Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read

Dehaene describes how an area of the temporal cortex processes the written word. This so called 'letterbox' of the brain is situated within the left ventral visual area. All information about written words passes through this, and it is located in the same area whatever the language of the subjects. The brain is seen as dividing its visual work into categories, with each performed by a different patch of the cortex. Many of the preferred shapes of the 'letterbox' neurons are shapes that resemble letters, symbols or Chinese characters; these are collectively referred to as proto-letters. These may have evolved to help identify objects by being invariant to changes in images. With letters, whatever the type of font, size or colour of the letters, our interpretation does not change. The 'letterbox' is located between an area of the cortex that recognises landscapes and buildings and another that recognises faces. Thus the ventral surface of the brain contains areas tuned to recognising particular types of feature. However, the specialisation of such areas overlaps. Specialisation seems to be at the level of neurons, with neurons of different specialisations intermingled. Visual analysis in reading is followed by extraction of sound patterns and meaning. Nerve fibres project from the 'letterbox' towards other parts of the temporal cortex. At their destinations, separate networks appear to be involved in processing sound and meaning. The left-middle and ventral regions of the left temporal lobe are thought to be specialised in processing meaning. The lateral temporal region appears to be subdivided into regions dealing with the meaning of particular words. Regions near the front of the temporal lobe appear to concentrate on the meanings of words when combined into sentences. It is suggested that areas such as this act as convergence zones for information from the rest of the brain. Something that evolves for one purpose can get taken over for another. Literacy is seen as changing the brain with both an increase in left brain engagement and an increase in activity between the two hemispheres. The 'letterbox' was originally evolved for something else, so reading may be paid for by some offsetting cognitive loss. The only serious criticism of the book is that this interesting question is not tackled in greater depth.

It is a thrilling read for those interested! The book carefully & scientifically describes the miracle of how we are able to read, and many of the variations in our abilities. It is a milestone contribution on how best to LEARN to read. It is a bit dated at this point. Still an excellent basis for learning more in detail and in neurobiological terms. I learned SO much!

I've read this book in Portuguese in 2014 when I was concluding my paper on graduation. It changed completely changed my view about reading (and also of how my paper was being done). Stanislas is a well-respected scientist, especially on the studies of dyslexia.

Read it, read it again and then read it again. With every read, I get a bit more out of it, understand more nuances and attach more bookmarks.

Thank you