TY - GEN
T1 - Processing of Chinese characters and pure tones in literate and illiterate subjects
T2 - 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, ICMA 2009
AU - Li, Xiujun
AU - Wu, Jinglong
AU - Sun, Hongzan
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 in visual tasks, few data adopted auditory tasks, especially in Chinesespeaking individuals. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate brain activations in processing characters by auditory tasks in 26 Chinese subjects (13 illiterates and 13 literates). After comparison of the language stimuli to the control stimuli, we observed: activation regions in the literate group involve the left superior temporal gyrus (BA22), right inferior frontal gyrus (BA47), left middle frontal gyrus (BA9), right middle temporal gyrus (BA21), dorsal anterior cingulate (BA32), and left middle frontal gyrus (BA6); in the illiterate group, activations occur in the right middle temporal gyrus (BA21), left superior temporal gyrus (BA22) and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA47). Conclusively, the left middle frontal gyrus (BA9) is strongly related to Chinese character processing and this modulated brain plasticity may be acquired by literacy and education.
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 in visual tasks, few data adopted auditory tasks, especially in Chinesespeaking individuals. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate brain activations in processing characters by auditory tasks in 26 Chinese subjects (13 illiterates and 13 literates). After comparison of the language stimuli to the control stimuli, we observed: activation regions in the literate group involve the left superior temporal gyrus (BA22), right inferior frontal gyrus (BA47), left middle frontal gyrus (BA9), right middle temporal gyrus (BA21), dorsal anterior cingulate (BA32), and left middle frontal gyrus (BA6); in the illiterate group, activations occur in the right middle temporal gyrus (BA21), left superior temporal gyrus (BA22) and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA47). Conclusively, the left middle frontal gyrus (BA9) is strongly related to Chinese character processing and this modulated brain plasticity may be acquired by literacy and education.
KW - Auditory
KW - Chinese character
KW - Illiterate
KW - Literate
KW - Pure tone
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/77449091056
U2 - 10.1109/ICMA.2009.5246074
DO - 10.1109/ICMA.2009.5246074
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77449091056
SN - 9781424426935
T3 - 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, ICMA 2009
SP - 141
EP - 145
BT - 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, ICMA 2009
Y2 - 9 August 2009 through 12 August 2009
ER -