Pugh, K. R.
Haskins Laboratories
The development of skilled reading involves a major re-organization of language systems in the brain. We will present ongoing research from our lab on the neural bases of learning to read across multiple writing systems (both alphabetic and non-alphabetic), with particular focus on bi-directional relations between spoken and written language. Our research suggests that print/speech convergence in language cortex drives individual differences in developmental outcomes in high and low risk learners. Recent studies extend this research into second language learning and we present new findings across several contrastive languages including Hebrew, English and Hindi. Implications for universalist neurocognitive accounts are discussed.