A recent study in Nature Communications Psychology by NYU researchers looked at how the brain builds sentences from single words. The team was led by Associate Professor Adeen Flinker and Postdoctoral Researcher Adam Morgan.
They used high-resolution brain recordings (ECoG) to see if what we know from simple tasks, like naming pictures, also applies to the more complex task of making full sentences.
Ten epilepsy patients took part in the study. Surgeons placed electrodes on the patients’ brains during their surgery. The researchers then asked the patients to perform language tasks, such as saying single words and forming full sentences to describe cartoon scenes. The researchers used machine learning to analyze the brain’s activity.
First, the team looked at the brain activity for six individual words. Then the researchers observed how the it activity changed when the same words were used in full sentences
Brain Activity
The study found that brain activity for single words stayed the same across tasks. But how the brain arranged and used those words changed depending on the sentence. Motor-related brain areas showed activity that matched the order in which the words were spoken.
In contrast, in the prefrontal areas—especially the lower and middle parts of the frontal lobe—the brain used a different method. These areas not only processed the words themselves but also their role in the sentence (like subject or object) and where they fit in the sentence structure.
In passive sentences like “Frankenstein was hit by Dracula,” the brain kept both nouns active the whole time. Even while one word was being said, the brain still held onto the other. This shows that complex sentences make the brain work harder, likely using extra memory to manage all the parts.
Sentence structure may follow brain efficiency
The researchers noted that most languages around the world put the subject before the object. This might be because it’s easier for the brain to handle. Sentences with unusual structures, like passives, seem to require more brain effort. Over time, this could have shaped how languages evolved.
In the end, the study gives us a better picture of how the brain forms sentences. Instead of a simple step-by-step process, speaking uses a mix of steady word knowledge and flexible grammar handling, based on sentence structure.
Ref: “Decoding words during sentence production with ECoG reveals syntactic role encoding and structure-dependent temporal dynamics” by Adam M. Morgan, Orrin Devinsky, Werner K. Doyle, Patricia Dugan, Daniel Friedman and Adeen Flinker, 3 June 2025, Communications Psychology.
DOI: 10.1038/s44271-025-00270-1
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