mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Mapping Brains with Language Models: A Survey

arXiv 2306.05126 ↗First posted 8 Jun 2023cs.CLcited by 8

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

Over the years, many researchers have seemingly made the same observation: Brain and language model activations exhibit some structural similarities, enabling linear partial mappings between features extracted from neural recordings and computational language models. In an attempt to evaluate how much evidence has been accumulated for this observation, we survey over 30 studies spanning 10 datasets and 8 metrics. How much evidence has been accumulated, and what, if anything, is missing before we can draw conclusions? Our analysis of the evaluation methods used in the literature reveals that some of the metrics are less conservative. We also find that the accumulated evidence, for now, remains ambiguous, but correlations with model size and quality provide grounds for cautious optimism.

Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 26 of its 80 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Jun 2023.

Builds on

26 of 80 references.

References · 26

  1. 2018BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understandingcited by 40,399
  2. 2021Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing via Large Pre-Trained Language Models: A Surveycited by 463
  3. 2021BookSum: A Collection of Datasets for Long-form Narrative Summarizationcited by 184
  4. 2019Interpreting and improving natural-language processing (in machines) with natural language-processing (in the brain)cited by 128
  5. 2022Toward a realistic model of speech processing in the brain with self-supervised learningcited by 63
  6. 2021Disentangling Syntax and Semantics in the Brain with Deep Networkscited by 40
  7. 2019Blackbox meets blackbox: Representational Similarity and Stability Analysis of Neural Language Models and Brainscited by 38
  8. 2019Inducing brain-relevant bias in natural language processing modelscited by 38
  9. 2019Linking artificial and human neural representations of languagecited by 37
  10. 2022Self-supervised models of audio effectively explain human cortical responses to speechcited by 37
  11. 2022Joint processing of linguistic properties in brains and language modelscited by 37
  12. 2021Low-Dimensional Structure in the Space of Language Representations is Reflected in Brain Responsescited by 34
14 more
  1. 2019CogniVal: A Framework for Cognitive Word Embedding Evaluationcited by 27
  2. 2022Neural Language Taskonomy: Which NLP Tasks are the most Predictive of fMRI Brain Activity?cited by 27
  3. 2022Neural Language Models are not Born Equal to Fit Brain Data, but Training Helpscited by 26
  4. 2022Training language models to summarize narratives improves brain alignmentcited by 26
  5. 2018Interpreting Encoding and Decoding Modelscited by 21
  6. 2022Language models and brains align due to more than next-word prediction and word-level informationcited by 14
  7. 2021Does injecting linguistic structure into language models lead to better alignment with brain recordings?cited by 12
  8. 2021Long-range and hierarchical language predictions in brains and algorithmscited by 10
  9. 2022Same Cause; Different Effects in the Braincited by 10
  10. 2022Beyond linear regression: mapping models in cognitive neuroscience should align with research goalscited by 10
  11. 2018Does the brain represent words? An evaluation of brain decoding studies of language understandingcited by 9
  12. 2019Robust Evaluation of Language-Brain Encoding Experimentscited by 9
  13. 2018fMRI Semantic Category Decoding using Linguistic Encoding of Word Embeddingscited by 6
  14. 2016Bridging LSTM Architecture and the Neural Dynamics during Readingcited by 4

Built on by

Cited by year

Citing papers per year: 2023: 1; 2024: 3; 2025: 4.

8 papers.

  1. 2023Deep Neural Networks and Brain Alignment: Brain Encoding and Decoding (Survey)cited by 21
  2. 2024Improving Semantic Understanding in Speech Language Models via Brain-tuningcited by 20
  3. 2025Brain-Language Model Alignment: Insights into the Platonic Hypothesis and Intermediate-Layer Advantagecited by 5
  4. 2025Language models align with brain regions that represent concepts across modalitiescited by 4
  5. 2024Modality-Agnostic fMRI Decoding of Vision and Languagecited by 2
  6. 2025Integrating Cognitive Processing Signals into Language Models: A Review of Advances, Applications and Future Directionscited by 2
  7. 2025Can "consciousness" be observed from large language model (LLM) internal states? Dissecting LLM representations obtained from Theory of Mind test with Integrated Information Theory and Span Representation analysiscited by 1
  8. 2024On the Shape of Brainscores for Large Language Models (LLMs)cited by 0