TY - GEN
T1 - Processing of Chinese characters and figures in literate and illiterate subjects
T2 - 2009 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering, CME 2009
AU - Li, Xiujun
AU - Wu, Jinglong
AU - Guo, Qiyong
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), much knowledge has been gained in understanding how the brain is activated during controlled experiments of language tasks in educated healthy subjects and in uneducated healthy subjects. While previous studies have compared performance between alphabetic subjects, few data were about Chinese-speaking individuals. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate brain activations in processing characters and figures by visual tasks in 26 Chinese subjects (13 illiterates and 13 literates). Different activation patterns were observed in not only Chinese character judgment task, but also simple figure judgment task between literates and illiterates. We conclude that constellation of neural substrates was different for literates and illiterates and education may enhance this brain plasticity.
AB - Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), much knowledge has been gained in understanding how the brain is activated during controlled experiments of language tasks in educated healthy subjects and in uneducated healthy subjects. While previous studies have compared performance between alphabetic subjects, few data were about Chinese-speaking individuals. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate brain activations in processing characters and figures by visual tasks in 26 Chinese subjects (13 illiterates and 13 literates). Different activation patterns were observed in not only Chinese character judgment task, but also simple figure judgment task between literates and illiterates. We conclude that constellation of neural substrates was different for literates and illiterates and education may enhance this brain plasticity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67650651216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICCME.2009.4906649
DO - 10.1109/ICCME.2009.4906649
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:67650651216
SN - 9781424433162
T3 - 2009 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering, CME 2009
BT - 2009 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering, CME 2009
Y2 - 9 April 2009 through 11 April 2009
ER -