Reading Blind

Anne Strieber learned that we use a specific part of the brain to tell time. A new study finds that the part of the brain we use for reading doesn’t require vision at all: Brain imaging studies of blind people as they read words in Braille show activity in the same part of the brain that lights up when sighted readers read. PhysOrg.com quotes researcher Amir Amedi as saying, "The brain is not a sensory machine, although it often looks like one–it is a task machine." One would expect that Braille reading would depend on brain regions that process tactile information (touch), but since the brain is task-oriented, it occurs in the same place for the blind as it does for sighted readers. Unlike other tasks that the brain performs, reading is a comparatively recent invention, about 5,400 years old, and Braille has been in use for less than 200 years. PhysOrg quotes Amedi as saying, "That’s not enough time for evolution to have shaped a brain-module dedicated to reading." Speaking of reading, we have LOTS of great books available for you to download on this website and at these prices, you can try them all–and there are MORE great books to come!