The Consequences of Reading: The Reading Brain

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the consequences of reading in terms of the reading brain. As a holistic view of the mind’s software, the ecosystem of reading is used as a theoretical framework, which includes microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. The ecological system of reading particularly focuses on the reader’s mind as the microsystem and on language and script (i.e., oracy and literacy) as the mesosystem within the interrelated networks of the biological basis, cognitive characteristics, and the sociocultural dimensions of learning and reading. The discussion continues to cover the similarities and differences between oracy and literacy. Finally, the reading brain is discussed with respect to the cognitive impact of reading. The literate brain shows a stable cerebral architecture and neural networks specifically attuned to reading in the left occipito-temporal region.