While a long history of neuropsychological research places language function within a primarily left-lateralized frontotemporal system, recent neuroimaging work has extended this language network to include a number of regions traditionally thought of as ‘domain-general’. These include dorsal frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobe regions known to underpin cognitive functions such as attention and memory. In this paper, we argue that these domain-general systems are not required for language processing and are instead an artefact of the tasks typically used to study language. Recent work from our lab shows that when syntactic processing — arguably the only domain-specific language function — is measured in a task-free, naturalistic manner, only the left-lateralized frontotemporal syntax system and auditory network are activated. When syntax is measured within the context of a task, several other domain-general networks come online and are functionally connected to the frontotemporal system. While we have long argued that syntactic processing does not occur in isolation but is processed in parallel with semantics and pragmatics — functions of the wider language system — our recent work makes a strong case for the domain-specificity of the frontotemporal syntax system and its autonomy from domain-general networks.

虽然长期以来的神经心理学研究将语言功能置于主要是左外侧额颞系统中，但最近的神经影像学研究已经将该语言网络扩展到了许多传统上被认为是“领域通用”的区域。这些包括已知支持认知功能（例如注意力和记忆力）的额叶，顶叶和颞颞叶内侧区域。在本文中，我们认为这些领域通用系统不是语言处理所必需的，而是通常用于学习语言的任务的人工产物。我们实验室的最新工作表明，以无任务，自然主义的方式来衡量句法处理（可以说是唯一的特定领域的语言功能）时，只会激活左侧的额颞语法系统和听觉网络。在任务上下文中测量语法时，其他几个领域通用网络会联机并在功能上连接到时空系统。尽管我们长期以来一直在争论句法处理不是孤立发生的，而是与语义和语用学（更广泛的语言系统的功能）并行进行的，但是我们最近的工作为额时语法系统及其自治性提供了强有力的证明。来自领域通用网络。