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Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Reading Arabic ‘Different’ for the Brain, New Study Suggests

Author:    
Source:     Science Daily
Publication Date:     18-May-11
 Link: Reading Arabic ‘Different’ for the Brain, New Study Suggests
Stephan:   When I read this I was reminded of a mass experiment on remote viewing I did in Japan. In preparation for it, I worked with a number of neuroscientists and learned that the Japanese process language in a different part of the brain than Western cultures. When I asked why, I was told that it was thought to have developed because of culture and language. Japanese uniquely is a language in which the level of status and intimacy can be altered in mid-sentence as one looks at the other person judging their reaction. That requires a level of analytical self-awareness not experienced by speakers of Western languages.

Arabic readers recognise words in a different way from readers of other languages, a new study suggests.

This doctoral research at the University of Leicester is analysing the reading differences of individuals as well as across languages — and has shown dissimilarities in how Arabic readers recognise words.

Conducted by Abubaker Almabruk from the School of Psychology, the study has shown there are clear differences in how the right and left sides of the brain recognise Arabic words.

Almabruk’s study is one of the first to examine the cognitive and physiological processes underlying word recognition and reading in Arabic, providing important insight into the effects of direction of reading, the form of the script and the construction of the language.

His research reveals the intricacies of an everyday behaviour that most people find relatively easy and will help explain why some people find it difficult to read and provide insights into how these difficulties might be remedied.

Almabruk commented: ‘Differences in left and right brain function influence the recognition of words each side of where a reader is looking on a page but only when these words are outside of central vision — this reveals both left/right brain specialisation for reading and evidence that the […]

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