A research by Ohio scientists pointed out that humans are born with the innate ability to see words. The language centre is connected to the visual centre in a unique way, thus creating a platform on which a person can learn to read.

Reading is in our brains

The ability to record words and the language itself are the things that separate humans from all other species of animals on Earth. American scientists discovered that this ability is innate to human brains and based on connectivity of the language centre and the visual cortex, Science Daily reported.

The discovery was made through analysing scans of newborns. Researchers call this part of the brain ‘visual word form area’ (VWFA).

This makes people receptive to seeing letters and words, which enables reading and writing. This ability exists already in babies who cannot talk yet.

With the recent advancement in brain imaging researchers know which areas of the brain are doing which task. The connection between the language network and the visual area that is known to be responsible for reading in literate adults had been found before, but it is only now that scientists discovered its existence in babies who cannot read or even speak.

In other words, humans are prewired to read.

VWFA is different to these areas people use to recognize familiar faces particularly in its connection to the language network of the brain.

Although not all people learn to read, even in the modern world there are some persons who are illiterate, but all healthy humans have the ability to do it.

This could also help to find ways to treat problems such as dyslexia or other developmental disorders.

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