title: Timing the impact of literacy on visual processing.
abstract: Learning to read requires the acquisition of an efficient visual procedure for quickly recognizing fine print. Thus, reading practice could induce a perceptual learning effect in early vision. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in literate and illiterate adults, we previously demonstrated an impact of reading acquisition on both high- and low-level occipitotemporal visual areas, but could not resolve the time course of these effects. To clarify whether literacy affects early vs. late stages of visual processing, we measured event-related potentials to various categories of visual stimuli in healthy adults with variable levels of literacy, including completely illiterate subjects, early-schooled literate subjects, and subjects who learned to read in adulthood (ex-illiterates). The stimuli included written letter strings forming pseudowords, on which literacy is expected to have a major impact, as well as faces, houses, tools, checkerboards, and false fonts. To evaluate the precision with which these stimuli were encoded, we studied repetition effects by presenting the stimuli in pairs composed of repeated, mirrored, or unrelated pictures from the same category. The results indicate that reading ability is correlated with a broad enhancement of early visual processing, including increased repetition suppression, suggesting better exemplar discrimination, and increased mirror discrimination, as early as ∼ 100-150 ms in the left occipitotemporal region. These effects were found with letter strings and false fonts, but also were partially generalized to other visual categories. Thus, learning to read affects the magnitude, precision, and invariance of early visual processing.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France; Laboratory of Biological Psychology, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; felipepegado@yahoo.com stanislas.dehaene@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pegado
authors.affiliation: SARAH Network, International Center for Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, 71.535-005 Brasilia, Brazil;
authors.forename: Enio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Comerlato
authors.affiliation: SARAH Network, International Center for Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, 71.535-005 Brasilia, Brazil;
authors.forename: Fabricio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ventura
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France;
authors.forename: Antoinette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jobert
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France; Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France;
authors.forename: Kimihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France;
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buiatti
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, 1649-013 Lisbon, Portugal;
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ventura
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France;
authors.forename: Ghislaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dehaene-Lambertz
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium; Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium; and.
authors.forename: Régine
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kolinsky
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium;
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morais
authors.affiliation: SARAH Network, International Center for Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, 71.535-005 Brasilia, Brazil;
authors.forename: Lucia W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Braga
authors.affiliation: INSERM U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, and Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, UMR S 1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), F-75013 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; Neurospin Center, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA), Division Sciences de la Vie (DSV), Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France; University Paris 11, 91405 Orsay, France; Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France; felipepegado@yahoo.com stanislas.dehaene@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Stanislas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dehaene
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001519:Behavior; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004493:Education; D004522:Educational Status; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007858:Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012984:Software; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: brain plasticity; education; reading