Learning Letters in Adulthood: Direct Visualization of Cortical Plasticity for Forming a New Link between Orthography and Phonology

Abstract

To identify which brain regions in adults show plasticity for learning letters, Hangul letters were experimentally associated with either speech sounds (HS condition) or nonspeech sounds (HN condition) in fMRI sessions over two consecutive days. Selective activations under the HS condition were found in several regions including the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus (PITG) and the parieto-occipital cortex (PO), as compared with activations under a condition for familiar letters and speech sounds, and with those under the HN condition. The left PITG showed a selective activation increase under the HS condition over two days, the degree of which predicted individual performance improvement. Further, functional connectivity between the left PITG and the left PO was selectively enhanced under the HS condition. These results demonstrate that a new link between orthography and phonology is formed by the plasticity of a functional system involving the left PITG in association with the left PO.