Unveiling the Intricate Relationship Between Language and Social Cognition

Researchers have discovered that neural activity in the left ventral temporoparietal junction (vTPJ) and the lateral anterior temporal lobe (lATL) during sentence processing is associated with social-semantic working memory rather than general language processing. These regions respond to sentences with social meaning and maintain activity even after the linguistic stimulus is gone, challenging previous assumptions about their role in language comprehension. This finding enhances our understanding of the brain's language network and its connection to social cognition.