新的研究提示,，學習閱讀，即使是在成年的時候,，對腦子來說也是一個十分重要的經(jīng)歷,，它需要腦子重新分配其某些資源，因此諸如面孔識別等其它功能必須放棄其部分的勢力范圍,。
閱讀在人類歷史中是一個相對較新的發(fā)明,，因此研究人員一般認為，我們的腦子在學習如何閱讀的時候是在快速地進行著適應反應,，而不是依賴古老的進化機制來處理視覺信息,。 Stanislas Dehaene及其在法國、巴西,、葡萄牙,、和比利時的同事應用fMRI來掃描63位葡萄牙和巴西實驗參與者的腦子；這些參與者被分為三組：不會閱讀的成年人,、在孩童時學會閱讀的成年人以及在成年時學會閱讀的成年人,。 （與之不同的是，大多數(shù)成年人的神經(jīng)成像實驗都是在接受過高等教育的大學生中開展的,。）
結果顯示,，閱讀改善了在枕葉皮層中的水平方向的視覺刺激處理，并導致了在顳葉皮層中出現(xiàn)了一個詞語的專門化區(qū)域,。 在顳葉皮層中的專供面孔信息處理的區(qū)域縮小,，但文章的作者說,，人們將需要做更多的研究來確認這是否真的引起了對我們面孔識別能力的傷害,。 在那些在成年時學會閱讀的成年人中也發(fā)生了類似的變化,，表明這些神經(jīng)通路在成年時期仍然能夠支持學習。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1194140
How Learning to Read Changes the Cortical Networks for Vision and Language
Stanislas Dehaene,1,2,3,4,* Felipe Pegado,1,2,3 Lucia W. Braga,5 Paulo Ventura,6 Gilberto Nunes Filho,5 Antoinette Jobert,1,2,3 Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz,1,2,3 Régine Kolinsky,7,8 José Morais,7 Laurent Cohen9,10,11
Does literacy improve brain function? Does it also entail losses? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain responses to spoken and written language, visual faces, houses, tools, and checkers in adults of variable literacy (10 were illiterate, 22 became literate as adults, and 31 became literate in childhood). As literacy enhanced the left fusiform activation evoked by writing, it induced a small competition with faces at this location but also broadly enhanced visual responses in fusiform and occipital cortex, extending to area V1. Literacy also enhanced phonological activation to speech in the planum temporale and afforded a top-down activation of orthography from spoken inputs. Most changes occurred even when literacy was acquired in adulthood, emphasizing that both childhood and adult education can profoundly refine cortical organization.
