title: Cortical activation during reading of ancient versus modern Japanese texts: fMRI study.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate human brain activity during the reading of ancient Japanese texts using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty right-handed normal Japanese subjects performed two reading tasks: covert reading of (1) ancient and (2) modern Japanese text. Common areas are activated during both tasks. Activity in the left inferior frontal cortices increased during the reading of ancient Japanese text compared with the reading of modern Japanese text, whereas occipital activity increased during the reading of modern Japanese text. Our results indicate that ancient Japanese language may be processed as a foreign language.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, NICHe, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. miura@idac.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Jobu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sassa
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riera
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Horie
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Ryuta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawashima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011932:Reading
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen