A domain-general basal ganglia mechanism for inhibitory control during language comprehension

Whether controlled language processing involves domain-general or language-specific neural circuits is subject of controversial debate. We tested whether the inhibitory control of linguistic activity shares a common neural process with motor inhibition in twenty humans undergoing intra- and extracranial neural field potential recordings and deep-brain stimulation. Engaging motor and linguistic inhibition simultaneously resulted in a significant behavioral cost, suggesting a shared underlying neural process. Indeed, neural decoders trained during motor inhibition were able to decode linguistic inhibition and vice versa. Depth-electrode recordings from the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a key basal ganglia area for inhibitory control, showed increased β-band (13-30 Hz) activity during both linguistic and motor inhibition. Finally, disrupting the STN via deep-brain stimulation impaired behavioral and neural signatures of both linguistic and motor inhibition. Together, these findings show that the inhibitory control of language and movement share a domain-general mechanism implemented via the subthalamic nucleus of the basal ganglia.