A meta-analysis of fMRI studies on Chinese orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing

Wu, Chiao-Yi; Ho, Moon‐Ho Ringo; Chen, Shen-Hsing Annabel

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.047

Cited by 196 publications

(191 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(116 reference statements)

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“…Finally, meta-analyses indicate a greater reliance on the left BA9 in Chinese compared with alphabetic reading (5,17,18). The function of this region remains unclear: it was initially attributed to addressed phonology (17), but in a recent, larger meta-analysis of Chinese reading, this region is more strongly activated by semantic than by phonological or orthographic tasks (18).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, beyond this shared left posterior network, several previous studies with normal (8,13,14) and dyslexic (15,16) Chinese participants defended a culture-specific model whereby logographic reading relies on unique cortical components (17). In a lateral prefrontal region within Brodman's area (BA) 9, just anterior to the precentral cortex, meta-analyses suggest a greater activation in Chinese compared with alphabetic readers (5,17), perhaps due to great demands on addressed phonology (17) or visuospatial working memory (18). A posterior parietal region may also contribute to the visuospatial analysis of character layout (13,16).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Universal brain systems for recognizing word shapes and handwriting gestures during reading

Nakamura

Kuo²,

Pegado

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

140

133

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Do the neural circuits for reading vary across culture? Reading of visually complex writing systems such as Chinese has been proposed to rely on areas outside the classical left-hemisphere network for alphabetic reading. Here, however, we show that, once potential confounds in cross-cultural comparisons are controlled for by presenting handwritten stimuli to both Chinese and French readers, the underlying network for visual word recognition may be more universal than previously suspected. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a semantic task with words written in cursive font, we demonstrate that two universal circuits, a shape recognition system (reading by eye) and a gesture recognition system (reading by hand), are similarly activated and show identical patterns of activation and repetition priming in the two language groups. These activations cover most of the brain regions previously associated with culture-specific tuning. Our results point to an extended reading network that invariably comprises the occipitotemporal visual wordform system, which is sensitive to well-formed static letter strings, and a distinct left premotor region, Exner's area, which is sensitive to the forward or backward direction with which cursive letters are dynamically presented. These findings suggest that cultural effects in reading merely modulate a fixed set of invariant macroscopic brain circuits, depending on surface features of orthographies.cross-cultural invariance | functional magnetic resonance imaging | neuronal recycling | masked priming A pproximately one-fifth of today's world population is still unable to read and write (1). The acquisition of written language does not rely on a specific innate ability but is an education-dependent skill resulting from the learning of mapping rules linking written codes, speech sounds, and word meanings. At the neural level, literacy acquisition imposes various structural and functional changes to the human brain, particularly in the visual cortex where responses become attuned to a specific script, but also in other areas of the temporal and parietal lobes (2, 3).The issue that we raise here is whether those changes vary considerably from one culture to another or whether they consistently engage a universal and largely invariant brain network. Past research indicated that skilled reading universally relies on a posterior left-hemisphere network, including the lateral occipitotemporal visual word-form area (VWFA) for perceptual analysis of written words (4, 5), the inferior parietal and superior temporal cortices involved in print-to-sound translation (6, 7), and lateral temporal cortices involved in access to word meaning (8-10). Reading of alphabetic scripts engages this multicomponent system with only small cultural variation depending on the degree of transparency (11) and grain size (12) of the orthographic system. However, beyond this shared left posterior network, several previous studies with normal (8,13,14) and dyslexic (15, 16) Chinese participants defended a cu...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Universal brain systems for recognizing word shapes and handwriting gestures during reading

Nakamura

Kuo²,

Pegado

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

140

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By including studies of visual word reading across alphabetic and logographic writing systems, we observed a similar pattern of activation to that found by Wu et al. (2012), but additionally identified the bilateral MedFG, IPL, INS, left IFG, and PUT.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2013) reported the activation of bilateral FEF/PreCG, PEF/SPL, SEF/MedFG, and left LING in the prosaccade task. In addition, a meta‐analysis of Chinese orthographic processing by Wu, Ho, and Chen (2012) identified the left PreCG, SPL, VOT, PreCUN, cuneus, cingulate gyrus, and right PreCUN. By including studies of visual word reading across alphabetic and logographic writing systems, we observed a similar pattern of activation to that found by Wu et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because both tasks start with vision and require visual attention, the overlapping regions are generally related to those functions. Previous research has indicated that the MFG is a transition region between the FEF and IFG (Courtney, Petit, Maisog, Ungerleider, & Haxby, 1998), and is recruited for visuospatial manipulation in both visual word recognition (Tan, Spinks, Eden, Perfetti, & Siok, 2005; Wu et al., 2012) and spatial processing tasks (Belger et al., 1998; Carlson et al., 1998; McCarthy et al., 1996). The SPL/IPS may serve a role in spatial relationship analysis for both saccade‐targeting and processing of sequentially arranged letters in a word (Simon et al., 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A meta‐analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of eye movements and visual word reading

Zhou

Shu

2017

Brain and Behavior

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IntroductionThe pattern of eye movements during reading is substantially correlated with linguistic factors. While there have been a large number of studies on the neural mechanisms of eye movements and word reading separately, a limited number of studies have compared the activation patterns of these two processes and discussed the associations of their corresponding brain regions within the framework of naturalistic reading.MethodsThis study conducted a meta‐analysis of the existing functional magnetic resonance imaging literature on prosaccades and visual word reading using the activation likelihood estimation algorithm.ResultsOur main finding was that, although prosaccades and word reading mainly activated dorsal and ventral brain areas, respectively, they both activated the left precentral gyrus (PreCG), left superior parietal lobe, right PreCG, right lingual gyrus, and bilateral medial frontal gyrus.ConclusionThese findings provide new insights into cognitive processes involved with naturalistic reading, which requires both eye movements and word reading.

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Effective connectivity of brain regions related to visual word recognition: An fMRI study of Chinese reading

Wang

Chen

et al. 2015

Human Brain Mapping

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Past neuroimaging studies have focused on identifying specialized functional brain systems for processing different components of reading, such as orthography, phonology, and semantics. More recently, a few experiments have been performed to look into the integration and interaction of distributed neural systems for visual word recognition, suggesting that lexical processing in alphabetic languages involves both ventral and dorsal neural pathways originating from the visual cortex. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we tested the multiple pathways model with Chinese character stimuli and examined how the neural systems interacted in reading Chinese. Using dynamic causal modeling, we demonstrated that visual word recognition in Chinese engages the ventral pathway from the visual cortex to the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex, but not the dorsal pathway from the visual cortex to the left parietal region. The ventral pathway, however, is linked to the superior parietal lobule and the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) so that a dynamic neural network is formed, with information flowing from the visual cortex to the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex to the parietal lobule and then to the left MFG. The findings suggest that cortical dynamics is constrained by the differences in how visual orthographic symbols in writing systems are linked to spoken language.

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A meta-analysis of fMRI studies on Chinese orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing

Cited by 196 publications

References 60 publications

Universal brain systems for recognizing word shapes and handwriting gestures during reading

Universal brain systems for recognizing word shapes and handwriting gestures during reading

A meta‐analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of eye movements and visual word reading

Effective connectivity of brain regions related to visual word recognition: An fMRI study of Chinese reading

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