Abstract
This editorial provides a summary of the highlights from 11 new papers that have been published in a special issue of Brain and Language on the neurobiology of reading. The topics investigate reading mechanisms in both adults and children. Several of the findings illustrate how responses in the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex, and other reading areas, change with learning, expertise and the task: In the early stages of reading acquisition, learning/expertise increases activation in reading areas as well as in an attentionally-controlled, learning circuit. In later stages, expertise and efficiency decrease activation within the reading network and increase anatomical connectivity. Special interest is given to a white matter tract (the vertical occipital fasciculus) that projects dorsally from the left occipito-temporal cortex to the posterior parietal lobe. This observation fits with a magnetoencephalography study showing how activity in the angular gyrus is influenced by early occipito-temporal activity; with angular gyrus activity contributing to inferior frontal activity. Overall, the papers within the special issue illustrate the wide range of different techniques that can be used to reveal the functional anatomy of reading and the time course of activity within the different reading pathways.
Highlights
This special issue of Brain and Language includes a collection of 11 papers that illustrate current issues in the neurobiology of reading, and how these issues can be investigated with different neuroimaging techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)
The content of each paper was left entirely to those who agreed to contribute, four notable themes emerged: (1) the function and connectivity of the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex; (2) the effect of experience, strategy and performance on reading activation and white matter tracks; (3) investigations of top down influences from the inferior frontal cortex; and (4) searches for brain regions and networks that might be dedicated to reading
Activation in mid-regions of the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex decreases with the familiarity of the script (Twomey et al, 2013) and in adults relative to children (Olulade et al, 2013), and activation in inferior frontal areas decreases with increases in word frequency (Heim et al, 2013) and for words relative to pseudowords (Heim et al, 2013)
Summary
This special issue of Brain and Language includes a collection of 11 papers that illustrate current issues in the neurobiology of reading, and how these issues can be investigated with different neuroimaging techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). The content of each paper was left entirely to those who agreed to contribute, four notable themes emerged: (1) the function and connectivity of the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex; (2) the effect of experience, strategy and performance on reading activation and white matter tracks; (3) investigations of top down influences from the inferior frontal cortex; and (4) searches for brain regions and networks that might be dedicated to reading
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