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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Apr 15.
Published in final edited form as: Sci Stud Read. 2012 Nov 8;17(1):5–21. doi: 10.1080/10888438.2012.689786

TABLE 2.

Changes in Involvement of Reading Network Components With the Development of Skill

Brain Areas Within the
Reading Network		 Chinese English Interpretation
Left visual-orthographic
 areas (FG, ITG)		 Increase Increase Word identification at basic unit level (radical, word) level.
Important universally.
Right visual-orthographic
 areas (SPL, MOG, FG)		 Increase Decrease Word identification at spatial relations level.
More important for Chinese.
Sublexical phonology
 (Left STG)		 Decrease Increase Phonology at the submorpheme level (phonemic “assembly”).
More important for alphabetic reading.
Orthographic-phonological
 mapping (Left IPL)		 Increase Increase Integrating phonology and orthography in word identification.
Important universally.
Lexical integration/
 selection (Left MFG)		 Increase Increase Control of reading network.
Important for both, but more so for Chinese.

Note. FG= frontal gyrus; ITG = inferior temporal gyrus; SPL = superior parietal lobule; MOG = middle occipital gyrus; STG = superior temporal gyrus; IPL = inferior parietal lobule; MFG = middle FG.