Gateway to Syntax: On the Neural Origins of the Left Anterior Negativity and Their Functional Implications.

Overview

Authors: Manuel Martin-Loeches^1,2, Werner Sommer^3,4,5, Laura Jiménez-Ortega^1,2, Javier Espuny^1,6, Miguel Rubianes^1,6, Pilar Casado²

ORCID iDs: Manuel Martin-Loeches, Werner Sommer, Laura Jiménez-Ortega, Javier Espuny, Miguel Rubianes, Pilar Casado

Institutions: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain); Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong SAR China); Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany); National University of Malaysia (Malaysia); UNIE Universidad (Spain)

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.), volume 7, article NOL.a.227

Dates: received 25 July 2025; accepted 24 November 2025; published online 26 March 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1162/nol.a.227 · PMID 41971746 · PMCID PMC13065097 · OpenAlex W4416872756

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Preprint: osf.io/karns

Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)

Categories: cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Statistics, Preprocessing, Evoked potentials

Keywords: syntax processing, language, left anterior negativity (LAN), neural sources

Topic: Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2021-123421NB-I00, PID2021-124227NB-I00)

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 105 references in the paper

Abstract

The neural origins of the Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) component of the Event-Related brain Potentials (ERP) have never been directly probed although this information is of the highest interest for a comprehensive view of the neural foundation of language. The LAN emerges specifically after morphosyntactic violations and is affected by both linguistic and extralinguistic, non-syntactic information. Here, we explored the neural sources of the LAN by analyzing data from three previously published ERP data sets obtained from canonical morphosyntactic violation conditions. The neuroelectric source analyses were based on LAN data from N = 76 participants and comprised two distributed source algorithms: sLORETA (standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography), and CLARA (classical LORETA analysis recursively applied), and a discrete dipole model (BESA, brain electrical source analysis). The results indicate that the most acceptable candidate as primary neural source of the LAN is the left frontal operculum (LFO), though the right FO might also be implicated. Considering its location, functions and connections, we speculate that the FO may be monitoring articulatory (morphological or morphophonological) predictions during language comprehension. The direct links between the FO and the anterior temporal pole might also account for nonlinguistic influences on the LAN.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data and to no code of its authors: see the Data section.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

osf:karns, at OSF; found in “Code and Data Availability Statement”

Code and Data Availability Statement

Data -individual grand averages ERP for each participant and condition- from each of the three original studies are available from OSF public repository (https://osf.io/karns).

All the present analyses were performed using BESA (Brain Electrical Source Analysis), a third-party, commercial software (BESA GmbH, Gräfelfing, Germany).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 6 authors, 4 keywords, 2 funders, 99 references.

Cite

This paper

Martin-Loeches, M., Sommer, W., Jiménez-Ortega, L., Espuny, J., Rubianes, M., & Casado, P. (2026). Gateway to Syntax: On the Neural Origins of the Left Anterior Negativity and Their Functional Implications. Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.), 7, NOL.a.227. https://doi.org/10.1162/nol.a.227

BibTeX

@article{martinloeches2026gateway, author = {Martin-Loeches, Manuel and Sommer, Werner and Jiménez-Ortega, Laura and Espuny, Javier and Rubianes, Miguel and Casado, Pilar}, title = {{Gateway to Syntax: On the Neural Origins of the Left Anterior Negativity and Their Functional Implications}}, journal = {Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)}, year = {2026}, month = mar, volume = {7}, pages = {NOL.a.227}, publisher = {MIT Press}, issn = {2641-4368}, doi = {10.1162/nol.a.227}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1162/nol.a.227}, pmid = {41971746}, pmcid = {PMC13065097} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Martin-Loeches, Manuel AU - Sommer, Werner AU - Jiménez-Ortega, Laura AU - Espuny, Javier AU - Rubianes, Miguel AU - Casado, Pilar TI - Gateway to Syntax: On the Neural Origins of the Left Anterior Negativity and Their Functional Implications T2 - Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) J2 - Neurobiol Lang (Camb) PY - 2026 DA - 2026/03/26 VL - 7 SP - NOL.a.227 SN - 2641-4368 PB - MIT Press DO - 10.1162/nol.a.227 UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/nol.a.227 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

{ "id": "10.1162/nol.a.227", "type": "article-journal", "title": "Gateway to Syntax: On the Neural Origins of the Left Anterior Negativity and Their Functional Implications", "container-title": "Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)", "author": [ { "family": "Martin-Loeches", "given": "Manuel" }, { "family": "Sommer", "given": "Werner" }, { "family": "Jiménez-Ortega", "given": "Laura" }, { "family": "Espuny", "given": "Javier" }, { "family": "Rubianes", "given": "Miguel" }, { "family": "Casado", "given": "Pilar" } ], "container-title-short": "Neurobiol Lang (Camb)", "volume": "7", "page": "NOL.a.227", "DOI": "10.1162/nol.a.227", "PMID": "41971746", "PMCID": "PMC13065097", "ISSN": "2641-4368", "publisher": "MIT Press", "URL": "https://doi.org/10.1162/nol.a.227", "language": "en", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2026, 3, 26 ] ] } }

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: code errors and mismatches between the code and the paper about this paper and its code, from readers and its authors, beside the paper and its tracing map.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code and did not get the paper's result, what they ran, with which environment, commit and data.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.