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Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effect of Induced Emotion on Grammar Learning

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Constructed languages are processed by the same brain mechanisms as natural languages.

Saima Malik-Moraleda^1,2,3, Maya Taliaferro^1,2, Steve Shannon²

¹Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|August 7, 2023

Summary

Understanding constructed languages (conlangs) engages the same brain regions as natural language comprehension. This suggests conlangs and natural languages share fundamental symbolic properties processed by specialized neural mechanisms.

Keywords:

Biological Sciences/Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Constructed languages Social Sciences/Psychological and Cognitive Sciences language evolution neurobiology of language

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Linguistics
Cognitive Science

Background:

Natural language processing relies on specialized brain mechanisms.
It is unclear if constructed languages (conlangs) recruit the same neural pathways as natural languages.
Conlangs may pattern with mathematical or programming languages instead of natural languages.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether conlangs utilize the same neural mechanisms as natural languages.
To determine if conlangs are processed by the brain's language network or other cognitive domains.

Main Methods:

Individual-subject functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
Participants' brain activity was measured while they processed conlangs.
fMRI data were analyzed to identify overlapping neural substrates for natural and constructed language comprehension.

Main Results:

Understanding conlangs consistently activated the same brain areas as natural language comprehension.
This finding was observed across multiple conlangs, including Esperanto, Klingon, Na'vi, High Valyrian, and Dothraki.
Neural recruitment for conlangs did not differ significantly from natural language processing.

Conclusions:

Conlangs and natural languages share critical features that engage common neural representations and computations.
The specific characteristics of conlangs (e.g., origin, number of speakers, learning age) do not alter their reliance on the brain's language network.
Both conlangs and natural languages function as symbolic systems for expressing meaning, utilizing shared cognitive and neural architecture.