6 years ago

From simple patterns to literature: how humans learned to read and write

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The part of the brain that processes visual information, the visual cortex, evolved over millions of years in a world where reading and writing didn’t exist. Recent extensive brain imaging of the visual cortex as people read text has provided important insights into how the brain perceives simple patterns. The brain’s pattern filter In 2000, I first suggested that the way the “early visual cortex” – the location where visual information from the eye first impacts the cortex – processes information gave rise to the ability to engrave simple patterns. Ultimately, it could have created a new process in the brain that exploited the visual cortex, giving rise to a visual word form area and connecting with speech areas incrementally over time.

The Independent
Writing Brain Marks Early Patterns Health Check Read Visual Cortex Early Marks Simple Patterns

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