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Illiterate to literate: behavioural and cerebral changes induced by reading acquisition

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 16, pages 234–244 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The acquisition of literacy transforms the human brain. By reviewing studies of illiterate subjects, we propose specific hypotheses on how the functions of core brain systems are partially reoriented or 'recycled' when learning to read. Literacy acquisition improves early visual processing and reorganizes the ventral occipito-temporal pathway: responses to written characters are increased in the left occipito-temporal sulcus, whereas responses to faces shift towards the right hemisphere. Literacy also modifies phonological coding and strengthens the functional and anatomical link between phonemic and graphemic representations. Literacy acquisition therefore provides a remarkable example of how the brain reorganizes to accommodate a novel cultural skill.

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Figure 1: A pivotal role of the ventral occipito-temporal cortex in reading acquisition.
Figure 2: Impact of reading acquisition on the planum temporale.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the French Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), the Collège de France, an Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant to S.D. and L.C. (project CoreLex), the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (FRS-FNRS, grant FRFC 2.4515.12) and an Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IAP) grant 7/33, Belspo to R.K.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, Paris, 75005, France

    Stanislas Dehaene

  2. INSERM, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, NeuroSpin Center, Gif sur Yvette, 91191, France

    Stanislas Dehaene

  3. Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, I2BM, Neurospin Center, Gif sur Yvette, 91191, France

    Stanislas Dehaene

  4. Université Paris-Sud 11, Orsay, 91405, France

    Stanislas Dehaene

  5. Department of Neurology, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, F-75013 Paris, France; INSERM, U 1127, F-75013 Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S 1127, F-75013 Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, F-75013 Paris, France; and the Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France.,

    Laurent Cohen

  6. INSERM, U 1127, F-75013 Paris, France,

    Laurent Cohen

  7. Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (UNESCOG), Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 191, Avenue F. Roosevelt, 50, Brussels, B-1050, Belgium

    José Morais

  8. Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (UNESCOG), Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 191, Avenue F. Roosevelt, 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium; and the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, Rue d'Egmont, 5, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.,

    Régine Kolinsky

  9. the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, Rue d'Egmont, 5, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.,

    Régine Kolinsky

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  1. Stanislas Dehaene
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Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., Morais, J. et al. Illiterate to literate: behavioural and cerebral changes induced by reading acquisition. Nat Rev Neurosci 16, 234–244 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3924

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