Neuronal processes involved in reading: a cross linguistic study with brain imaging techniques

摘要

Wydell and Buterworth (1999) reported an unusual case of an English-Japanese bilingual with monolingual dyslexia in English. In order to account for the case, Wydell & Butterworth proposed the hypothesis of transparency and granularity, suggesting that there exist universal and language specific processes during reading. Recent studies using brain imaging techniques lend support to the hypothesis. Paulesu et al. (2000)'s PET study with English and Italian subjects revealed that during reading, different areas are more active for each language. Experiments using Magnetoencephalography conducted by Wydell, Salmelin and others (in preparation) also revealed universal and language specific processes during reading Finnish and Japanese Kana (both shallow orthographies).