Language - Reading and the brain

Question 1

Is reading designated to one brain area?

Answer 1

Reading involves lots of different parts of the brain - not designated to one area in the brain - its highly connected part of the brain

Question 2

What is local reading?

Answer 2

Letter by letter
often done by children

Question 3

what is global reading ?

Answer 3

reading the word as a whole

Question 4

where is global reading fastest?

Answer 4

in the left hemisphere - with words presented to the right visual field.

Question 5

LVF (Left Visual Field) → RH (Right Hemisphere), engages in what processing of language?

Answer 5

Slower, Serial or local Processing

• Words in LVF go to the RH, which lacks strong word recognition abilities.
• The RH processes letter by letter and sends the info to the LH via the corpus callosum.
• Longer words take more time to process in the LVF because of this serial processing.

Question 6

What has eye tracking studies found about how people read?

Answer 6

When you track peoples eyes when they are reading they skip lots of words - what they dont think theyll need.

Question 7

Orthography meaning

Answer 7

the written form or spelling e.g., cat

Question 8

Phonology meaning

Answer 8

the sounds of the word - not necessarily matching how its written - e.g., kat

Question 9

What are the three parts of the triangle model?

Answer 9

Semantics —> Meaning

Orthography —>the written form (cat)

Phonology —> the sounds (Kat)

Question 10

How does the triangle model attempt to explain how we read?

Answer 10

• When reading, visual input activates orthography, which then connects to phonology (sound representation) and semantics (meaning).
• Irregular words (e.g., HAVE doesn’t sound like GAVE) rely more on semantics to be pronounced correctly.
• Regular words (e.g., GAVE) can be pronounced using phonological rules.
• The model explains how both regular and irregular words can be learned through exposure and experience.

Question 11

Broca’s Area (yellow, left frontal lobe)

Answer 11

Associated with speech production and planning.

Plays a crucial role in formulating grammatically correct sentences and articulating speech.

Connected to semantic knowledge.

Question 12

Wernicke’s Area (green, left temporal lobe)

Answer 12

Responsible for speech comprehension.

Links auditory, motor, and visual aspects of speech.

Question 13

Heschl’s Gyrus (primary auditory cortex, green area in temporal lobe)

Answer 13

Processes auditory information, including speech sounds.

Plays a role in early stages of speech recognition.

Question 14

Angular Gyrus (pink, near parietal lobe)

Answer 14

Acts as a phonological buffer, which helps in reading and writing.

Important for processing written language and associating words with meanings.

Damage here can lead to dyslexia or reading difficulties.

Question 15

Sensorimotor Speech Loop (blue pathway)

Answer 15

Involves non-semantic repetition and motor-based speech perception.

Important for echoing or repeating words without necessarily understanding them.

Possibly linked to mirror neurons in speech learning.

Question 16

phonological buffer

Answer 16

helps in reading and writing
Damage here can lead to dyslexia or reading difficulties.

Question 17

Silent Reading

Answer 17

Reading to yourself not out loud
The visual system sends input to the Angular Gyrus, which converts letters to sounds and meaning (via Wernicke’s Area).

Question 18

Reading Aloud

Answer 18

Broca’s Area engages in speech planning and articulation. - the whole system is then activated

Question 19

Phonological Awareness

Answer 19

The Angular Gyrus links writing, sound, and meaning, essential for literacy.

Question 20

What is the first step in reading?

Answer 20

The visual system processes written text and sends it to the Angular Gyrus for phonological conversion.

Question 21

What is the role of the Angular Gyrus in reading?

Answer 21

It converts written words into sounds (phonology), helping to map letters to speech sounds.

Question 22

What happens after the Angular Gyrus processes written words?

Answer 22

The information is sent to Wernicke’s Area, which helps in word recognition and understanding meaning.

Question 23

How does the brain process meaning when reading?

Answer 23

Wernicke’s Area links written and spoken words to semantic knowledge, helping us understand their meaning.

Question 24

Why do we “hear” words in our head when we read?

Answer 24

Heschl’s Gyrus (Primary Auditory Cortex) is activated, processing speech sounds even during silent reading.

Question 25

What part of the brain is responsible for reading aloud?

Answer 25

Broca’s Area, which plans and coordinates speech production.

Question 26

How does the sensorimotor speech loop contribute to reading?

Answer 26

It helps with self-monitoring pronunciation when reading aloud and reinforces phonological learning.

Question 27

What happens if the Angular Gyrus is damaged?

Answer 27

It can cause reading difficulties (dyslexia) or impair the ability to match letters to sounds.

Question 28

What brain areas work together to process written language?

Answer 28

Angular Gyrus (phonological buffer), Wernicke’s Area (meaning), Broca’s Area (speech production), and Heschl’s Gyrus (auditory processing).

Question 29

Visual word form area

Answer 29

Brain area found to be linked to word recognition

Question 30

How does VWFA process words?

Answer 30

1. This is an area in the fusiform (occipitotemporal) (this area also recognises faces, in the right hemisphere) gyrus responds to words (chair) more than false words (ckmn). IN THE LEFT HEMISPHERE. 2. Upper and lower case equally. 3. Real words more than non-words sounding the same. Taxi - taksi. 4. Orthographic identity of the word

Question 31

What area was damaged in Terry?

Answer 31

VWFA- he couldnt recognise words even though he can see the letters - cant recognise what they mean and are together.

Question 32

what does the VWFA do in the right hemisphere?

Answer 32

recognises faces

Question 33

In the main study what Ps were compared?

Answer 33

Comparing Ps who are literate (read through childhood and adulthood) X-literates (learned how to read in adulthood) Illiterates (do not know how to read)

Question 34

What did they do in that main study lol?

Answer 34

- Measure how many words they can read per minute - Better = more words per minute - Put people in the scanner and present different stimuli

Question 35

what people read more words in a minute?

Answer 35

The readers VWFA = responds more if you read more

Question 36

How do people who have not learned to read respond to faces in the VWFA in the brain scan?

Answer 36

Opposite pattern —> more activity if you read less to objects and stuff. the responded more to faces suggesting their VWFA in the LH hadnt adapted to reading lol

Question 37

what is the main claim of the VWFA?

Answer 37

Claim: VWFA become specialized for visual word recognition Example of experience affecting brain development

Question 38

why is the VWFA controversial ?

Answer 38

- Skilled readers also activate the VWFA to letter strings & auditory words - Skilled readers also activate VWFA for object naming - Blind Braille readers also have a WFA, which does not require visual input (modality-independent representation)

Question 39

Why might the VWFA be active in non visual recognition tasks?

Answer 39

Automatic links between nodes are established with learning, so sounds also activate VWFA (orthography) Interactivity within the network may explain the brain evidence as a function of task VWFA is located in the mapping from vision to meaning (ventral route) and connects to sound processing regions, so other active regions spread activity to it

Question 40

Is the VWFA exclusive to reading?

Answer 40

VWFA results from developing expertise in reading, but it may not be exclusively involved in reading or in visual processing

Question 41

What is the VWFA?

Answer 41

- The **Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)** is a part of the **left occipito-temporal cortex** that helps in recognizing written words. - It processes **visual word forms** and connects them to **phonology (how words sound)** and **semantics (meaning)**.

Question 42

what does the phonological buffer help with?

Answer 42

performs the transformation from letters to sounds for words and non-words. grapheme to phoneme

Question 43

What is the dorsal (phonological) route responsible for in reading?

Answer 43

It helps with sounding out non-words and unfamiliar words by converting graphemes to phonemes.

Question 44

What is the ventral (semantic) route responsible for in reading?

Answer 44

It is used for reading words silently, especially familiar words, by linking them directly to meaning.

Question 45

What are the two main routes involved in reading?

Answer 45

The dorsal (phonological) route and the ventral (semantic) route.

Question 46

What happens when sounding out non-words?

Answer 46

The dorsal (phonological) route is activated, involving the phonological buffer and articulation areas.

Question 47

What happens when reading words silently?

Answer 47

Both the dorsal (phonological) route and the ventral (semantic) route are involved, with more emphasis on semantic processing.

Question 48

What role does the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) play in reading?

Answer 48

It helps with letter identification and recognizing written words.

Question 49

Developmental dyslexia symptoms

Answer 49

Difficulty in learning to read below standard appropriate to age No apparent issue with spoken language Hereditary component Phonological impairment: decomposing words into individual sounds (phonological word representations)

Question 50

do dyslexics read more globally or locally?

Answer 50

dyslexics can recognise words and have global representations of the words. Cannot do phonological analysis of the words. Pronouncing sounds.

Question 51

what is mostly impaired in dyslexia?

Answer 51

Phonological awareness is impaired

Question 52

example questions to test people for dyslexia

Answer 52

which words start with a different sound: bit, bat, cat? Say cat without the first sound, what word rhymes with pie?

Question 53

deficits in developmental dyslexia

Answer 53

Deficits: non-word repetition, naming pictures (expressive vocabulary), phonological working memory, rhyming

Question 54

How do adults with dyslexia develop strong reading skills?

Answer 54

They develop compensatory strategies and alternative neural networks to support reading.

Question 55

What is the hypothesis about brain function in adult dyslexics?

Answer 55

The right hemisphere (RH) may take over some functions that the left hemisphere (LH) performs in typical readers.

Question 56

What brain region is overactivated in adult dyslexics?

Answer 56

The right Broca’s area (right inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) shows increased activation.

Question 57

Acquired phonological dyslexia (due to stroke)

Answer 57

Stroke in areas affecting dorsal route and sound analysis transferring letters to sounds

Question 58

symptoms of Acquired phonological dyslexia

Answer 58

Visual word recognition and comprehension remain intact, but patients struggle to pronounce unfamiliar words. They read familiar words more accurately than non-words, often mistaking non-words for similar-looking familiar words (e.g., reading "fint" as "fine" or "poat" as "boat"). Patients show deficits in phonological short-term memory and sound manipulation abilities (managed by the phonological buffer). There is significant impairment in converting letters to sounds (grapheme-to-phoneme conversion) during both reading and writing tasks.