Contributions of brain’s language network to the behavioral language performance

The neural basis of individual differences in language ability remains incompletely understood. While previous research has identified brain regions associated with language processing, few studies have systematically examined whether higher language performance corresponds to greater neural engagement across cortical and cerebellar language network. Using data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), we investigated neural activation patterns in 70 healthy adults stratified into high-performing and low-performing groups (35 subjects per group) based on composite scores from language tests, while controlling for social cognition to isolate language-specific effects. Functional MRI data from the story versus math task were analyzed to compare activation patterns between groups. The high-performing group exhibited significantly greater activation across distributed language regions in both hemispheres, with particularly robust effects in left frontal and temporal areas. Brain-behavior correlation analyses across the full sample confirmed that activation strength within these regions predicted language ability. Cerebellar analysis revealed greater recruitment of right posterior regions in the high-performing group, extending the pattern of enhanced activation beyond cortical networks. These findings demonstrate that superior language ability is associated with more robust engagement of a distributed cerebro-cerebellar language network, suggesting that individual differences in language skills are reflected in the magnitude of neural resource recruitment during language processing.