Wired for Words

The Neural Architecture of Language

Gregory Hickok

$270

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

MIT Press
05 January 2026

Psychology

A critical synthesis of over 150 years of research on the brain's networks that enable us to communicate through language.

A critical synthesis of over 150 years of research on the brain's networks that enable us to communicate through language.

The neural architecture of language has been a hotly debated topic in neurology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy since the early 1800s. Is language separable from intelligence? Is it enabled by dedicated and localizable neural networks? Do we speak and understand with our left hemisphere? How did language emerge? Is language grounded in sensorimotor systems, or is it abstract and amodal? Will we ever have a clear picture of how syntax, the pinnacle of human linguistic prowess, is organized neurologically?

Wired for Words answers these questions and more. Gregory Hickok tells the stories behind the big ideas, revealing the source of both modern progress and persistent myths. Drawing on decades of research using tools and insights from neurology, functional imaging, neurosurgery, linguistics, psychology, and engineering, Hickok builds a new understanding of the neural architecture-the components and connection patterns-of the brain's language system from sound to meaning to speech.

By: Gregory Hickok
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262553414
ISBN 10: 0262553414
Pages: 440
Publication Date: 05 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Gregory Hickok is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Language Science at UC Irvine where he serves as Chair of the Department of Language Science. He was the first elected Chair of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the author of The Myth of Mirror Neurons.