Cortical Activation during Reading Letter String in Normal and Reverse Directions: An fMRI Study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Investigating the neural underpinnings of reading.
• Understanding hemispheric lateralization in visual processing.
• Examining cultural differences in reading direction and brain activation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare cortical activation patterns between normal (left-to-right) and reverse (right-to-left) reading of Japanese and Chinese strings.
• To identify specific brain regions and cognitive functions associated with reading directionality.
• To explore the role of visuospatial transformation in reverse reading.

Main Methods:

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
• Participants performed reading tasks with letter strings presented in both normal and reverse directions.
• Stimuli included both Japanese and Chinese character strings.

Main Results:

• Cortical activation patterns were largely similar for both normal and reverse reading tasks.
• Visuospatial transformation was significantly activated during reverse reading.
• This visuospatial processing was not a significant factor during normal reading.

Conclusions:

• The brain utilizes similar core regions for processing both normal and reverse reading directions.
• Reverse reading uniquely recruits visuospatial transformation networks.
• These findings offer insights into the neural plasticity and adaptability of the reading system.