Scientists discover entirely disparate regions of the brain cause dyslexia in different languages
Posted 04.16.2008 at 9:58 am
1 Comment
Disparate Languages Dyslexia is caused by different areas of the brain depending on language.
SuperFantastic
Last month, we looked at the ways in which language is tied to our perception of color. As it turns out, our understanding of color varies depending on which language we use to represent it. Now, new research from the University of Hong Kong is demonstrating a similar principle with dyslexia. It is not a disorder which manifests itself in the same way in every child. Instead, the research has shown that it appears in a different region of the brain depending on whether someone is a native English or Chinese speaker.
In dyslexic Chinese children, less grey matter was detected in the area of the brain dedicated to identifying images and shapes. In the English-speaking children, the affected region is more closely associated with converting letters to sounds. The discovery was surprising to the researchers because like other common brain dysfunction, they had expected the problem areas to be the same across the board. It does seem to make logical sense, considering the strikingly different ways the two languages represent meaning. Asked if someone dyslexic in one language would necessarily be dyslexic in another, the lead researcher, Li-Han Tan, expressed doubt because "different genes may be involved in Chinese and English dyslexic readers."
Want to learn more about breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, nanotech, and more?
Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!
Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!
1 Comment
To comment, please Login.
138 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Innovation Challenges
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
.jpg)
February 2012: The Future of Fun
Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Science
- Gallery: The Best Way to Unbuild a Dam
- This Week in the Future, February 6-10, 2012
- The Most Amazing Science Images of the Week, February 6-10, 2012
- Images of the Week, February 6-10, 2012
- A Smartphone That Detects Whether Its User Is Depressed
- Found: The Oldest Animal Ever on Planet Earth
- Video Microscopy Unveils the Tricks of Nature's Toughest Glue, Oozed By a Bacterium
- 3-D Laser Maps Show How Major Quakes Rend the Earth
- Doctors Grow Parkinsonian Human Brain Cells In Vitro, Shedding Light on the Genetics of the Disease
- An Oral History of Extreme Sports
Most Emailed
Science
- This Week in the Future, February 6-10, 2012
- The Most Amazing Science Images of the Week, February 6-10, 2012
- Images of the Week, February 6-10, 2012
- A Smartphone That Detects Whether Its User Is Depressed
- Found: The Oldest Animal Ever on Planet Earth
- Video Microscopy Unveils the Tricks of Nature's Toughest Glue, Oozed By a Bacterium
- 3-D Laser Maps Show How Major Quakes Rend the Earth
- Doctors Grow Parkinsonian Human Brain Cells In Vitro, Shedding Light on the Genetics of the Disease
- An Oral History of Extreme Sports
- 200,000-Year-Old Patch of Seagrass Is the World's Oldest Living Organism
Most Commented
Science
- Russian Scientists Drilling into "Alien" Antarctic Lake Vostok Fall Silent
- 10-Year-Old Accidentally Creates New Molecule in Science Class
- Should Scientists Be Held Legally Responsible for Their Results?
- Hilarious "Theory of Everything" Paper Provokes Kerfuffle
- FYI: Do Animals Dream?
- New Climate Change Culprit: Chilean Man Stealing Glaciers to Put In Cocktails
- The Best Way to Unbuild a Dam
- Zapping Testicles With Ultrasonic Pulses Shown To Be Effective Contraceptive
- MIT Scientist Offers $100,000 to Anyone Who Can Prove Quantum Computing Is Impossible
- Found: The Oldest Animal Ever on Planet Earth
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
I suggest that English reading dyslexics have about a 25% incidence of visual image processing problems.
The incidence of Chinese having dyslexia is about 25% of the incidence of English dyslexics .
I suggest that the incidence of visual imaging processing problems that cause reading problems is the same in both English and Chinese general populations.
The higher rate of reading problems in English readers is due to having additional tasks to read each task can cause different problems that do not show up in China because different skills are needed to learn Chinese.
I see See Right Dyslexia Glasses that remove the problems of visual dyslexia at www.dyslexiaglasses.com and about 25% of English dyslexics can describe visual problems that make reading difficult.
Dyslexia is not caused by a single factor. It is a syndrome that affects different dyslexics differently.