Brain dynamics of Arabic reading: a magnetoencephalographic study.
Arabic writing differs greatly from western scripts. To evaluate the influence of written Arabic on the pattern of language-related brain activation, a group of native Arab speakers and a control group of native Spanish speakers were scanned with magnetoencephalography during a reading task. In both groups, brain activity was strongly left lateralized during the time window between 200 and 500 ms after stimulus onset. During late latencies (beyond 500 ms), however, the right and the left hemispheres reached a similar activation level in the Arabic but not in the Spanish group. This suggests a time-dependent role of both hemispheres during Arabic language reading.
Al-Hamouri
Firas
F
Department of Counselling and Educational Psychology, Yarmouk University, Jordan.
Maestú
Fernando
F
Del Río
David
D
Fernández
Santiago
S
Campo
Pablo
P
Capilla
Almudena
A
García
Emilio
E
González-Marqués
Javier
J
Ortiz
Tomás
T
D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors