How do we understand written language?

How do we know that certain combinations of letters have certain meanings? Reading and spelling are complex processes, involving several different areas of the brain, but researchers from Johns Hopkins University in the USA have now identified a specific part of the brain – named the left fusiform gyrus – which is necessary for normal, rapid understanding of the meaning of written text as well as correct word spelling. Their findings are published in the February 2010 issue of Cortex (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex), published by Elsevier.

from EurekAlert.org

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