Neural underpinnings of music and of language

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While music and language differ in terms of structure and communicative intent, they share common features including rhythm, syntax, prosody, and even semantics at various levels. Over recent decades, advances in neuroimaging and electrophysiology have provided unprecedented insights into how the brain processes, differentiates, and integrates these two domains, revealing both shared and specialized pathways. In parallel, neuropsychological and developmental studies have highlighted how music and language co-evolve, interact, and sometimes compete during learning and recovery from brain injury.

This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying music and language, from basic auditory processing to complex cognitive functions such as syntax, meaning, and emotion. We welcome work ranging from fundamental neural mechanisms, through clinical investigations and neurodevelopmental studies, to music-based interventions and cross-cultural perspectives.

We invite contributions (original research articles, reviews, and opinions) that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

1. Studies mapping common and distinct neural substrates supporting music and language processing, including evidence from lesion studies, neuroimaging (fMRI, MEG, EEG), intracranial recordings, or neurostimulation.

2. Investigations into how music and language skills emerge and interact during infancy and childhood, and how early music or language exposure shapes brain networks.

3. Research on individuals with disorders such as aphasia, amusia, dyslexia, or other neurodevelopmental conditions, elucidating shared and unique deficits.

4. Exploration of how musical training influences language processing (and vice versa), as well as the shared roles of emotion, memory, and prediction in both domains.

5. Studies examining how music and language are integrated in communication, or comparing their neural bases across different cultures and linguistic traditions.

6. Examination of music-based therapies for language rehabilitation and the underlying neural mechanisms driving their efficacy.

7. Modeling approaches that account for shared and distinct neural computations supporting music and language.

8. Studies of individuals with atypical or enhanced cognitive profiles, such as absolute pitch possessors or synesthetes.

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Article types and fees

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• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: music, language, melody, syntax, neural mechanisms, synesthetes

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.