“Open up your mind and see like me”: Neurocognitive processes for reading Chinese characters

Victoria Bogushevskaya*

*Autore corrispondente per questo lavoro

Risultato della ricerca: Contributo in libroContributo a convegno

Abstract

Reading processes require a dynamic integration of visual-orthographic, auditory-phonological and semantic networks. Recent neurolinguistic studies have demonstrated that reading Chinese affects interactions among the usual brain regions specialised for these functions across languages and activates additional areas. Alphabetic word recognition processes are lateralized to the left cerebral hemisphere (LH). In contrast, non-phoneme based Chinese script has long been defined as a visual-to-meaning system, and the visuo-spatial properties of nonlinear writing suggested a holistic right-hemisphere (RH) dominance in reading. Since the majority (over 80%) of modern characters is phonosemantic, it makes them representative of the Chinese language more effectively than other kinds of characters. However, only 36% of all the phonological components are perfectly regular, and representations of semantic radicals have the potential to interfere with each other or be inconsistent, which constrains their phonological and/or semantic recognition. In Chinese character recognition, a RH advantage/bias is recruited for orthographic processing/perception tasks, while a LH is responsible for phonological tasks. Orthographic activation is faster than phonological processing, and holistic processing effect in visual recognition decreases with the level of expertise. “The visual word form area” is bilateral, and the LH middle frontal gyrus – the area specialized for handling visuo-spatial analysis and remembering complex visual patterns – plays a crucial role in Chinese reading, and is larger in Chinese speakers. Reading in alphabetic scripts recruits a “phonological route” connecting Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, whereas reading in Chinese recruits a neural circuit linking Broca’s area and the supplementary motor area, responsible for planning complex sequential movements.
Lingua originaleEnglish
Titolo della pubblicazione ospiteProceedings of the International Conference "Chinese Linguistics and Sinology", Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow, October 3-5, 2019
Pagine166-171
Numero di pagine6
Stato di pubblicazionePubblicato - 2019
Pubblicato esternamente
EventoInternational Conference "Chinese Linguistics and Sinology" - Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow
Durata: 3 ott 20195 ott 2019

Convegno

ConvegnoInternational Conference "Chinese Linguistics and Sinology"
CittàRussian State University for Humanities, Moscow
Periodo3/10/195/10/19

Keywords

  • Chinese character, reading Chinese, phonosemantic

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