Exploration of Brain Processes in Reading

exploration of Brain Processes in ReadingStudies into the human cognition of knowledge gametail it to use Experimental cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive neuro psychology advancees for developing further knowledge of the processes mingled in the meter exercise of linguistic communication.The data-based cognitive psychology approach designs laboratory experiments to reveal the processes which ar seed in the human cognition cosmos inquiryed. The experiments are considered to be a scientific way of researching, as they are highly controlled. (Eysenck and Keane 2010) Using this approach in understanding the processes of read, involves the use of certain labours in order to poll these processes.The cognitive neuroscience approach involves intensive analyze of the headland and behaviour. Due to advances in technology, in that respect are now many a(prenominal) variant proficiencys available for translateing the heading. These techniques obt ain detailed information close the way the humour functions and the building of it. From these techniques researchers bay window work out where and when in the foreland specific cognitive processes occur, as well as determine the order in which separate of the brain become active when a person performs a toil. Researchers goat besides find out whether tasks involve the alike(p) sidetracks of the brain in the same way, and establish if there are any great differences in the parts of the brain use. (Eysenck and Keane 2010)Cognitive Neuropsychology looks at the patterns of cognitive performance shown by brain damaged patients, as this backside tell apart us a lot about human cognition. For example, Epelbaum et al (2008 as cited by Cummine, Dai, Borowsky, Gould, Rollans and Boliek 2013) observed a patient who had developed pure alexia this is the ability to perform letter by letter reading, but not whole word reading. The patient developed alexia fol first gearing a small surgical lesion which damaged the remaining interior longitudinal fascicule (ILF) just behind the putative visual word form plain (VWFA). Hanley and McDonnel (1997 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010) studied Patient PS, who understood the meaning of talking to when reading, but could not pronounce them. From this research it was suggested that phonological processing is accessed after word meaning when reading. However, there are issues with using this approach to explaining reading and the processes which are involved, as few measure the impact of brain damage on cognitive performances may be camouflaged because patients freighter develop compensatory strategies.Reicher (1969 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010) studied the word superiority effect, by briefly presenting a letter string followed by a pattern mask, participants then had to reconcile which letter was in a particular position. Reciher represent that participants performance was better when the letter string for med a word.Rayner and Sereno (1994 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010) studied word recognition to assess whether this was automatic or not, they found the Stroop effect, this is when a colour e.g. Orange is printed in a different colour e.g. Red, they found participants took much time to answer than when the colour was printed in either the same colour font or just in black, suggesting that we are not consciously aware of word recognition.Rastle and Brysbaert (2006 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010) carried out a meta-analysis of various studies of participants end lexical decision and fitting tasks. From the analysis it was found that when spoken communication were preceded by primes convertible to them in footing of phonology they were processed faster than those words similar to them in terms of spelling. These findings suggest that phonological processing occurs automatically and rapidly.Yates (2005 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010) used both lexical decision making and naming tasks within their research, to reliever the assumption that phonological processing is used in visual processing. Yatess research found that within both of these tasks, when words which have many phonological neighbours (words which differ in one syllable from each other) are fixated on for less time than those with hardly a(prenominal)er phonological neighbours. on that point are a number of issues and limitations within the experimental cognitive psychology approach. Often, the cognitive tasks involve the use of a complex mixture of different processes and it is hard to attend the findings, for example, the Stroop Effect mentioned above, it is difficult to interpret what processes are actively involved in interpreting the colour of the word and reading it.Often the way the studies are controlled give the gate limit how ecologically valid they are, for example in the lexical decision tasks participants have to decide if a string of letters forms a word and in the n aming tasks they have to as quickly as possible pronounce visually presented words. Within these tasks normal reading times of participants are disrupted by the requirement to respond to the task, therefore open fire the results be generalised to real life and the wider population? Also, as both of the tasks, are not tasks we often engage in when reading normally, this can also impact on how true to real life the results are.There are also issues when interpreting the task performance results, as it provides us with indirect evidence about the internal processes involved in the cognition of reading, and it is difficult to decide at what time processes occur, whether they are at the same time, with some overlap, or at different times. For example, in Rastle and Brysbaerts canvas it is unsure from the results whether phonological processing occurs before word meaning is accessed. However, this can often be clarified by using brain imaginativeness techniques.Khateb and Annoni et al ( 1999) recorded event connect potentials (ERPs) during a semantic and a phonological reading task to determine the time period when semantic and phonological processing start to differently activate the neuronal language network in the brain. From the results the researchers found that these differences did not significantly occur.Event related potentials are linked to the use of EEG which is based on recordings of galvanic brain practise measured at the surface of the scalp ERP is a way of resolving one of the limitations of the EEG technique. ERP involves presenting the same stimulus to participants some(prenominal) times, as this resolves any spontaneous or background brain exertion from obscuring the impact of the processing of the stimulus on the recording. ERPs have a number of strengths in terms of their contributions towards research. They provide good temporal resolution, can indicate when a given process occurred to within a few milliseconds, e.g. in Khateb, Annoni et als study the difference amongst activation of semantic and phonological processing was only for 100 milliseconds. This technique also provides detailed information about the time course of brain activity, compared to a lot of other techniques. However, the technique does not precisely indicate which regions of the brain are most involved in processing.Cao, Bitan and Booth (2008) used high-energy casual modelling (DCM) and MRI to examine the effective connectivity between trio regions in the left hemisphere of the brain in children with and without reading difficulties when completing a rhyming judgement task. The researchers found that the modulatory effect from the left spindle-shaped whirl to the left inferior parietal lobule was weaker in children with reading difficulties when completing the conflicting essays of the rhyming judgement task (where the words had either similar orthography but different phonology, or had different orthography and phonology). another(prenomina l) finding is that the modulatory effect from the left fusiform gyrus to the inferior anterior gyrus was significantly greater in conflicting trials than non conflicting trials in the children in the control group however, this was not apparent in the children with reading difficulties. The final finding was that the modulatory effect from the left inferior frontal gyrus to the left inferior parietal lobe and the bidirectional modulatory do between the left inferior parietal lobule and medial frontal gyrus were positively correspond with reading skills in the control group of children only.MRI tells us about the structure of the brain by using radio waves to excite atoms in the brain, which produces attractive forceic changes which are detected by a large magnet these changes are then interpreted by a computer and changed into a very precise 3d image. However, as most cognitive psychologists inclination to look at the functions of the brain rather than the structure, MRI can b e a limited technique to use when studying human cognitions. This can be resolved though by using the fMRI technique which looks at the functions of the brain.Meyler and Keller et al (2007) used fMRI to examine brain activity during a visual sentence erudition task among unretentive and high ability readers. Meyler and Keller et al used a higher train comprehension task in order to expand on previous research which found a reduced or absent activation in the left parietotemporal and occipitotemporal cortices in individuals who suffer from dyslexia or have a low reading ability. The results form Meyer et als research found that poor reading ability was associated with reduced activation in those areas compared to those of higher reading ability. There was also a positive linear relationship between reading ability and cortical activation in Wernickes area, the amend inferior parietal lobule, and the left post central gyrus.Mechelli and Crinion et al (2005) using fMRI wanted to b uild on the theory that readers hire word specific knowledge and general information about how a combination of words corresponds to phonological representations by exploring how neuronal interactions within the reading system are influenced by word type. The pars triangularis showed increased activation for riddance words compared to pseudo words, however, in the dorsal premotor cortex, increased activation was found for pseudowords compared to exception words, and finally the pars occercularis showed increased activation in exception words compared to regular words, and for pseudo words compared to regular words.Bavelier et al (1997 as cited by Pinel 2011) used fMRI to measure the brain activity of participants whilst they read silently. The fMRI used in this study was particularly sensitive meaning that the researchers could order areas of activity more accurately than in previous studies. The researchers recorded brain activity during the reading of sentences. The participant s completed in periods of silent reading followed by a control period where they were presented with strings of consonants, which served as a seat for determining those areas of cortical activity associated with reading. Bavelier at al found in the lateral cortical surfaces which were monitored that there was a difference in the cortical activity. The results showed tiny areas of activity separated by areas of inactivity, these patches of activity were variable, and differed between participants, and from trial to trial on the same participant. Although some of the activity was observed in the classic Wernicke geschwind area, it was widespread over the lateral surface of the brain. It was found that there was significant activity in the right hemisphere, however considerably more activity was detected in the left hemisphere.FMRI assesses distortions in the topical anaesthetic magnetic field and provides a measure of the concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin in the blood. This techniq ue shows temporal and spatial resolution at a higher level than PET. However, there are flaws with this technique as it provides an indirect measure of primal neural activity. Also, as this technique involves the participants being encased into a scanner, some participants can feel uncomfortable, find it upsetting and experience side effects (Cooke, Peel, Shaw, Senior 2007 as cited by Eysenck and Keane 2010).The use of the experimental cognitive psychology approach provides a good basis for cognitive neuroscience research to study further, as although it can provide some explanation for what processes may be involved in reading, it cannot provide specific information on what part of the brain these processes occur in, or in what order and so forth. By combining both the experimental cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience approaches, more in depth research can be conducted. For example, Cao, Bitan and Booths study with combines the use of DCM, MRI and a rhyming judgement ta sk provides more information and explanations for poorer reading abilities. Or Mechelli and Crinion et als research combined the use of fMRI and a phonological task finding that there are distinct regions within the left anterior cortex activated differently depending on the word type being read. Finally, the use of cognitive neuropsychology provides explanations for the processes involved in reading by studying patients with brain damage who have issues in certain cognitions presumed to be involved in reading, and examining which parts of the brain are damaged.Word come 2071ReferencesCao, F., Bitan, T. and Booth, J. (2008) Effective brain connectivity with reading difficulties during phonological processing Brain and linguistic communication Vol. 107 pp. 91 101 onlineCummine, J., Dai, W., Borowsky, R., Gould, L., Rollans, C. and Boliek, C. (2013) Investigating the ventral lexical, dorsal sublexical model of raw material reading processes using diffusion tensor imaging Brain Structure and government agency Vol. 218, No.6 onlineEysenck, M. and Keane, M (2010) Cognitive Psychology A Students vade mecum 6th ed. New York Psychology PressKhateb, A., Annoni, J-M., Landis, T., Pegna, A., Custodi, M-C., Fonteneau, E., Morand, S. and Michel, C. (1999) Spatio-temporal analysis of electric brain activity during semantic and phonological word processing International daybook of Psychophysiology Vol.32 pp. 215-231 onlineMechelli, A., Crinion, J., Long, S., Friston, K., Lambon Ralph, M., Patterson, K., McClelland, J. and Price, C. (2005) Dissociating Reading Processes on the Basis of Neuronal Interactions, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol17. No.11, pp 1753 1765 onlineMeyler, A., Keller, T., Cherkassky, V., Lee, D., Hoeft, F., Whitfield-Gabrielli, S., Gabrielle, J. and Just., M (2007) Brain Activation during Sentence Comprehension among Good and paltry Readers, Cerebal Cortex, Vol 17. No.12, pp. 2780 2787 onlinePinel, J. (2011) Biopsychology 8th ed. Boston Pearson Education