Learning to Read and Write: Language on the Brain :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Learning to Read and Write: Language on the Brain When I was little, my favorite book was Happy Birthday Moon. For a while, it was my nightly bedtime story. Anyone who offered to read aloud to me was immediately proffered this book. After some time, I knew the story by heart, word for word. I could not quite read the book but I had memorized the framework of it and so could tell the story myself. The day that I learned to finally recognize the words themselves was so exciting. When the blur of squiggly lines on the page became letters with sound and meaning, a whole new dimension opened up. Every form of human expression is codified within some framework of language. As an English major, I study how people manipulate and interpret language in order to communicate. As a tutor with a reading enrichment program, I sometimes encounter kids who do not share this love of reading and writing. As it is my job to help them master and gather more enjoyment from their dealings with language, and since brain equals behavior, I thought this web paper the perfect opportunity to ask few questions. How does the brain process language? Why do some people enjoy reading and writing better than others do? Why is it easier for some people to learn to manipulate language? And which came first the brain, or the linguistic framework that defines and identifies it? I have learned that language, like the nervous system, is a complicated blueprint which humans use to communicate with, navigate, and interpret, the world. For most people, the parts of the brain that process language are located in the left hemisphere (3). The primary sections in the brain that allow us to read, write, and speak communicably are: the left frontal cortex or Borca's Area, the posterior part of the temporal lobe or Wernicke's Area and a bundle of nerves called the arcuate fasciculus (3). The angular gyrus, at the back of the brain, interprets the words and letters that compose language (4). In order for a word or a sentence to be understood when it is read, an action potential must travel the network of these various parts. First, the information must get from the page to the primary visual cortex. From there is must go to the posterior angular gyrus, near Wernicke's area. Then, if the word or sentence is to be read aloud, it must travel to Borca's Area and the primary motor cortex (3).