The Neural Bases of Reading Universals and Writing System Variations

The neural substrate for reading includes highly general subsystems, collectively the known as the “reading network.” To the extent that these subsystems are universal, they must somehow support the reading of a wide range of languages with a diverse set of written forms and mapping principles. In this chapter, we explore the highly contrastive cases of English and Chinese to examine how the neural basis of reading accommodates variability in the structure of languages. The notion of accommodation, in fact, is central to our analysis. We conclude that the reading network must accommodate variation in writing systems by organizing in a way that reflects the properties of each particular writing system. However, we also suggest that the prior state of the network—the organization of the network when there is a previously learned language—influences how the network adapts to those properties specific to a second language. In particular, to some extent, the prior networkmay assimilate the second language, using its first-language procedures to the extent possible. In elaborating this conclusion, we first review the orthographic structure and phonological mapping principles of Chinese and English, with some attention to how these two writing systems are learned by native speakers. We follow with a review of the comparative (across writing system) neuroscience research, and explore what the differences in brain regions used for Chinese and English might tell us about how these writing systems are processed. Finally, we review recent research that asks how the brain accommodates learning to read a second writing system.