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Brain Region Discovered That Only Processes Spoken, Not Written Words

posted by mrpg on Monday April 01 2019, @11:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the I'm-speaking-not-writing dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Brain region discovered that only processes spoken, not written words: Study of rare dementia shows selective attack on areas of brain

Even though these patients could hear and speak perfectly fine, a disease had crept into a portion of their brain that kept them from processing auditory words while still allowing them to process visual ones. Patients in the study had primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare type of dementia that destroys language and currently has no treatment.

The study, published March 21 in the journal Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, allowed the scientists to identify a previously little-studied area in the left brain that seems specialized to process auditory words.

If a patient in the study saw the word "hippopotamus" written on a piece of paper, they could identify a hippopotamus in flashcards. But when that patient heard someone say "hippopotamus," they could not point to the picture of the animal.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 01 2019, @05:38PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 01 2019, @05:38PM (#823158) Journal

    Sometimes, I think verbally. That is, I "discuss" things with myself. Other times, such as when I'm troubleshooting a piece of equipment, I think more in printed words. That's because I read the information out of a manual, and never heard the words in this context. Things that I learned in classes, I think I fade back and forth between aural thought, and written thought. I can "hear" the teacher saying "Always remember blah blah blah" then I review the text that he/she was referring to. It's mostly unconscious, I think, but I actually notice the switch at times.

    Wonder if that's a handicap, or a bonus? Does (almost) everyone do that?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 01 2019, @07:21PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 01 2019, @07:21PM (#823223)

    Early elementary school teachers used to tell the class to "sound out the words in your head" when a pupil got stuck on a word when they were reading aloud. That can cause some people to do that on every written word for the rest of their life and is now bad advise. I got stuck with that problem and it's a bitch trying to stop doing that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:30AM (#823414)

      That's a common problem. The only real way around it is to work on reading faster. If you read fast enough, that should stop happening.

      I'll deliberately make sounds of the words of I need to read carefully though. If I just want broad strokes, I'll read fast enough that I can't generate sounds. It's unfortunate that do many people think it's impossible to read without making the sounds mentally.