title: A cultural effect on brain function.
abstract: We present behavioral and anatomical evidence for a multi-component reading system in which different components are differentially weighted depending on culture-specific demands of orthography. Italian orthography is consistent, enabling reliable conversion of graphemes to phonemes to yield correct pronunciation of the word. English orthography is inconsistent, complicating mapping of letters to word sounds. In behavioral studies, Italian students showed faster word and non-word reading than English students. In two PET studies, Italians showed greater activation in left superior temporal regions associated with phoneme processing. In contrast, English readers showed greater activations, particularly for non-words, in left posterior inferior temporal gyrus and anterior inferior frontal gyrus, areas associated with word retrieval during both reading and naming tasks.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute H S. Raffaele, INB-CNR, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paulesu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCrory
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Menoncello
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brunswick
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Cappa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cotelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cossu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Corte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pesenti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perani
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Frith
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Frith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003469:Culture; D004739:England; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008037:Linguistics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed