Honored with Troland Award: Evelina Fedorenko by National Academy of Sciences

Let's Get the Scoop on Evelina Fedorenko's Groundbreaking Language Research

Evelina Fedorenko, an MIT associate prof, is about to scoop up a 2025 Troland Research Award! This prestigious honor recognizes her outstanding early-career contributions in the field of experimental psychology, particularly her work on the language network in the human brain.

Based in brain and cognitive sciences and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Fedorenko's Mission Impossible is uncovering the brain's language secrets. Her lab discovers the internal architecture of the language system, probing the link between language and other cognitive, perceptual, and motor systems. As a master of multitasking, she employs innovative computational modeling, topping it off with precise brain readings, and unearths the core computations powering our unique human ability to wield language.

Fedorenko demonstrated that the language network sifts through language processing over other non-linguistic processes like math, music, and social reasoning. Syntax isn't a one-trick pony, confined within the language network's boundaries. Instead, every region within the network that responds to syntax is, in her words, at least as hooked on word meanings.

Her recent work compared the neural representations from language models like ChatGPT to those in human language brain areas. While these models excel at grasping linguistic rules and patterns, they struggle in real-world applications. Human brains bring more to the table than just linguistic processing. They incorporate cognitive faculties for world knowledge, reasoning, and interpreting social interactions.

Fedorenko dismissed the prominent view that language equals thought, positing that language is primarily a tool for communicating—not the medium of thinking itself.

Fedorenko's cutting-edge discoveries are unraveling the neural computations driving language processing and are sure to make a splash during the NAS annual meeting in April. So sit tight, folks; this research is bound to shake things up and rewrite our understanding of those elusive language circuits in our craniums.

Quick Insights:

Fedorenko's work has defined a neural network in the brain dedicated to core language computations, such as lexical access, syntactic parsing, and semantic composition.
Recent studies revealed that the language network processes multiple languages similarly, hinting at a universal language mechanism.
Fedorenko's research draws parallels between human and computational language models, like ChatGPT, providing unique insights into their neural processes.
Despite similarities, human language processing and computational models have significant differences, such as a neural substrate and different learning and adaptation mechanisms.
The human brain packages language processing with additional cognitive and emotional context that language models may lack.

In the realm of science, Evelina Fedorenko's research on the language network in the human brain has revealed that every region within this network that responds to syntax is as hooked on word meanings as it is on syntax itself.
As the recipient of the 2025 Troland Research Award, Fedorenko's innovative work in brain and cognitive sciences and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research is pushing the boundaries of human understanding, unveiling the internal architecture of the language system.
Beyond language, Fedorenko's research extends to the areas of health-and-wellness and fitness-and-exercise, as she explores the link between language, mental health, and various mental therapies and treatments.
Drawing upon artificial intelligence and technology, Fedorenko's lab employs computational modeling and precise brain readings to unearth the core computations that power our unique human ability to wield language, applying findings to real-world applications.
Nutrition and diet are also part of Fedorenko's research, as she investigates how the brain's language network processes and understands information related to food and nutrition, with potential implications for health services and wellness.