Underlying Language Processing Research Articles

Predicting the next sentence (not word) in large language models: What model-brain alignment tells us about discourse comprehension.

Current large language models (LLMs) rely on word prediction as their backbone pretraining task. Although word prediction is an important mechanism underlying language processing, human language comprehension occurs at multiple levels, involving the integration of words and sentences to achieve a full understanding of discourse. This study models language comprehension by using the next sentence prediction (NSP) task to investigate mechanisms of discourse-level comprehension. We show that NSP pretraining enhanced a model's alignment with brain data especially in the right hemisphere and in the multiple demand network, highlighting the contributions of nonclassical language regions to high-level language understanding. Our results also suggest that NSP can enable the model to better capture human comprehension performance and to better encode contextual information. Our study demonstrates that the inclusion of diverse learning objectives in a model leads to more human-like representations, and investigating the neurocognitive plausibility of pretraining tasks in LLMs can shed light on outstanding questions in language neuroscience.

Limited but specific engagement of the mature language network during linguistic statistical learning.

Statistical learning (SL) is the ability to detect and learn regularities from input and is foundational to language acquisition. Despite the dominant role of SL as a theoretical construct for language development, there is a lack of direct evidence supporting the shared neural substrates underlying language processing and SL. It is also not clear whether the similarities, if any, are related to linguistic processing, or statistical regularities in general. The current study tests whether the brain regions involved in natural language processing are similarly recruited during auditory, linguistic SL. Twenty-two adults performed an auditory linguistic SL task, an auditory nonlinguistic SL task, and a passive story listening task as their neural activation was monitored. Within the language network, the left posterior temporal gyrus showed sensitivity to embedded speech regularities during auditory, linguistic SL, but not auditory, nonlinguistic SL. Using a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis, we uncovered similarities between the neural representation of auditory, linguistic SL, and language processing within the left posterior temporal gyrus. No other brain regions showed similarities between linguistic SL and language comprehension, suggesting that a shared neurocomputational process for auditory SL and natural language processing within the left posterior temporal gyrus is specific to linguistic stimuli.

A dataset of behavioral measures on Chinese word production in picture naming

Most studies of language production have been conducted with speakers of alphabetic languages, but relatively little research has examined languages with non-alphabetic scripts, such as Chinese. Moreover, most work on language word production has investigated phonological output processing (i.e., speaking), whereas comparatively little research has focused on orthographic output, such as writing and typing. Work on non-alphabetic languages and/or written production is particularly promising, given that it speaks to universalities vs. specificity in terms of architectures and mechanisms underlying language processing across all world languages and modalities. The current article reports a dataset of word production in Chinese with spoken and written responses, which includes reaction times of 193,851 trials of naming 403 pictures obtained from 667 participants across 23 Chinese word production experiments. All data were collected in the same experimental environment and from participants with relatively homogenous characteristics, using the same protocols and parameters. The dataset enables researchers to explore how Chinese speakers produce spoken and/or written words, and to identify language-specific features underlying word production.

Disruptions in modular structure and network integration of language-related network predict language performance in temporal lobe epilepsy: Evidence from graph-based analysis

ObjectiveTemporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a network disorder that alters the total organization of the language-related network. Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) aimed at functional connectivity is a direct method to investigate how the network is reorganized. However, such studies are scarce and represented mostly by the resting-state analysis of the individual connections between regions. To fill this gap, we used a graph-based analysis, which allows us to cover the total language-related network changes, such as disruptions in an integration/segregation balance, during a language task in TLE. MethodsWe collected task-based fMRI data with sentence completion from 19 healthy controls and 28 people with left TLE. Using graph-based analysis, we estimated how the language-related network segregated into modules and tested whether they differed between groups. We evaluated the total network integration and the integration within modules. To assess intermodular integration, we considered the number and location of connector hubs—regions with high connectivity. ResultsThe language-related network was differently segregated during language processing in the groups. While healthy controls showed a module consisting of left perisylvian regions, people with TLE exhibited a bilateral module formed by the anterior language-related areas and a module in the left temporal lobe, reflecting hyperconnectivity within the epileptic focus. As a consequence of this reorganization, there was a statistical tendency that the dominance of the intramodular integration over the total network integration was greater in TLE, which predicted language performance. The increase in the number of connector hubs in the right hemisphere, in turn, was compensatory in TLE. SignificanceOur study provides insights into the reorganization of the language-related network in TLE, revealing specific network changes in segregation and integration. It confirms reduced global connectivity and compensation across the healthy hemisphere, commonly observed in epilepsy. These findings advance the understanding of the network-based reorganizational processes underlying language processing in TLE.

Profiles of word-finding difficulties in school-aged children.

Current understanding of word-finding (WF) difficulties in children and their underlying language processing deficit is poor. Authors have proposed that different underlying deficits may result in different profiles. The current study aimed to better understand WF difficulties by identifying difficult tasks for children with WF difficulties and by focusing on semantic vs. phonological profiles. Twenty-four French-speaking children with WF difficulties and 22 children without WF difficulties, all aged 7- to 12-years-old, participated. They were compared on a range of measures to cover the overall mechanism of WF and the quality of semantic and phonological representations. The largest differences were found on a parent questionnaire and a word definition task. Cluster analyses revealed "high performance" and "low performance" clusters, with intermediary groups. These clusters did not match the expected semantic vs. phonological profiles derived from models of lexical access, suggesting that WF difficulties may be linked to both semantic and phonological deficits.

Domain-general and domain-specific functional networks of Broca's area underlying language processing.

Despite abundant research on the role of Broca's area in language processing, there is still no consensus on language specificity of this region and its connectivity network. The present study employed the meta-analytic connectivity modeling procedure to identify and compare domain-specific (language-specific) and domain-general (shared between language and other domains) functional connectivity patterns of three subdivisions within the broadly defined Broca's area: pars opercularis (IFGop), pars triangularis (IFGtri), and pars orbitalis (IFGorb) of the left inferior frontal gyrus. The findings revealed a left-lateralized frontotemporal network for all regions of interest underlying domain-specific linguistic functions. The domain-general network, however, spanned frontoparietal regions that overlap with the multiple-demand network and subcortical regions spanning the thalamus and the basal ganglia. The findings suggest that language specificity of Broca's area emerges within a left-lateralized frontotemporal network, and that domain-general resources are garnered from frontoparietal and subcortical networks when required by task demands.

Knowledge mapping of the research on lexical inferencing: A bibliometric analysis.

Lexical inferencing functions as one of the most important and effective skills used in language comprehension pertaining to psychological, cognitive and neurological aspects. Given its complex nature and crucial role in language comprehension, lexical inferencing has received considerable attention. The present study visualized the knowledge domain of the research on lexical inferencing based on a total of 472 articles collected from Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection of Thomson Reuters from 2001 to 2021. The bibliographic data were analyzed through co-cited articles, co-citation clusters of references, and co-occurring keywords to identify holistic intellectual landscape of lexical inferencing with special focus on its intellectual structure and base, and hot research topics. The main intellectual base includes probability of activating lexical inferencing in working memory and encoding in long-term memory, the role of lexical inferencing in reading comprehension, in connected speech, in children's derivation under pragmatic context, and in psychological and neurocognitive processes underlying language processing mechanism. Hot topics are comprised the impacts of lexical inferencing on language acquisition and comprehension (written and spoken language comprehension), the factors (context variables, vocabulary knowledge, and morphological awareness) affecting the presence and efficacy of lexical inferencing, and the time course of lexical inferencing during reading. Critically, the results of this study demonstrated that the contribution of lexical inferencing to language comprehension was strongly correlated with learner-related and discourse-related variables. The study shed valuable light on the understanding of the intellectual background and the dynamic patterns of lexical inferencing over the past two decades, thereby future work in lexical inferencing is suggested as well.

Bridging brain and language: enhancing language learning and communication through neurolinguistic insights

In today’s interconnected world, the proficiency of English has become a pivotal skill for effective communication and career advancement. This paper delves into the integration of neurolinguistic methodology into teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) and enhancing professional communication. By leveraging recent advancements in neurolinguistics, the author explores the neural mechanisms underlying language processing, bilingualism, language disorders, and their implications for language learning and communication. The paper presents a comprehensive review of key publications in the field and elucidates the multifaceted methodologies employed in neurolinguistic research. The study aims to uncover how neurolinguistic methods offer valuable insights into language learning and communication, shaping instructional strategies and training programs. The author investigates how brain electrical and hemodynamic activity measurements, eye tracking, and computer modeling illuminate the cognitive processes of language acquisition and use. The paper reveals that these insights empower educators to tailor their teaching methods and training programs to align with the brain’s natural language processing capacities. The research identifies the transformative potential of integrating neurolinguistic methodology, providing a bridge between neuroscience and language education. The findings underscore the promise of this interdisciplinary approach, offering a more effective and engaging language learning experience for learners and professionals alike. This paper contributes to the understanding of how neurolinguistic methods can reshape language education and professional communication, offering novel perspectives on optimizing learning strategies and facilitating effective communication in the globalized world.

Cortical Processing of Arithmetic and Simple Sentences in an Auditory Attention Task.

Cortical processing of arithmetic and of language rely on both shared and task-specific neural mechanisms, which should also be dissociable from the particular sensory modality used to probe them. Here, spoken arithmetical and non-mathematical statements were employed to investigate neural processing of arithmetic, compared with general language processing, in an attention-modulated cocktail party paradigm. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) data were recorded from 22 human subjects listening to audio mixtures of spoken sentences and arithmetic equations while selectively attending to one of the two speech streams. Short sentences and simple equations were presented diotically at fixed and distinct word/symbol and sentence/equation rates. Critically, this allowed neural responses to acoustics, words, and symbols to be dissociated from responses to sentences and equations. Indeed, the simultaneous neural processing of the acoustics of words and symbols was observed in auditory cortex for both streams. Neural responses to sentences and equations, however, were predominantly to the attended stream, originating primarily from left temporal, and parietal areas, respectively. Additionally, these neural responses were correlated with behavioral performance in a deviant detection task. Source-localized temporal response functions (TRFs) revealed distinct cortical dynamics of responses to sentences in left temporal areas and equations in bilateral temporal, parietal, and motor areas. Finally, the target of attention could be decoded from MEG responses, especially in left superior parietal areas. In short, the neural responses to arithmetic and language are especially well segregated during the cocktail party paradigm, and the correlation with behavior suggests that they may be linked to successful comprehension or calculation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neural processing of arithmetic relies on dedicated, modality independent cortical networks that are distinct from those underlying language processing. Using a simultaneous cocktail party listening paradigm, we found that these separate networks segregate naturally when listeners selectively attend to one type over the other. Neural responses in the left temporal lobe were observed for both spoken sentences and equations, but the latter additionally showed bilateral parietal activity consistent with arithmetic processing. Critically, these responses were modulated by selective attention and correlated with task behavior, consistent with reflecting high-level processing for speech comprehension or correct calculations. The response dynamics show task-related differences that were used to reliably decode the attentional target of sentences or equations.

Visual mismatch negativity elicited by semantic violations in visual words

The remarkable rapidity and effortlessness of speech perception and word reading by skilled listeners or readers suggest implicit or automatic mechanisms underlying language processing. In speech perception, the implicit mechanisms are reflected by the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) response, suggesting that phonemic, lexical, semantic, and syntactic information are automatically and rapidly processed in the absence of focused attention. In visual word reading, implicit orthographic and lexical processing are reflected by visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), the visual counterpart of auditory MMN. The semantic processing of spoken words is reflected by MMN. This study investigated whether semantic processing is also reflected by vMMN. For this purpose, visual Chinese words belonging to different semantic categories (color, taste, and action) were presented to participants in oddball paradigms. A set of words belonging to the same semantic category was frequently presented as standards; a word belonging to a different semantic category was presented sporadically as deviant. Participants were instructed to perform a visual cross-change detection task and ignore the words. Significant vMMN was elicited in Experiments 1 to 3, in which the deviant word carried a semantic radical that overtly indicated the word’s semantic category information. The vMMNs were most prominent around 260 ms after word onset, were parieto-occipital distributed, and were significantly left-hemisphere lateralized, suggesting rapid semantic processing of the visual words’ category-related information. No significant vMMN was elicited in Experiment 4, in which the deviant word did not carry any semantic radicals. Thus, the semantic radical, which has a high frequency of occurrence because it is carried by many words, may be critical for the elicitation of vMMN.

Working memory in aphasia: Peeling the onion

Abstract Compared to neurologically healthy adults, persons with aphasia (PWA) demonstrate impaired performance on working memory (WM) tasks. These deficits in WM are thought to underlie language processing problems in PWA. However, most studies use WM tasks that are verbal in nature, making it difficult to determine if these deficits are due to domain-general attentional processes related to WM or domain-specific verbal abilities. The purpose of the current study was to examine WM performance in PWA and healthy controls using verbal and spatial WM tasks. Additionally, this study investigated the relationship among WM performance and performance on short-term memory and domain-general attentional tasks. Fourteen PWA and 13 control participants completed verbal and spatial n-back tasks, the Flanker arrows task, and forward digit and spatial span tasks. The results revealed that the PWA performed worse than the control participants on the verbal tasks, but there were no group differences on the spatial tasks. Further, PWA showed significantly greater conflict and interference effects on the Flanker arrows task than control participants. These findings suggest that although WM deficits are primarily evident in the verbal domain in PWA, they are not solely the result of domain-specific verbal deficits; the ability to inhibit irrelevant information may contribute to WM deficits in PWA.

Implementing evidence based practice with limited evidence: The case of language intervention with bilingual children

Evidence based practice calls for clinical decisions to be based on a combination of research evidence, clinical expertise and client perspectives. A relatively small proportion of the research evidence on language intervention efficacy has focused specifically on bilingual children. This article reviews early research as well as recent findings on language intervention with bilingual children. Main questions targeted by this research include the choice of language of intervention, whether intervention effects transfer from one langage to the other, and whether language skills can be improved indirectly by enhancing underlying language processing and memory skills. Given the relative lack of intervention research on bilingual children, it is appropriate to consider the extent to which findings from the larger available evidence base on monolingual children can be applied. This may vary depending on the clinical question being asked and on the types of monolingual and bilingual environments involved. Given that monolingual and bilingual children are similar in a number of key characteristics that impact their ability to benefit from language treatment, it is proposed that clinicians use their experience and expertise to carefully consider the applicability to bilingual populations of research conducted with monolingual children. New directions in bilingual intervention that research is starting to address are reviewed, which will in time, lead to more sophisticated intervention choices tailored to the individual needs of children, both monolingual and bilingual.

Language, aging, and cognition: frontal aslant tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus contribute toward working memory performance in older adults.

Previous research has documented change in white matter tract integrity with increasing age. Both interhemispheric and intrahemispheric tracts that underlie language processing are susceptible to these age-related changes. The aim of the current study was to explore age and white matter integrity in language-related tracts as predictors of cognitive task performance in younger and older adults. To this end, we carried out principal component analyses of white matter tracts and confirmatory factor analysis of neuropsychological measures. We next carried out a series of regression analyses that used white matter components to predict scores on each of the neuropsychological components. For both younger and older adults, age was a significant predictor of processing speed and working memory. However, white matter integrity did not contribute independently toward these models. In older adults only, both age and a white matter component that included the bilateral frontal aslant tract and left superior longitudinal fasciculus were significant predictors of working memory. Taken together, these results extend our understanding of the contributions of language-related white matter structure to cognitive processing and highlight the effects of age-related differences in both frontal and dorsal tracts.

Effect of handedness on brain activity patterns and effective connectivity network during the semantic task of Chinese characters.

Increasing efforts have been denoted to elucidating the effective connectivity (EC) among brain regions recruited by certain language task; however, it remains unclear the impact of handedness on the EC network underlying language processing. In particularly, this has not been investigated in Chinese language, which shows several differences from alphabetic language. This study thereby explored the functional activity patterns and the EC network during a Chinese semantic task based on functional MRI data of healthy left handers (LH) and right handers (RH). We found that RH presented a left lateralized activity pattern in cerebral cortex and a right lateralized pattern in cerebellum; while LH were less lateralized than RH in both cerebral and cerebellar areas. The conditional Granger causality method in deconvolved BOLD level further demonstrated more interhemispheric directional connections in LH than RH group, suggesting better bihemispheric coordination and increased interhemispheric communication in LH. Furthermore, we found significantly increased EC from right middle occipital gyrus to bilateral insula (INS) while decreased EC from left INS to left precentral gyrus in LH group comparing to RH group, implying that handedness may differentiate the causal relationship of information processing in integration of visual-spatial analysis and semantic word retrieval of Chinese characters.

Changes in intrinsic connectivity of the brain's reading network following intervention in children with autism.

While task-based neuroimaging studies have identified alterations in neural circuitry underlying language processing in children with autism spectrum disorders [ASD], resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging [rsfMRI] is a promising alternative to the constraints posed by task-based fMRI. This study used rsfMRI, in a longitudinal design, to study the impact of a reading intervention on connectivity of the brain regions involved in reading comprehension in children with ASD. Functional connectivity was examined using group independent component analysis (GICA) and seed-based correlation analysis of Broca's and Wernicke's areas, in three groups of participants: an experimental group of ASD children (ASD-EXP), a wait list control group of ASD children (ASD-WLC), and a group of typically developing (TD) control children. Both GICA and seed-based analyses revealed stronger functional connectivity of Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the ASD-EXP group postintervention. Additionally, improvement in reading comprehension in the ASD-EXP group was correlated with greater connectivity in both Broca's and Wernicke's area in the GICA identified reading network component. In addition, increased connectivity between the Broca's area and right postcentral and right STG, and the Wernicke's area and LIFG, were also correlated with greater improvement in reading comprehension. Overall, this study revealed widespread changes in functional connectivity of the brain's reading network as a result of intervention in children with ASD. These novel findings provide valuable insights into the neuroplasticity of brain areas underlying reading and the impact of intensive intervention in modifying them in children with ASD.

The Impact of Reading Intervention on Brain Responses Underlying Language in Children With Autism.

Deficits in language comprehension have been widely reported in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with behavioral and neuroimaging studies finding increased reliance on visuospatial processing to aid in language comprehension. However, no study to date, has taken advantage of this strength in visuospatial processing to improve language comprehension difficulties in ASD. This study used a translational neuroimaging approach to test the role of a visual imagery-based reading intervention in improving the brain circuitry underlying language processing in children with ASD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in a longitudinal study design, was used to investigate intervention-related change in sentence comprehension, brain activation, and functional connectivity in three groups of participants (age 8-13 years): an experimental group of ASD children (ASD-EXP), a wait-list control group of ASD children (ASD-WLC), and a group of typically developing control children. After intervention, the ASD-EXP group showed significant increase in activity in visual and language areas and right-hemisphere language area homologues, putamen, and thalamus, suggestive of compensatory routes to increase proficiency in reading comprehension. Additionally, ASD children who had the most improvement in reading comprehension after intervention showed greater functional connectivity between left-hemisphere language areas, the middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus while reading high imagery sentences. Thus, the findings of this study, which support the principles of dual coding theory [Paivio 2007], suggest the potential of a strength-based reading intervention in changing brain responses and facilitating better reading comprehension in ASD children.

Restrictive vs. non-restrictive composition: a magnetoencephalography study

Recent research on the brain mechanisms underlying language processing has implicated the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) as a central region for the composition of simple phrases. Because these studies typically present their critical stimuli without contextual information, the sensitivity of LATL responses to contextual factors is unknown. In this magnetoencephalography (MEG) study, we employed a simple question-answer paradigm to manipulate whether a prenominal adjective or determiner is interpreted restrictively, i.e., as limiting the set of entities under discussion. Our results show that the LATL is sensitive to restriction, with restrictive composition eliciting higher responses than non-restrictive composition. However, this effect was only observed when the restricting element was a determiner, adjectival stimuli showing the opposite pattern, which we hypothesise to be driven by the special pragmatic properties of non-restrictive adjectives. Overall, our results demonstrate a robust sensitivity of the LATL to high level contextual and potentially also pragmatic factors.

Distinct and Shared Neural Basis Underlying Music and Language: A Perspective from Meta-analysis

Music and language are arguably the most characteristic traits of human beings. On one hand, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) studies have identified multiple cortical regions that are involved in the processing of both music and language, suggesting shared neural substrate for music and language. On the other hand, neuropsychological studies on brain-lesioned patients show the double dissociation between music and language, suggesting distinct neural substrates for music and language respectively. Here we used meta-analysis to examine the relation of the neural basis underlying music and language. First, we adopted the data from three meta-analysis studies on music and language respectively. Specifically, for the neural substrate of music, we focused on two processing levels specific to music processing, which were interval analysis(15 contrasts and 63 peaks) and structure analysis(19 contrasts and 217 peaks)(Lai, Xu, Song, Liu, 2013). For the neural substrate of language, three processing levels specific to language processing were selected, which were phonological analysis(86 contrasts and 344 peaks), lexico-semantic analysis(111contrasts and 339 peaks), and sentence analysis(65 contrasts and 218 peaks)(Vigneau et al., 2006; Vigneau et al., 2011). Second, we projected these peak activation elicited by processing either music or language onto the MNI(Montreal Neurological Institute) space to visualize the distribution of cortical regions involved in music and language with Caret. Finally, to explore the relation of neural substrates underlying music and language, we calculated whether pairs of peak activation were spatially overlapped or dissociated by K-means clustering and multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA). The overlapping rate was estimated to quantify the extent to which music and language shared common neural substrates. We finally found 11 pairs of overlapping clusters. Music and language shared neural substrates at all levels of processing tested. Specially, the overlapped clusters from phonological processing of language and music perception were mainly in the auditory-motor loop, the overlapped clusters from semantic processing and music perception were in core loop, and the overlapped clusters of sentence processing and music were in cognition-emotion loop. In addition, the neural substrate underlying interval analysis of music overlapped with that underlying language processing as much as 50% in left hemisphere, which was mainly in the left superior temporal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, left pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus and right insular. The neural substrate underlying structure analysis of music overlapped with that underlying language processing as much as 7% and 14% in the left and right hemisphere respectively, which was mainly in left Rolandic operculum, right pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus and right insular. In sum, our study illuminates the functionality of the distinct and shared neural substrates underlying music and language. That is, for lower-level processes, such as interval analysis, phonological analysis and lexico-semantic analysis, music and language are more likely to share the same neural substrate in auditory analysis, auditory-motor integration and working memory. By contrast, for higher-level processes, especially in the structure analysis and sentence analysis, the neural substrate underlying music is more likely distinct from that underlying language. Models were proposed to illustrate the distinct and shared neural mechanisms underlying music and language, which invites future studies on the relation between music and language.

EPA-1237 – Polyglot therapies - the implications of neuroscientific findings and child development research on clinical practice

Freud started his career as a neurologist studying polyglot aphasias. In a globalised world, the question of polyglot psychotherapies is increasingly important. Neuroscientific findings and child development research support theories on embodied semantics (Pulvermuller, 2013): the emergence of meaning primarily from somatic/sensorimotor experiences. Increasing evidence supports the importance of the mirror neuron system in the process of language acquisition (Moreno et al, 2013) and the development of cognition (Perlovsky, 2013). Threvarthen's studies suggest that onthologically, language development is dependent on dynamic patterns of the embodied intersubjective experiences of the child. Age and contextual factors influence language acquisition. Nevertheless, little is known as to what extent and in what quality multimodal experiences are at play at the time of second language acquisition and in what way these are superimposed on early embodied experiences. Neuroimaging studies have proved that with second language acquisition differential activations remain within brain regions; (Halsband et al, 2002) yet with the progression of proficiency, the different languages converge onto a shared neural system underlying language processing (Perani et al., 2005). In light of these findings, the author will discuss the advantages and difficulties of working across languages in the therapeutic setting. Cultural aspects of dynamic patterning and thus their influence on emotional development will be highlighted. Questions will be raised about the possibility that the retrieval of emotional aspects of memories varies in different languages and how this can be utilised in polyglot therapies. Finally, the significance of the somatic counter-transference in polyglot therapies will be discussed.

The frequency modulated auditory evoked response (FMAER), a technical advance for study of childhood language disorders: cortical source localization and selected case studies

BackgroundLanguage comprehension requires decoding of complex, rapidly changing speech streams. Detecting changes of frequency modulation (FM) within speech is hypothesized as essential for accurate phoneme detection, and thus, for spoken word comprehension. Despite past demonstration of FM auditory evoked response (FMAER) utility in language disorder investigations, it is seldom utilized clinically. This report's purpose is to facilitate clinical use by explaining analytic pitfalls, demonstrating sites of cortical origin, and illustrating potential utility.ResultsFMAERs collected from children with language disorders, including Developmental Dysphasia, Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and also normal controls - utilizing multi-channel reference-free recordings assisted by discrete source analysis - provided demonstratrions of cortical origin and examples of clinical utility. Recordings from inpatient epileptics with indwelling cortical electrodes provided direct assessment of FMAER origin. The FMAER is shown to normally arise from bilateral posterior superior temporal gyri and immediate temporal lobe surround. Childhood language disorders associated with prominent receptive deficits demonstrate absent left or bilateral FMAER temporal lobe responses. When receptive language is spared, the FMAER may remain present bilaterally. Analyses based upon mastoid or ear reference electrodes are shown to result in erroneous conclusions. Serial FMAER studies may dynamically track status of underlying language processing in LKS. FMAERs in ASD with language impairment may be normal or abnormal. Cortical FMAERs can locate language cortex when conventional cortical stimulation does not.ConclusionThe FMAER measures the processing by the superior temporal gyri and adjacent cortex of rapid frequency modulation within an auditory stream. Clinical disorders associated with receptive deficits are shown to demonstrate absent left or bilateral responses. Serial FMAERs may be useful for tracking language change in LKS. Cortical FMAERs may augment invasive cortical language testing in epilepsy surgical patients. The FMAER may be normal in ASD and other language disorders when pathology spares the superior temporal gyrus and surround but presumably involves other brain regions. Ear/mastoid reference electrodes should be avoided and multichannel, reference free recordings utilized. Source analysis may assist in better understanding of complex FMAER findings.