Causal evidence for a coordinated temporal interplay within the language network

Recent neurobiological models on language suggest that auditory sentence compre-hension is supported by a coordinated temporal interplay within a left-dominant brain network, including the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG), posterior superior temporal gyrus and sulcus (pSTG/STS), and angular gyrus (AG). Here, we probed the timing and causal relevance of the interplay between these regions by means of concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). Our TMS-EEG experiments reveal region-and time-specific causal evidence for a bidirectional information flow from left pSTG/STS to left pIFG and back during auditory sentence processing. Adapting a condition-and-perturb approach, our findings further suggest that the left pSTG/STS can be supported by the left AG in a state -dependent manner.

Automated summary

Recent neurobiological models suggest that auditory sentence comprehension is supported by a left-dominant brain network involving the pIFG, pSTG/STS, and AG. TMS-EEG experiments reveal bidirectional information flow from left pSTG/STS to left pIFG during auditory sentence processing. The left pSTG/STS may be supported by the left AG in a state-dependent manner.