创新背景

关于语言和大脑的传统看法，大多数人认为左侧外侧裂语言区是大脑中负责加工语言的区域，且额叶和颞叶脑区共能分工严格鲜明： 左侧颞叶皮层的Wernicke区被认为进行语言感知 ，左侧下额叶皮层的Broca区则支持语言产生，弓形束则是连接这两个脑区的神经纤维。
脑科学的发展帮助进一步认识语言的发生过程，神经科学家不断探索着语言网络的模式，但不同语言之间的差别导致研究带有局限性。以更多的语言使用者为研究对象，对于确定语言网络及其属性将具有积极作用。

创新过程

神经科学家对大脑语言区域的确定多以英语使用者为研究对象，测绘以英语为母语人群的大脑语言区。麻省理工学院脑与认知科学系、美国国立卫生研究院、麦戈文研究所和西蒙斯社会大脑中心给予MIT的神经科学家资金支持，帮助神经科学家对45种语言使用者进行大脑语言网络测绘，在多种语言发生的脑成像研究中得出结果，证实语言网络在人脑中的通用相似性。

然而，这些测绘研究中的绝大多数都是在英语使用者中完成的。麻省理工学院的神经科学家现在已经对45种不同语言的使用者进行了脑成像研究。结果表明，说话者的语言网络似乎与以英语为母语的人的语言网络基本相同。

语言区是人类大脑皮质所特有的，多在大脑左侧，但精确位置和形状因人而异，并非人人相同。研究为了找到语言网络，在用功能性磁共振成像扫描研究对象大脑的同时，给予每个人语言任务，让他们用自己的母语听或读句子。并且通过让研究对象解决数学问题或听陌生语言来避免激活语言网络，以便将语言网络与大脑的其他区域区分开。

研究人员使用世界上翻译语言最多的小说作品之一《爱丽丝梦游仙境》作为实验文本，从中选择24个短段落和3个长段落，每个段落都由45种语言的母语人士录制。每个参与者还听到了不应该激活语言网络的错误段落，并被要求做其他无激活属性的认知任务。

研究对45种不同语言的两个说话者进行了脑成像，代表了12个不同的语系。结果发现，研究参与者的语言种类多样，但语言网络都在大脑中基本相同的区域，并且与以英语为母语的人具有相同的选择性。

研究人员表示，45种语言使用者在进行空间记忆任务等无激活属性的行为时，语言网络区域不会做出反应，这表明语言领域是有选择性的。此外，在英语使用者中如额叶语言区域和时间语言区域等被激活的语言区域在其他语言使用者中也具有类似的同步性。

并且，在所有受试者中，说不同语言的个体之间出现的少量变异与英语母语者之间能看到的变化量是相同的。这些发现都表明语言网络的位置和关键属性在不同语言使用者的大脑中似乎是相通的。

研究证实了大脑语言网络的基本属性和整体架构在不同语言使用者之间是通用的，但并不意味着彼此之间完全相同。研究人员正在寻找主要使用语素而不是词序的语言使用者的差异，帮助确定句子的含义。这还可以帮助研究以音调差异来传达不同词含义的语言使用者的语言网络是否会与听觉大脑区域有更强的联系。
此外，研究人员还对土耳其语、普通话、芬兰语等六种类型语言学上不同语言的使用者的时间感受阈值进行研究，探索实践接受场的约束是否对于各种语言都有相似的作用。时间感受阈值即语言处理系统一次性处理单词的数量，在英语上它的量值是六至八个单词。研究人员致力于寻找45种语言之外的语言使用者，帮助创建语言本地化容器。

创新关键点

通过大脑成像技术研究45种语言的使用者触发不同任务时的大脑反应，发现不同语言使用者类似的大脑激活和语言选择性模式，揭示语言网络整体架构和属性的通用性。

创新价值

帮助神经科学和语言学进一步发展，深入探索大脑和语言之间联系，为未来英语使用者难以或不可能学习的语言元素的研究奠定了基础。

Brain imaging of 45 language users demonstrates the versatility of the overall architecture of language networks

Neuroscientists mostly use English speakers as the object of study to determine the language area of the brain of native English speakers. The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Institutes of Health, the McGovern Institute, and the Simmons Center for the Social Brain gave financial support to neuroscientists at MIT to map brain language networks in 45 language speakers, and to produce results in brain imaging studies that occur in multiple languages to confirm the universal similarity of language networks in the human brain.

However, the vast majority of these mapping studies are done among English speakers as they listen to or read English texts. Neuroscientists at MIT have now conducted brain imaging studies on users of 45 different languages. The results showed that the speaker's language network appeared to be essentially the same as that of native English speakers.

The language area is peculiar to the human cerebral cortex, mostly on the left side of the brain, but the precise position and shape vary from person to person, not everyone. In order to find the language network, while scanning the brains of study subjects with functional magnetic resonance imaging, each person was given the task of language, allowing them to listen to or read sentences in their native language. And avoid activating language networks by having the subjects solve mathematical problems or listen to unfamiliar languages in order to distinguish them from other areas of the brain.

The researchers used Alice in Wonderland, one of the most translated novels in the world, as experimental text, from which 24 short and 3 long paragraphs were selected, each of which was recorded by native speakers in 45 languages. Each participant also heard the wrong passage that should not activate the language network and was asked to do other cognitive tasks without activation attributes.

The study brainied two speakers in 45 different languages, representing 12 different language families. The results found that the study participants spoke a wide variety of languages, but that language networks were all in essentially the same areas of the brain and had the same selectivity as native English speakers.The researchers said that the language network region does not respond to 45 language users in behavioral species that have no activation attributes such as spatial memory tasks, indicating that the language field is selective. In addition, the activated locale such as the frontal and temporal language regions among English speakers have similar synchronization among other language speakers.

Also, in all subjects, the small amount of variation that occurred between individuals who spoke different languages was the same amount of variation that could be seen between native English speakers. These findings all suggest that the location and key properties of language networks appear to be connected in the brains of different language speakers.

Research confirms that the basic properties and overall architecture of the brain's language network are common between different language users, but it does not mean that they are exactly the same as each other. The researchers were looking for differences in language speakers who used primarily morphemes rather than word order to help determine the meaning of sentences. This could also help investigate whether the language networks of language speakers who convey the meaning of different words with tonal differences have a stronger connection to the auditory brain region.

In addition, the researchers also studied the time perception thresholds of speakers of different languages in six types of linguistics, including Turkish, Mandarin, and Finnish, to explore whether the constraints of the practice acceptance field have a similar effect on various languages. The time perception threshold is the number of words that the language processing system processes at once, and in English its magnitude is six to eight words. The researchers worked to find language speakers outside of 45 languages to help create language localizers.