(updated 2023) Evelina Fedorenko, Ph.D., Middleton CD Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fedorenko Lab

How does the brain acquire and process language? Dr. Fedorenko's lab at MIT focuses on unusual cases of language acquisition to deeply probe the brain structure and mechanisms involved in language --one of the most complex capacities of the brain.

On October 10, 2018, Dr. Fedorenko appeared on Science for the Public's Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations program to discuss her study of How Many Languages Can You Learn?. She and her associates focus on how the brains of multilingual people (polyglots) process very different types of languages. They also investigate those rare individuals who learn dozens of languages (hyperpolyglots).

Dr. Fedorenko appeared on Contemporary Issues again on May 30, 2023 to discuss a most interesting case of first language acquisition despite the absence of the left temporal lobe, a brain region necessary for language development and processing Unusual Brain Adaptations. She explained the work of her lab's Interesting Brains Project, which will provide new language and brain insights.

Fedorenko’s research New Yorker Sept 03, 2018: The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages