The Interacting Language Network: A Framework for Neuromodulation and Clinical Translation

Language disorders, whether following stroke, neurodegenerative disease or altered neurodevelopment, markedly impair communication and quality of life. Despite advances in behavioural and neuromodulation therapies, treatment outcomes remain modest. Attempts to modulate local excitability in single brain regions have yielded limited benefits, in part because focal stimulation induces widespread network level changes that challenge models based on local, sequential processing within specialised cortical areas.We argue for a shift in neuromodulation for language, from interventions that target isolated regions to approaches that modulate distributed neural networks. To support this shift, we introduce the Interacting Language Network (ILN), a theoretical framework that integrates evidence for local functional specialisation with evidence for distributed processing. The ILN extends existing models by formalising how dynamic interaction between sensorimotor and heteromodal language circuits enables flexible communication. The ILN is grounded in evolutionary, neurobiological and clinical work showing that complex language abilities depend on the disproportionate expansion of association cortices and white matter pathways in humans, which enable long range communication between specialised regions. Converging findings from neurotypical and clinical populations, including stroke, neurodegeneration and developmental disorders, demonstrate that although specific regions make distinct contributions to language, their function depends critically on dynamic interactions, particularly between frontal and temporo-parietal areas. By integrating these strands of evidence, the ILN bridges the divide between localised and distributed processing accounts and provides a translational scaffold for network-based neuromodulation. It delineates current knowledge about the architecture and interaction principles of the language network and identifies gaps that impede progress. We outline concrete avenues to advance network-based neuromodulation for language disorders. Ultimately, interventions that target interacting language networks have the potential to deliver more effective and personalised treatments for individuals with language impairment.