A
Reading may be fundamental, but how the brain gives meaning to letters on a page has been a mystery. Two new studies fill in some details on how the brains of efficient readers handle words. One of the studies, published in the April 30 Neuron, suggests that a visual-processing area of the brain recognizes common words as whole units. Another study, published online April 27 in PLOSONE, makes it known that the brain operates two fast parallel systems for reading, linking visual recognition of words to speech.
Maximilian Riesenhuber, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., wanted to know whether the brain reads words letter by letter or recognizes words as whole objects. He and his colleagues showed sets of real words or nonsense(无意义的词语)words to volunteers undergoing fMRI scans. The words differed inonly one letter, such as “farm” and “form” or “soat” and “poat”, or were completely different, such as “farm” and “coat” or “poat” and “hime”. The researchers were particularly interested in what happens in the visual word form area, or VWFA, an area on the left side of the brain just behind the ear that is involved in recognizing words.
Riesenhuber and his colleagues found that neurons(神经元)in the VWFA respond strongly to changes in real words. Changing “farm” to “form”, for example, produced as great a change in activity as changing “farm” to” coat”, the team reports in Neuron. The area responded slowly to single-letter changes in made-up words.
The data suggests that readers grasp real words as whole objects, rather than focusing on letters or letter combinations. And as a reader’s exposure to a word increases, the brain comes to recognize the shape of the word. Meaning is passed on after recognition in the brain, Riesenhuber says.
The researchers don’t yet know how longer and less familiar words are recognized, or if the brain can be trained to recognize nonsense words as a unit.
1. Riesenhuber’s research probably focuses on whether the brain ______.
A. recognizes words as a unit or reads them letter by letter.
B. operates two fast parallel systems for reading
C. takes longer to read less familiar words or not
D. handles nonsense words as a unit
2. Riesenhuber and his colleagues carried out their research by ______.
A. giving pairs of real words totally different B. arranging the words in different order
C. showing pairs of different words D. making volunteers read some longer words
3. Riesenhuber’s research is significant in that it shows how the brain ______
A. responds to familiar words B. relates meaning to letters
C. recognizes the form of a word D. reacts to made-up words
【答案】1. A 2. C 3. C
【解析】
本文为说明文。阅读可能是最基本的，但大脑如何赋予一页纸上的字母以意义一直是个谜。两项新的研究填补了一些关于高效阅读者大脑如何处理单词的细节。
【1题详解】
细节理解题。根据第二段中的Maximilian Riesenhuber, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., wanted to know whether the brain reads words letter by letter or recognizes words as whole objects.可知，Maximilian Riesenhuber是华盛顿乔治敦大学的神经学家，他想知道大脑是逐字逐句地读单词，还是把单词当成一个整体来识别的。故A选项正确。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。根据第二段中的He and his colleagues showed sets of real words or nonsense(无意义的词语)words to volunteers undergoing fMRI scans. The words differed in only one letter, such as “farm” and “form” or “soat” and “poat”, or were completely different, such as “farm” and “coat” or “poat” and “hime”.可知， Riesenhuber和他的同事通过展示成对不同的单词进行的研究。故C选项正确。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。根据第一段中的but how the brain gives meaning to letters on a page has been a mystery.（但大脑如何赋予一页纸上的字母以意义一直是个谜）及倒数第二段中的The data suggests that readers grasp real words as whole objects, rather than focusing on letters or letter combinations. And as a reader’s exposure to a word increases, the brain comes to recognize the shape of the word.（数据表明，读者将真实单词作为整体来把握，而不是把注意力集中在字母或字母组合上。随着读者对一个单词接触的增加，大脑开始识别这个单词的形状。）可推知，Riesenhuber的研究意义在于它展示了大脑如何识别一个单词的形式。故C选项正确。
