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Different neural substrates for Kanji and Kana writing

1999; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 10; Issue: 16 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/00001756-199911080-00012

1473-558X

Hiromasa Tokunaga, Takashi Nishikawa, Y. Ikejiri, Yoshitsugu Nakagawa, F Yasuno, Kazuo Hashikawa, T Nishimura, Yoichi Sugita, Masanobu Takeda,

Writing and Handwriting Education

TO investigate the neural substrate underlying the mechanisms of Kanji and Kana writing, we conducted a PET activation study during mental writing task in eight right-handed normal Japanese subjects. During scans subjects were required to mentally write a Kanji or three Kana letters with their right hand, for each stimulant word presented auditorily. The direct comparisons between Kanji writing and Kana writing revealed that the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus was activated in Kanji writing while the left angular gyrus was activated in Kana writing. In addition, more extensive areas were activated in Kanji writing compared with Kana writing. These results suggest that different respective neural substrates are involved in Kanji and Kana writing respectively.