Similar brain activation patterns for writing logographic and phonetic symbols in Chinese.
This event-related functional MRI study examined the neural correlates for Chinese writing, by comparing the writing of logographic characters and that of pinyin, a phonetic notation system for Chinese characters. The temporal profile of the activations indicated that the middle frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and posterior inferior temporal gyrus reflected more central processes for writing. Although pinyin writing elicited greater activity overall than character writing, the critical finding is that the two types of symbols recruited essentially the same brain regions. The results were compared with studies in Japanese showing dissociation between logographic kanji and phonetic kana writing and frequency of use was suggested to be an important factor in accounting for result differences across the two writing systems.
Lin
Chong-Yu
CY
Laboratory for Higher Brain Function, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiao
Zhuang-Wei
ZW
Shen
Li
L
Zhang
John X
JX
Weng
Xu-Chu
XC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D002681:China; D003463:Cues; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010700:Phonetics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology
D010100:Oxygen