietal lobule) compared to ICs.

Conclusions:

Basic language processing involves chronotype-specific neural mechanisms.
Findings suggest chronotype should be considered as a covariate in experimental research and patient evaluations.
Highlights the importance of accounting for individual circadian rhythms in cognitive neuroscience studies.