How the brain learns to see language

ended

Written information permeates our digital society. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how our brains allow us to learn how to read, that is, to see language. An obvious solution would be to simply follow children that undergo literacy instruction in school. Schooling, however, broadly involves learning in various domains. Therefore, it would not allow any firm conclusions to be drawn about the specific neuroplastic effects of becoming literate. To surmount this challenge, SLANG moves the research setting to rural regions of Northern India where millions of children cannot attend school for economic reasons. These children will be taught how to read by local teachers (but not attend school) and scanned at a local magnetic resonance imaging facility using cutting-edge, high resolution techniques. Introducing an innovative dense-sampling design, I will walk new research avenues by tracking the emergence and refinement of literacy in a longitudinal, nonlinear fashion and at the single-subject level. Building on a novel experimental paradigm, my objectives are to uncover (1) how literacy creates a visual interface with the speech sound system (2) and the mental lexicon and (3) how literacy changes the way we process speech sounds. Meeting these objectives, I will pave the way for a neurobiologically grounded model of literacy learning. A translation of these insights into educational practice could help the EU and policymakers worldwide to lay the foundation for next-generation literacy instruction programs that are tailored to the specific resources of each individual learner.