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Reading reuses brain areas built for vision and speech

Reading reuses brain areas built for vision and speech

Reading reuses brain areas built for vision and speech

Writing is young in evolutionary time, so reading borrows the visual word form area plus language circuits rather than a dedicated “reading organ” from birth.

Practice knits those borrowed parts into a fast pipeline from letters to sound and meaning.

Literacy is recycled hardware. Culture taught an old visual system a brand-new trick.

Shahzad Mahota Shahzad Mahota @shahzad-mahota

Reading reuses brain areas built for vision and speech