The uniquely human ability to read is the cornerstone of modern civilization, yet very little is understood about the effortless ability to derive meaning from written words. Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have now identified a crucial region in the temporal lobe, know as the mid-fusiform cortex, which appears to act as the brain’s visual dictionary. While reading, the ability of the human brain to distinguish between a real word such as “lemur” and a made-up word like “urmle” appears to lie in the way that region processes information.
These findings were published today in Nature Human Behavior.