Different neural substrates for Kanji and Kana writing: a PET study
Abstract
To investigate the neural substrate underlying the mechanisms of Kanji and Kana writing, we conducted a PET activation study during mental writing task in eight right-handed normal Japanese subjects. During scans subjects were required to mentally write a Kanji or three Kana letters with their right hand, for each stimulant word presented auditorily. The direct comparisons between Kanji writing and Kana writing revealed that the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus was activated in Kanji writing while the left angular gyrus was activated in Kana writing. In addition, more extensive areas were activated in Kanji writing compared with Kana writing. These results suggest that different respective neural substrates are involved in Kanji and Kana writing respectively.
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?
Ventral parts of the reading system were more activated for semantic reading (Kanji) than sublexical reading (Kana).
“As irregular word reading is reliant on lexico-semantic processing, the result is consistent with prior and new claims (Kiyosawa et al., 1995; Tokunaga et al., 1999) that ventral parts of the reading system were more activated for semantic reading (Kanji) than sublexical reading (Kana).”
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 Tokunaga et al., 1999
Cites
Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain
Talairach, J., & Tournoux, P. (1988) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 11,798 · 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
Clinical neuropsychology, 3rd ed.
Heilman, K. M., & Valenstein, E. (1993) · Cited by 423 · see citing works
Three cortical stages of colour processing in the human brain
Zeki, S. (1998) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/121.9.1669 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Roeltgen, D. P., & Heilman, K. M. (1984) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/107.3.811 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Roeltgen, D. P., Sevush, S., & Heilman, K. M. (1983) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.33.6.755 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Kanji versus Kananeuropsychological correlates of the Japanese writing system
Iwata, M. (1984) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/s0166-2236(84)80198-8 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Lexical but nonsemantic spelling?
Patterson, K. E. (1986) · Cognitive Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/02643298608253363 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Lesion Localization in Apractic Agraphia
ALEXANDER, M. P., Fischer, R. S., & Friedman, R. B. (1992) · Archives of Neurology · doi:10.1001/archneur.1992.00530270060019 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Selective Kana Agraphia: A Case Report
Tanaka, Y., Yamadori, A., & Murata, S. (1987) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(87)80058-8 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Goedinier, H. C. (1899) · The American Journal of the Medical Sciences · doi:10.1097/00000441-189905000-00001 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Price, C. J. (2012) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.062 · Cited by 2,159 · 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
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
Functional Anatomy of Intra- and Cross-Modal Lexical Tasks
Booth, J. R., Burman, D. D., Meyer, J. R., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., & Mesulam, M. M. (2002) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2002.1081 · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Planton, S., Jucla, M., Roux, F., & Démonet, J. (2013) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2013.05.011 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Distinct unimodal and multimodal regions for word processing in the left temporal cortex
Cohen, L., Jobert, A., Bihan, D. L., & Dehaene, S. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.07.052 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Letter processing automatically recruits a sensory–motor brain network
James, K. H., & Gauthier, L. (2006) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.06.026 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
The graphemic/motor frontal area Exner’s area revisited
Roux, F., Dufor, O., Giussani, C., Wamain, Y., Draper, L., Longcamp, M., & Démonet, J. (2009) · Annals of Neurology · doi:10.1002/ana.21804 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Orthographic and phonological processing of Chinese characters: an fMRI study
Kuo, W., Yeh, T., Lee, J.-R., Chen, L., Lee, P., Chen, S.-S., Ho, L., Hung, D. L., Tzeng, O. J. L., & Hsieh, J. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.12.007 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Relation between brain activation and lexical performance
Booth, J. R., Burman, D. D., Meyer, J. R., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., & Mesulam, M. M. (2003) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.10111 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Recovery of motor and language abilities after stroke: the contribution of functional imaging
Rijntjes, M. (2002) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/s0301-0082(01)00027-2 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Tanji, K., Suzuki, K., Arnaud Delorme, A., Shamoto, H., & Nakasato, N. (2005) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4948-04.2005 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Writing-specific sites in frontal areas: a cortical stimulation study
Lubrano, V., Roux, F., & Démonet, J. (2004) · Journal of neurosurgery · doi:10.3171/jns.2004.101.5.0787 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Usui, K., Ikeda, A., Takayama, M., Matsuhashi, M., Yamamoto, J., Satoh, T., Begum, T., Mikuni, N., Takahashi, J. B., Miyamoto, S., et al. (2003) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awg057 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Kim, S. Y., Qi, T., Feng, X., Ding, G., Liu, L., & Cao, F. (2015) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.11.068 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Booth, J. R., Mehdiratta, N. L., Burman, D. D., & Bitan, T. (2007) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2007.10.080 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Sakurai, Y., Onuma, Y., Nakazawa, G., Ugawa, Y., Momose, T., Tsuji, S., & Mannen, T. (2007) · Behavioural Neurology · doi:10.1155/2007/906417 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Comparison of the neural basis for imagined writing and drawing
Harrington, G. S., Farias, D., Davis, C. H., & Buonocore, M. H. (2006) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20286 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Booth, J. R., Cho, S., Burman, D. D., & Bitan, T. (2007) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00598.x · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Booth, J. R., Burman, D. D., Meyer, J. R., Zhang, L., Choy, J., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., & Mesulam, M. M. (2003) · Journal of Neurolinguistics · doi:10.1016/s0911-6044(03)00019-8 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Who actually read Exner? Returning to the source of the frontal “writing centre” hypothesis
Roux, F., Draper, L., Köpke, B., & Démonet, J. (2010) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2010.03.001 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Nakamura, K., Honda, M., Hirano, S., Oga, T., Sawamoto, N., Hanakawa, T., Inoue, H., Ito, J., Matsuda, T., Fukuyama, H., et al. (2002) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892902317205366 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Kim, S. Y., Liu, L., & Cao, F. (2017) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2017.04.003 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Hanja (Ideogram) alexia and agraphia in patients with semantic dementia
Suh, M. K., Kim, E., Lee, B. H., Seo, S. W., Chin, J., Kang, S. J., & Na, D. L. (2009) · Neurocase · doi:10.1080/13554790903339629 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Cao, F., & Perfetti, C. A. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0168414 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Agraphia for Kanji Resulting From a Left Posterior Middle Temporal Gyrus Lesion
Sakurai, Y., Mimura, I., & Mannen, T. (2008) · Behavioural Neurology · doi:10.1155/2008/393912 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Drawing: Its contribution to naming in aphasia
Farias, D., Davis, C. H., & Harrington, G. S. (2005) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2005.07.074 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Sakurai, Y., Yagishita, A., Goto, Y., Ohtsu, H., & Mannen, T. (2006) · Journal of the Neurological Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jns.2006.03.019 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Neuroimaging studies of reading in bilinguals
Cao, F. (2015) · Bilingualism Language and Cognition · doi:10.1017/s1366728915000656 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Baumann, A., Tödt, I., Knutzen, A., Gless, C. A., Granert, O., Wolff, S., Marquardt, C., Becktepe, J. S., Peters, S., Witt, K., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.829576 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Ueki, Y., Mima, T., Nakamura, K., Oga, T., Shibasaki, H., Nagamine, T., & Fukuyama, H. (2006) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0846-06.2006 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Similar brain activation patterns for writing logographic and phonetic symbols in Chinese
Lin, C.-Y., Xiao, Z., Shen, L., Zhang, J. X., & Weng, X.-C. (2007) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0b013e3282f0405b · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Oral spelling and writing in a logographic language: Insights from a Chinese dysgraphic individual
Zaizhu Han, A., & Yanchao Bi, A. (2009) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2008.12.002 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Tassinari, C. A., Cantalupo, G., & Rubboli, G. (2015) · Epileptic Disorders · doi:10.1684/epd.2015.0760 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Cho, Z., Kim, N., Bae, S., Je, G., Park, C., Ogawa, S., & Kim, Y.-B. (2014) · Journal of Korean Medical Science · doi:10.3346/jkms.2014.29.10.1416 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Brain Mechanisms Supporting Distinct Languages
Simos, P. G., Billingsley‐Marshall, R. L., Sarkari, S., Pataraia, E., & Papanicolaou, A. C. (2005) · Learning Disabilities Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00118.x · Cited by 9 · see citing works
The N200 enhancement effect in reading Chinese is modulated by actual writing
Yin, Y., Cai, X., Ouyang, M., & Zhang, Q. (2020) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107462 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Valaki, C. E., Maestú, F., Simos, P. G., Ishibashi, H., Fernández, A., Amo, C., & Ortiz, T. (2003) · Journal of Neurolinguistics · doi:10.1016/s0911-6044(03)00027-7 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Mechanism of Reading Aloud and Covert Reading: Positron Emission Tomography Studies.
Sakurai, Y. (2001) · The Japan Journal of Logopedics and Phoniatrics · doi:10.5112/jjlp.42.175 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Law, I. G. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Sakurai, Y. (2025) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2025.1664803 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Morphology of Chinese and Japanese Kanji processing in Chinese-Japanese Bilinguals : An fMRI study
Lin, Z., Wu, J., Li, X., & Guo, Q. (2013) · ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering (CME) · doi:10.1109/iccme.2013.6548235 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Differential activity of phonological and orthographic processing of Japanese word: An fMRI study
Li, X., Lin, Z., Koyama, R., Wu, J., Sun, H., & Guo, Q. (2011) · ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering (CME) · doi:10.1109/iccme.2011.5876802 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Law, I. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Learning to Read Might Not Only Open the Mind but Also Reorganize the Brain
Joy, J. E. (2000) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/107385840000600606 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Damage of White Matter in the Parietal Lobe Results in Anomic Alexia of Kana
Shinoura, N., Suzuki, Y., Tsukada, M., Yamada, R., Tabei, Y., Koizumi, T., & Yagi, K. (2010) · Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques · doi:10.1017/s0317167100009756
processing of Japanese word: an fMRI study
Li, X., Lin, Z., Koyama, R., Wu, J., Sun, H., & Guo, Q. (2011)
DOCTORAT DE L'UNIVERSITÉ BORDEAUX 2 6SpFLDOLWp : Psychologie
Segalen, B., & Mokri, H. (2013)
Kanji Perception and Brain Function
Shimoyama, I., Shimada, H., & Ninchoji, T. (2012) · Advances in bioinformatics and biomedical engineering book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-2113-8.ch027
Brain mechanisms of Chinese word reading
Cao, F. (2018) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.7.07cao
Brain Foundations for Learning to Read
Rigatti, P. C., Cui, X., Pugh, K. R., Mota, M. B., & Buchweitz, A. (2023) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009242585.012
- Authors
- Tokunaga, H., Nishikawa, T., Ikejiri, Y., Nakagawa, Y., Yasuno, F., Hashikawa, K., Nishimura, T., Sugita, Y., & Takeda, M.
- Affiliations
- The University of Osaka (JP)
- Venue
- Neuroreport
- Published
- 1999-11
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 16
- Pages
- 3315-3319
- ISSN
- 0959-4965 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2086089487
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroreport (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience
- Keywords
- kanji writing, kana writing, neural correlates, angular gyrus, Japanese writing system, brain activation, orthographic processing
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Handwriting, Humans, Imagination, Functional Laterality, Male, Reference Values, 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
