Literacy as a determining factor for brain organization: from Lecours’ contribution to the present day

This review aimed to discuss the influence of literacy and formal education on human brain organization, based on evidence drawn from three sources: (1) results and limitations of a project coordinated by André Roch Lecours on the influence of illiteracy on brain organization and of studies on aphasia in illiterate populations;(2) data on the impact of schooling on the neuropsychological assessment of healthy and brain-damaged individuals, and(3) studies on the effect of schooling on dementia. These findings suggest that schooling and literacy processes influence cerebral organization of healthy individuals, as well as of brain-lesion individuals and those with dementia. Concerning illiteracy, the systematic pioneering studies developed by Lecours and the continuity of his investigations were essential to alert the scientific and clinical communities to take into account the role of educational experience on cognitive processing and its brain substrates.