title: Neural division of labor in reading is constrained by culture: a training study of reading Chinese characters.
abstract: Word reading in alphabetic language involves a cortical system with multiple components whose division of labor depends on the transparency of the writing system. To gain insight about the neural division of labor between phonology and semantics subserving word reading in Chinese, a deep non-alphabetic writing system, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the effects of phonological and semantic training on the cortical circuitry for oral naming of Chinese characters. In a training study, we examined whether a training task that differentially focused readers' attention on the phonological or semantic properties of a Chinese character changes the patterns of cortical activation that was evoked by that character in a subsequent naming task. Our imaging results corroborate that the cortical regions underlying reading in Chinese largely overlap the left-hemisphere reading system responsible for reading in alphabetic languages, with some cortical regions in the left-hemisphere uniquely recruited for reading in Chinese. However, in contrast to findings from studies of English word naming, we observed considerable overlap in the neural activation patterns associated with phonological and semantic training on naming Chinese characters, which we suggest may reflect a balanced neural division of labor between phonology and semantics in Chinese character reading. The equitable division of labor for Chinese reading might be driven by the special statistical structure of the writing system, which includes equally systematic mappings in the correspondences between written forms and their pronunciations and meanings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: jingjing.jj.zhao@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Shin-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: W Einar
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Mencl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Pugh
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: shuh@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: jay.rueckl@uconn.edu.
authors.forename: Jay G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Rueckl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese; Division of labor; Learning; Reading; fMRI