Research
My current research primarily focuses on two distinctive and crucial human cognitive capacities—tool use and language—with the aim of understanding how they are represented in the brain, how they interact with each other, and how they influence other cognitive functions.
Neural bases of tool use
Tool use is a fundamental human cognitive ability and a key distinction between humans and other animals. Previous studies have identified a dedicated tool-processing network in the human brain. We further found that the neural network supporting tool processing spans both the cortex and the pulvinar, forming a cortico-subcortical brain network (Wen, 2023, J. Neurosci.). This tool-related network appears to be human-specific: it is already present in the neonatal brain but absent in the mature macaque brain (Wen, 2022, NeuroImage). Moreover, in collaboration with the Computational Group, we found that dimensional representations can effectively guide tool selection in AI models (Hao, 2025, preprint).
key articles
Brain intrinsic connection patterns underlying tool processing in human adults are present in neonates and not in macaques (Wen, 2022, NeuroImage)
Cross-specie comparison; resting state functional connectivity; network
One-sentence information: Although homologous regions establish an intrinsic tool network in human neonates, this network is absent in macaques; its topology closely mirrors that of adults, with premotor-parietal connectivity playing a central role in its formation.
Pulvinar Response Profiles and Connectivity Patterns to Object Domains (Wen, 2023, J. Neurosci.)
fMRI; lateralization; task-based dynamic causal modeling
One-sentence information: Visual processing of tools and animals engages distinct pulvinar patterns, with tools showing robust left-lateralized activity and animals bilateral clusters; these domain-specific responses reflect intrinsic pulvinar-cortical connectivity, with a pulvinar-to-right-amygdala pathway supporting animal perception and a pulvinar-to-parietal pathway facilitating tool perception.
Effects of language on other cognitive functions
Language is a fundamental cognitive capacity that supports communication and thought, and its relationship with other cognitive functions has long been a central topic of debate.
Previous studies have suggested that language and tool use, although different in form, both rely on the ability to assemble elements into hierarchically organized structures and may therefore share common neural substrates (Wen, 2024, eNeuro). Our work further demonstrates that language and tool processing share a genetic neural basis within the basal ganglia. Damage to the basal ganglia is associated with reduced performance in both language comprehension and tool use, and delays in language development are accompanied by disruptions in tool-related behavior and its underlying neural representations (Fan, In preparation).
Does language influence more fundamental cognitive functions, such as vision? We propose that visual processing is shaped by evolutionary pressures and supports survival by contributing to a range of core human capacities. From this perspective, studies of visual processing should take the role of language into account (Wen, 2025, CognitiveNeurosciece). Consistent with this view, our empirical work demonstrates that, unlike in macaques, higher-order visual cortex in humans is modulated by language (Wen, In preparation).
key articles
Processing language partly shares neural genetic basis with processing tools and body parts (Wen, 2024, eNeuro)
Twin genetic model; language and tool; fMRI
One-sentence information: The bilateral basal ganglia exhibited a shared genetic basis for language, tool, and body-part processing.
When Vision Learns to Speak: Language-Linked Modulation Diverges Between Human and Macaque Visual Cortex (Submitted)
Cross-specie comparison; vision models; large-scale behavioral ratings
One-sentence information: Language supervision uniquely modulates human visual cortex, distinguishing it from other primates.
Causal evidence for a shared mechanism linking language and tool use via the putamen (Fan, 2026, preprint)
Brain-lesioned patients; deaf individuals; language experience; multi-modal MRI
One-sentence information: Hierarchical structuring in language and tool use relies on a shared striatal computation: putaminal damage in brain-injured patients selectively impaired hierarchical language comprehension and goal-directed tool use, whereas delayed early language experience in congenitally deaf adults led to reduced hierarchical tool use and diminished putaminal encoding.