What Goes Wrong In The Brain When Someone Can’t Spell

Left: A composite image showing the brain lesions of people with spelling difficulty after strokes. Right: An image of a healthy brain depicting the regions typically active during spelling. Credit: Johns Hopkins University

By studying stroke victims who have lost the ability to spell, researchers have pinpointed the parts of the brain that control how we write words.

In the latest issue of the journal Brain, Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists link basic spelling difficulties for the first time with damage to seemingly unrelated regions of the brain, shedding new light on the mechanics of language and memory.

“When something goes wrong with spelling, it’s not one thing that always happens—different things can happen and they come from different breakdowns in the brain’s machinery,” said lead author Brenda Rapp, a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences. “Depending on what part breaks, you’ll have different symptoms.”

– Jill Rosen

Source: What goes wrong in the brain when someone can’t spell