A cultural effect on brain function
Abstract
We present behavioral and anatomical evidence for a multi-component reading system in which different components are differentially weighted depending on culture-specific demands of orthography. Italian orthography is consistent, enabling reliable conversion of graphemes to phonemes to yield correct pronunciation of the word. English orthography is inconsistent, complicating mapping of letters to word sounds. In behavioral studies, Italian students showed faster word and non-word reading than English students. In two PET studies, Italians showed greater activation in left superior temporal regions associated with phoneme processing. In contrast, English readers showed greater activations, particularly for non-words, in left posterior inferior temporal gyrus and anterior inferior frontal gyrus, areas associated with word retrieval during both reading and naming tasks.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Activation in a more posterior left ventral occipitotemporal area was stronger in English than Italian readers, particularly when the stimuli were pseudowords.
“Evidence that a more posterior left ventral occipitotemporal area was involved in lexical compared to sublexical reading came from the observation that activation in this area was stronger in English than Italian readers, (Paulesu et al., 2000), particularly when the stimuli were pseudowords.”
From A review and synthesis of the first 20years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading (2012) · cites this paper as Paulesu et al., 2000
Cites
Understanding normal and impaired word reading: Computational principles in quasi-regular domains.
Plaut, D. C., McClelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., & Patterson, K. (1996) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.1.56 · Cited by 2,698 · see citing works
The neural correlates of the verbal component of working memory
Paulesu, E., Frith, C. D., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1993) · Nature · doi:10.1038/362342a0 · Cited by 2,230 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Italian readers showed comparatively stronger activation of the left planum temporale (at the temporoparietal junction), a brain region that has been linked to phonological processin”
BackgroundSelf-citationAssessing the significance of focal activations using their spatial extent
Friston, K. J., Worsley, K. J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., Mazziotta, J. C., & Evans, A. C. (1994) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.460010306 · Cited by 1,907 · see citing works
Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches.
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.100.4.589 · Cited by 1,735 · see citing works
Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1997) · Cited by 1,713 · see citing works
SEMANTIC DEMENTIA: PROGRESSIVE FLUENT APHASIA WITH TEMPORAL LOBE ATROPHY
HODGES, J. R., PATTERSON, K., OXBURY, S., & FUNNELL, E. (1992) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/115.6.1783 · Cited by 1,710 · see citing works
Poldrack, R. A., Wagner, A. D., Prull, M. W., Desmond, J. E., Glover, G. H., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (1999) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1999.0441 · Cited by 1,448 · see citing works
Positron Emission Tomographic Studies of the Processing of Singe Words
Petersen, S. E., Fox, P. T., Posner, M. I., Mintun, M. A., & Raichle, M. E. (1989) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.1989.1.2.153 · Cited by 1,284 · see citing works
Functional anatomy of a common semantic system for words and pictures
Vandenberghe, R. R., Price, C. J., Wise, R., Josephs, O., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/383254a0 · Cited by 1,172 · see citing works
Self-citationTHE ANATOMY OF PHONOLOGICAL AND SEMANTIC PROCESSING IN NORMAL SUBJECTS
Démonet, J., Chollet, F., Ramsay, S. C., Cardebat, D., Nespoulous, J., WISE, R., Rascol, A., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1992) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/115.6.1753 · Cited by 1,145 · see citing works
Cognitive Conjunction: A New Approach to Brain Activation Experiments
Price, C. J., & Friston, K. J. (1997) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1997.0269 · Cited by 839 · see citing works
Self-citationWord recognition in the human inferior temporal lobe
Nobre, A. C., Allison, T., & McCarthy, G. (1994) · Nature · doi:10.1038/372260a0 · Cited by 789 · see citing works
Strategies for visual word recognition and orthographical depth: A multilingual comparison.
Frost, R., Katz, L. D., & Bentin, S. (1987) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.13.1.104 · Cited by 596 · see citing works
Frison, L., & Pocock, S. J. (1992) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.4780111304 · Cited by 593 · see citing works
The impact of orthographic consistency on dyslexia: A German-English comparison
Landerl, K., Wimmer, H., & Frith, U. (1997) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(97)00005-x · Cited by 582 · see citing works
Self-citationDemonstrating the implicit processing of visually presented words and pseudowords
Price, C. J., Wise, R. J. S., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1996) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/6.1.62 · Cited by 544 · see citing works
Self-citationSenn, S. J., Frison, L., & Pocock, S. (1994) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.4780130210 · Cited by 529 · see citing works
Phonological alexia: three dissociations.
Beauvois, M.-F., & Derouesné, J. (1979) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.42.12.1115 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Regional cerebral blood flow during object naming and word reading
Bookheimer, S. Y., Zeffiro, T. A., Blaxton, T., Gaillard, W., & Theodore, W. (1995) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.460030206 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Phonological and orthographic components of word recognition. A PET- rCBF study
Rumsey, J. M. (1997) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/120.5.739 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Differences in Phonological Recoding in German- and English-Speaking Children
Uta Frith, A., Wimmer, H., & Landerl, K. (1998) · Scientific Studies of Reading · doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr0201_2 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
Lessico di frequenza dell'italiano parlato
Vizmuller-Zocco, J., Mauro, T. D., Mancini, F., Vedovelli, M., & Voghera, M. (1994) · Italica · doi:10.2307/479679 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Two routes or one in reading aloud? A connectionist dual-process model.
Zorzi, M., Houghton, G., & Butterworth, B. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.24.4.1131 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Strategies for visual word recognition and orthographical depth: A multilingual comparison.
Frost, R., Katz, L. D., & Bentin, S. (1987) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.13.1.104 · Cited by 335 · see citing works
PHONOLOGICAL AGRAPHIA AND THE LEXICAL ROUTE IN WRITING
Shallice, T. (1981) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/104.3.413 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Functional heterogeneity of left inferior frontal cortex as revealed by fMRI
Paulesu, E., Goldacre, B., Scifo, P., Cappa, S. F., Gilardi, M. C., Castiglioni, I., Perani, D., & Fazio, F. (1997) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/00001756-199705260-00042 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Self-citationDémonet, J., Price, C. J., Wise, R., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1994) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/0304-3940(94)90196-1 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Self-citationRoeltgen, D. P., & Heilman, K. M. (1984) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/107.3.811 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
The neural regions sustaining object recognition and naming
Price, C. J., Moore, C. J., Humphreys, G. W., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Friston, K. J. (1996) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0219 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Self-citationCossu, G., Gugliotta, M., & Marshall, J. C. (1995) · Reading and Writing · doi:10.1007/bf01026945 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Self-citationEncoding words and pictures: a positron emission tomography study
Menard, M. T., Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., Alpert, N. M., & Rauch, S. L. (1996) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(95)00099-2 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Phonological mediation and the graphemic buffer disorder in spelling: cross-language differences?
Jónsdóttir, M. K., Shallice, T., & Wise, R. G. (1996) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(95)00693-1 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Frequency and consistency effects in a pure surface dyslexic patient.
Patterson, K. E., & Behrmann, M. (1997) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.23.4.1217 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
The representation of stress: evidence from an aphasic patient
Cappa, S. F., Nespor, M., Ielasi, W., & Miozzo, A. (1997) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(97)00024-3 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citationDardano, M., & Trifone, P. (1991) · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Frequency and consistency effects in a pure surface dyslexic patient.
Patterson, K. E., & Behrmann, M. (1997) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.23.4.1217 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Embleton, S. M. (1988) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Binder, J. R., Desai, R. H., Graves, W. W., & Conant, L. L. (2009) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp055 · Cited by 4,060 · see citing works
Price, C. J. (2012) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.062 · Cited by 2,159 · see citing works
Self-citationMeta-analyzing left hemisphere language areas: phonology, semantics, and sentence processing.
Vigneau, M., Beaucousin, V., Hervé, P. Y., Duffau, H., Crivello, F., Houdé, O., Mazoyer, B., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.11.002 · Cited by 1,851 · see citing works
To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood
Mol, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0021890 · Cited by 1,299 · see citing works
Language‐specific tuning of visual cortex? Functional properties of the Visual Word Form Area
Cohen, L., Lehéricy, S., Chochon, F., Lemer, C., Rivaud, S., & Dehaene, S. (2002) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awf094 · Cited by 1,254 · see citing works
Dyslexia: Cultural Diversity and Biological Unity
Paulesu, E., Démonet, J.-F., Fazio, F., McCrory, E., Chanoine, V., Brunswick, N., Cappa, S. F., Cossu, G., Habib, M., Frith, C. D., et al. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1057179 · Cited by 1,173 · see citing works
Self-citationShare, D. L. (2008) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.584 · Cited by 1,022 · see citing works
Evaluation of the dual route theory of reading: a metanalysis of 35 neuroimaging studies
Jobard, G., Crivello, F., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00343-4 · Cited by 973 · see citing works
Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area
Cohen, L., & Dehaene, S. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.12.049 · Cited by 776 · see citing works
Development of neural mechanisms for reading.
Turkeltaub, P. E., Gareau, L., Flowers, D. L., Zeffiro, T. A., & Eden, G. F. (2003) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1065 · Cited by 707 · see citing works
Culture-sensitive neural substrates of human cognition: a transcultural neuroimaging approach
Han, S., & Northoff, G. (2008) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2456 · Cited by 577 · see citing works
What is right-hemisphere contribution to phonological, lexico-semantic, and sentence processing?
Vigneau, M., Beaucousin, V., Hervé, P.-Y., Jobard, G., Petit, L., Crivello, F., Mellet, E., Zago, L., Mazoyer, B., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.036 · Cited by 464 · see citing works
Neural correlates of lexical access during visual word recognition
Binder, J. R., McKiernan, K. A., Parsons, M. E., Westbury, C. F., Possing, E. T., Kaufman, J. N., & Buchanan, L. (2003) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892903321593108 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Neuroimaging studies of word and pseudoword reading: consistencies, inconsistencies, and limitations
Mechelli, A., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., & Price, C. J. (2003) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892903321208196 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Self-citationTuning of the human left fusiform gyrus to sublexical orthographic structure
Binder, J. R., Medler, D. A., Westbury, C. F., Liebenthal, E., & Buchanan, L. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.06.053 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Neural correlates of switching from auditory to speech perception
Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Pallier, C., Serniclaes, W., Sprenger-Charolles, L., Jobert, A., & Dehaene, S. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.09.039 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Li, S.-C. (2003) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.171 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
The development of reading impairment: A cognitive neuroscience model
McCandliss, B. D., & Noble, K. G. (2003) · Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews · doi:10.1002/mrdd.10080 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Wagner, S., Sebastian, A., Lieb, K., Tüscher, O., & Tadić, A. (2014) · BMC Neuroscience · doi:10.1186/1471-2202-15-19 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Getting to the bottom of orthographic depth.
Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2015) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-015-0835-2 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Word and non-word reading: What role for the Visual Word Form Area?
Vigneau, M., Jobard, G., Mazoyer, B., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.04.038 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Heim, S., Eickhoff, S. B., Ischebeck, A. K., Friederici, A. D., Stephan, K. E., & Amunts, K. (2009) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20512 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Frequency effects of Chinese character processing in the brain: an event-related fMRI study
Kuo, W.-J., Yeh, T.-C., Lee, C.-Y., Wu, Y. U.-T. E., Chou, C.-C., Ho, L.-T., Hung, D. L., Tzeng, O. J. L., & Hsieh, J.-C. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00015-6 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
The impact of second language learning on semantic and nonsemantic first language reading
Nosarti, C., Mechelli, A., Green, D. W., & Price, C. J. (2010) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp101 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Self-citationMind's Ear in a Musician: Where and When in the Brain
Schürmann, M., Raij, T., Fujiki, N., & Hari, R. (2002) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2002.1098 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Dien, J., Brian, E. S., Molfese, D. L., & Gold, B. T. (2013) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2013.03.008 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Universality and language specificity of brain Reading networks: A developmental perspective
Zhang, J., Chen, J., & Ding, G. (2024) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/desc.13379 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Paulesu, E., McCrory, E., Fazio, F., Menoncello, L., Brunswick, N., Cappa, S. F., Cotelli, M., Cossu, G., Corte, F., Lorusso, M., Pesenti, S., Gallagher, A., Perani, D., Price, C., Frith, C. D., & Frith, U.
- Affiliations
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- University College London (GB)
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (GB)
- Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (IT)
- University of Brescia (IT)
- University of Parma (IT)
- IRCCS Eugenio Medea (IT)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2000-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 91-96
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- OpenAlex
- W1593683836
- Cited by
- 602
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 53.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- Middlesex University Research Repository (Middlesex University Of London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (051067)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Education › Literacy and Educational Practices
- Keywords
- reading systems, orthography, grapheme-phoneme correspondence, Italian orthography, English orthography, cross-cultural comparison, word reading, nonword reading, phoneme processing, left superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, word retrieval, naming
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Culture, England, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Italy, Linguistics, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Reading, Speech, Temporal Lobe, Tomography, Emission-Computed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
