Reader, Come Home

The human brain is a miraculous machine capable of all sorts of astounding feats. Some of that is innate: we’re born with genes that allow our bodies and minds to acquire certain natural abilities without needing to be taught them. Most people, for example, enter the world with an inborn ability to see and hear, as well as with an astounding ability to pick up language. Just think of the sponge-like manner in which children learn to speak by aping the sounds uttered by those around them. 

Reading is an entirely different matter. Unlike speaking, it isn’t hardwired into the brain. That makes it much more like our ability to understand and manipulate numbers: it’s a cultural invention rather than an innate trait. And our ancestors only started reading 6,000 years ago, making it a pretty recent addition to the cognitive toolkit in the grand scheme of human evolution. So how exactly did they – and how do we – learn to read? 

To answer that question, we need to get into the nitty-gritty of neuroscience. As we learn to read, the brain develops a new network specifically designed for that task. That’s a product of the brain’s neuroplasticity – its ability to rearrange and reroute existing neuronal networks to create entirely new ones. 

This kind of cerebral construction work is a constant throughout our lives. The brain is always linking up cell clusters in novel ways. Each cluster within these configurations simultaneously works to support a budding skill like reading. That, in turn, creates a new network. That process is expedited by the brain’s ability to draw on established networks which perform adjacent functions. Reading, for example, draws on cell clusters associated with language and vision. 

But because networks are created in response to specific needs rather than being drawn from some kind of mental masterplan, we all develop slightly different neuronal networks. What they end up looking like depends on what we’re reading and which language we’re using. That means the circuitry in the head of someone who reads in characters like a Chinese speaker will be wired differently to that of someone who’s used to an alphabet, like an English or Arabic speaker. 

Neuroplasticity also means that our ability to read changes over time. In the following blinks, we’ll see how it’s changing in response to the digital age.