Abstract
In this chapter, I discuss largely, though by no means exclusively, Far Eastern literacy. (The Far East will be henceforth referred to simply as “the East.”) And I tend to minimize the relations among literacy, brain, cognition, and culture. Literacy is simply obtaining sound and meaning from printed language; as such, literacy by itself may not have a great influence on cognition and culture. Literacy may have greater influence on cognition and culture, if it serves as “the magic key that unlocks the door to the wonderland of stories and information.” And, as I will argue, cortical activities are similar whether one reads in an Eastern or Western script.
Reading is the magic key that unlocks the door to the wonderland of stories and information.
(Taylor & Taylor, The Psychology of Reading, 1983: 397)
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Taylor, I. (1988). Psychology of Literacy: East and West. In: de Kerckhove, D., Lumsden, C.J. (eds) The Alphabet and the Brain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-01093-8_12
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