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The secret to learning new words

The present study reveals the way in which we learn new words. This is quite a surprise because, incidentally, it could help people with reading-writing difficulties.

Neuroscientists know well how the reading system works, since Much of our brain is specialized in spoken and written language.. The interest in knowing how it works lies mainly in the application of that knowledge to possible interventions. That is, as a starting point to develop new learning methods that are more effective, or that help people with difficulties to achieve it more easily. For example, how to learn new words, how to speed up reading or how to compensate for difficulties in dyslexia.

When we read, and more When we learn to read, or a new language, various processes are launched simultaneously. Depending on the evolutionary moment, some of these regions will have matured more or less. Basically, these are two neural circuits that process, on the one hand, the “image” of the word, and on the other, the sound.

Reading circuits

Current models on the neurological bases of reading defend the existence of two pathways. These would act in parallel until they converge and integrate the information to access the meaning. In summary, these two routes would consist of:

The dorsal circuit or phonological route. It joins the temporoparietal zone with Broca’s area. This route relates symbols (graphemes) to their sound (phonemes). This route is the first one that is usually worked on in learning to read and, therefore, the first one children develop when reading.The ventral circuit or lexical route. It connects the occipitotemporal area with the frontal lobe, through the temporal lobe. This pathway processes words as a whole, recognizing them as an image and relating them to memory. Therefore, it is not necessary to decode the word into smaller parts.

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As indicated above, these circuits are not independent. During the lecture, the operation of both is combined and they allow us to fluently read words we know and unknown words. Thus, it has traditionally been thought that the known ones are processed mainly by the ventral circuit, and the unknown ones by the dorsal circuit.

Learn new words

According to what was known about the two circuits involved in reading, learning new words mostly involves the dorsal pathway. That is, when faced with a new word we would disengage each grapheme and phoneme, relating them and constructing the pronunciation of the word. However, this implies slower processing, especially in languages ​​that are not transparent like Spanish. That is, the letters are pronounced the same regardless of the word in which they are found.

In fact, a study conducted at the Basque Center for Cognition, Brain and Language found that Speakers of transparent languages ​​use a more analytical system, reading the words in parts (dorsal route). While speakers of opaque languages ​​(different phonemes for the same letters) tend to process words more as a whole, reading globally. Likewise, bilinguals show reading patterns that combine both, infecting the method used in the new language to the previously used method.

What a new study says

In 2015, a research group at Georgetown University conducted a study on word processing and accessing their meaning. For it, focused attention on a brain area located in the left occipitotemporal cortexthe Visual Word Formation Area.

This area, which is located within the visual system, acts as a kind of warehouse for letters and words, and has been configured throughout experience thanks to brain plasticity. Although it is understood as a visual warehouse or dictionary, basically It consists of a system for recognizing images or symbols (in this case, letters). For this reason, it has been necessary for writing systems to use simple features that are easy to recognize from a biological point of view.

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According to these researchers, this region is vital for learning new words., contrary to what was believed. Well, it was understood that this region was only related to known words. Thus, both known and unknown words, or even pseudowords, would be processed mainly globally.

How was the study done

In the study, 25 participants were invited to learn new words. Some of them were really absurd or simple. Also, They were invited to learn words without meaning. Her brains were scanned before and after training and the changes were analyzed.

The results showed that after presenting the different words, The area of ​​the brain involved in “photographing” word shapes began to respond to nonsense words as if they were real words.s. In short, to recognize the false words that had been presented before, without having to analyze them by graphemes or without even having a meaning.

Conclusion

The main conclusion of this study was that when learning new words, It might be easier, especially for those who have reading problems, to use words as figures. That is, present them as an image so that visual processing occurs first, which is faster and easier to remember.

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All cited sources were reviewed in depth by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, validity and validity. The bibliography in this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.

Glezer, L.S., Kim, J., Rule, J., Jiang, X., & Riesenhuber, M. (2015). Adding words to the brain’s visual dictionary: novel word learning selectively sharpens orthographic representations in the VWFA. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(12), 4965-4972.Glezer, L.S., Jiang, X., & Riesenhuber, M. (2009). Evidence for highly selective neural tuning to whole words in the “visual word form area”. Neuron, 62(2), 199-204.Glezer, LS, & Riesenhuber, M. (2013). Individual variability in location impacts orthographic selectivity in the “visual word form area”. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(27), 11221-11226.

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