Hope 희진 Kean

How does the neural architecture in our brains make abstract thought and logical reasoning possible?

I recently completed my PhD in Brain & Cognitive Sciences at MIT, advised by Evelina Fedorenko, where I studied the cognitive and neural systems that support reasoning, language, & other high-level functions (see my thesis).

As one part of this work, I led the Interesting Brains project, a large scale study of individuals with profoundly atypical neuroanatomy, yet (strikingly) preserved cognitive functions.

I am thankful to the Integrative Computational Neuroscience (ICoN), the McGovern, and the MIT Presidential Fellowships for their generous support.

CV | Google Scholar

Main Research Lines

I study how cognitive architecture (the measurable selectivity structure in cortical systems) is implemented in the human brain, in these three main lines of research.

Interesting Brains
(Lesions project)

We are looking at cognitive architecture in the brains of individuals who sustained brain lesions early in life (many in the womb!) and whose brains have reorganized such that they show little to no behavioral effects and relocalized high-level cortical networks.
InterestingBrains.com | Media: NYT article

Logical Reasoning
(Ontology of Thought)

What is the nature of human reasoning? How do we acquire logically structured representations in the frontal-parietal Multiple Demand Network and use them to reason?
Media: Artistic collaboration

Selectivity Hypotheses
(in the Language Network)

Can we figure out which cognitive operations are being executed in our high-level cortical networks? We do this by disambiguating between hypotheses about network selectivity. For instance, in the frontotemporal Language Network , we found that sensitivity to both semantics and syntax is broadly distributed throughout the entire network (Shain*, Kean*, et al. 2024).
Media: Psychology Today article

Papers

A human brain network specialized for abstract formal reasoning

Kean, H., Fung, A., Chen, J., Ohams, C., Rule, J., Tenenbaum, J., Piantadosi, S., & Fedorenko, E.
(preprint forthcoming, see version in thesis)

Functional specificity is a core principle of human brain organization, as revealed by highly anatomically atypical brains

Kean, H., Wolna, A., Swords, S., Jhingan, N., Shewmon, A., Richardson, M., Fedorenko, E.
(preprint forthcoming, see version in thesis)

The Neural Architecture of Human Reasoning: Higher-order Cognitive Specialization for Formal Thought and in Atypical Brains

Kean, H.
PhD Thesis, MIT, 2025

Evidence from Formal Logical Reasoning Reveals that the Language of Thought is not Natural Language

Kean, H., Fung, A., Jaggers, P., Chen, J., Rule, J., Benn, Y., Tenenbaum, J., Piantadosi, S., Varley, R., & Fedorenko, E
Under revision
PDF

Intuitive physical reasoning is not mediated by linguistic nor exclusively domain-general abstract representations

Kean, H., Fung, A., Pramod, RT., Chomik-Morales, J., Kanwisher, N., & Fedorenko, E.
Neuropsychologia, 2025
PDF

Distributed Sensitivity to Syntax and Semantics throughout the Language Network

Shain*, C., Kean*, H., Casto, C., Lipkin, B., Affourtit, J., Siegelman, M., Mollica, F., Fedorenko, E. (2024)
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2024
PDF

Preserved functional organization of human auditory cortex in individuals missing one temporal lobe from birth

Regev, T., Lipkin B., Boebinger D., Paunov A., Kean, H., Norman-Haignere S.V., and Fedorenko, E. (2024)
iScience, 2024
PDF

Intact reading ability despite lacking a canonical visual word form area in an individual born without the left superior temporal lobe

Li, J., Kean, H., Fedorenko, E. and Saygin, Z. (2022).
Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2022
PDF

Frontal language areas do not emerge in the absence of temporal language areas: A case study of an individual born without a left temporal lobe

Tuckute, G., Paunov, A., Kean, H., Small, H., Mineroff, Z., Blank, I.A., Fedorenko, E. (2022)
Neuropsychologia, 2022
PDF

Precision fMRI reveals that the language-selective network supports both phrase-structure building and lexical access during language production

Hu, J, Small, H., Kean, H., Takahashi, A., Zekelman, L., Kleinman, D., Ryan, E., Nieto-Castañón, A., Ferreira, V., and Fedorenko, E. (2022)
Cerebral Cortex, 2022
PDF

The human language system does not support music processing

Chen, X., Affourtit, J., Ryskin, R., Regev, T., Norman-Haignere, S., Jouravlev, O., Malik-Moraleda, S., Kean, H., Varley, R., and Fedorenko, E. (2022)
Cerebral Cortex, 2022
PDF

LanA (Language Atlas): A probabilistic atlas for the language network based on fMRI data from >800 individuals

Lipkin, B., Tuckute, G., Affourtit, J., Small, H., Mineroff, Z., Kean, H., Jouravlev, O., Rakocevic, L., Pritchett, B., Siegelman, M., Hoeflin, C., Pongos, A., Blank, I., Kline, M., Ivanova, A., Shannon, S., Sathe, A., Hoffman, M., Nieto- Castañón, A., and Fedorenko, E. (2022)
Nature Scientific Data, 2022
PDF

Comprehension of computer code relies primarily on domain-general executive brain regions

Ivanova, A., Srikant, S., Sueoka, Y., Kean, H., Dhamala, R., O’Reilly, U., Bers, M., and Fedorenko, E. (2020)
eLife, 2020
PDF

Composition is the core driver of the language-selective network

Mollica, F., Siegelman, M., Diachek, E., Piantadosi, S., Futrell, R., Mineroff, Z., Kean, H., Qian, P., and Fedorenko, E. (2020)
Neurobiology of Language, 2020
PDF

Implicit model of other people's visual attention as an invisible, force-carrying beam projecting from the eyes

Guterstam*, A., Kean*, H., Webb, T., Kean, F., and Graziano, G. (2018)
PNAS, 2018
PDF

Effects of awareness on the control of attention

Webb, T., Kean, H., and Graziano, M. (2016)
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2016
PDF

In prep

Logic, Simple Arithmetic, and Language Co-Lateralize in the Human Brain

Kean, H., Diachek, E., Blank, I., and Fedorenko, E
In prep

Distributed Neural Mechanisms of Inductive Inference

Kean, H., Fung, A., Chen, J., Rule, J., Tenenbaum, J., Piantadosi, S., & Fedorenko, E.
In prep

Why Language Representations are an Impoverished Format for Thought

Kean*, H., deVarda*, A., Piantadosi, S., & Fedorenko, E.
In prep

Press and media

contact

hope kean at em eye tea dot ee dee you