9/ Finally, thank you so much to @EpilepsyInst to support this work!

🔗 Read the full article in @brain1878.bsky.social :

www.researchgate.net/publication/...
#neuroscience #brain #executivecontrol #neuroanatomy

8/ We believe this work offers new insights into the IFOF’s role beyond semantics and invites further exploration into its broad executive functions.

7/ Clinically, this pathway’s importance in neurosurgery is clear: it should be considered a key target for preservation in both hemispheres (against the myth of a non-dominant right hemisphere).

6/ This unified view links language, visual processing, motor cognition, theory of mind, reading, attention, and emotion recognition—grounding cognitive control in top-down modulation of visual features. It also posits a role for the right IFOF in social semantic control.

5/ Using stimulation, we propose it can be subdivided in two-layers:
🔹 Ventral IFOF: Cognitive control for conceptual/symbolic content (including language).
🔹 Dorsal IFOF: Cognitive control for perceptual content

4/ We propose that the IFOF overlays cortical regions involved in semantic control and the multiple demand system, representing an executive, prefrontal connection for top-down modulation of visual features. It is language-sensitive, but not language-specific.

3/ Our review challenges the idea that the IFOF evolved for language. Gathered data indicate that this pathway is present along the primate lineage—far earlier than language—suggesting it originally supported top-down cognitive control of visual features for goal-directed behaviour.

2/ Since then, the IFOF has been considered the major anatomical pathway linking language to meaning, but objections have emerged suggesting its function goes beyond language.

1/ Almost 20 years ago, we reported that the IFOF supports language semantics through causal, direct stimulation [Duffau et al., Brain (2005)]. This work laid the foundation for understanding its role in the ventral stream of language.

academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

7/ Clinically, this pathway’s importance in neurosurgery is clear: it should be considered a key target for preservation in both hemispheres (against the myth of a non-dominant right hemisphere).

6/ This unified view links language, visual processing, motor cognition, theory of mind, reading, attention, and emotion recognition—grounding cognitive control in top-down modulation of visual features. It also posits a role for the right IFOF in social semantic control.

5/ Using stimulation we propose it can be subdivided in two-layers:
🔹 Ventral IFOF: Cognitive control for conceptual/symbolic content (including language).
🔹 Dorsal IFOF: Cognitive control for perceptual content.

4/ We propose that the IFOF overlays cortical regions involved in semantic control and the multiple demand system, representing an executive, prefrontal connection for top-down modulation of sensory features. It is language-sensitive, but not language-specific.

3/ Our review challenges the idea that the IFOF evolved for language. Gathered data indicate that this pathway is present along the primate lineage—far earlier than language—suggesting it originally supported top-down cognitive control of visual features for goal-directed behaviour.

2/ Since then, the IFOF has been considered the major anatomical pathway linking language to meaning, but objections have emerged suggesting its function goes beyond language.

1/ Almost 20 years ago, we reported that the IFOF supports language semantics through causal, direct stimulation [Duffau et al., Brain (2005)]. This work laid the foundation for understanding its role in the ventral stream of language.
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...