The dynamics of functional connectivity-based language lateralization across timescales.

Abstract

In most individuals, language is predominantly left-lateralized, a prominent feature of human brain organization. Recent research increasingly views language lateralization as a property of distributed and interacting functional networks. In this article, we review evidence that the lateralization of functional connectivity within the language system varies in both degree and direction across multiple timescales. We propose that this connectivity-based lateralization undergoes long-term developmental, experience-dependent, and perturbation-induced reorganization, while also exhibiting short-term context-driven and spontaneous fluctuations within apparently stable patterns. Furthermore, we discuss neurobiological mechanisms that may support and constrain these dynamics. Together, these findings provide a multiscale framework for understanding how the human brain balances functional flexibility with relative stability in shaping the lateralized organization of language.