We use two different brain networks to read sentences

about the episode

What exactly happens in the brain when we give meaning to complex sentences? Researchers have long hoped to find an answer to this, so that people with reading problems, such as those with dyslexia, could be better helped.

To answer this question, they asked epilepsy patients who were already scheduled for surgery where electrodes are placed in the brain to read whole sentences, rows of individual words, and sentences containing nonsense words.

Then they looked at the activity they could see in the brain. When reading the regular sentences, they saw two active networks. In one network, signals traveled from the frontal lobe to the temporal lobe. They saw this activity increase as someone moved into the sentence and the complexity of identifying meaning increased.

In another network, they saw signals travel from another part of the temporal lobe to an area in the frontal lobe. This should help you use the context of the sentence to understand the next word in the sentence more quickly.

All of these processes are incredibly fast. And everything we learn about it could be important. These researchers hope that their work will eventually help people with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia, in a better way.

Read more about research here: The study found that two brain networks are activated during reading.