From: H.M.Hubey
Message: 785
Date: 2003-06-30
| Subject: | [evol-psych] Brain buzz that proves Chinese is harder to learn than English |
|---|---|
| Date: | Mon, 30 Jun 2003 10:34:48 +0100 |
| From: | Ian Pitchford <ian.pitchford@...> |
| Reply-To: | Ian Pitchford <ian.pitchford@...> |
| Organization: | http://human-nature.com |
| To: | evolutionary-psychology@yahoogroups.com |
Brain buzz that proves Chinese is harder to learn than English Tim Radford, science editor Monday June 30, 2003 The Guardian It's official: Chinese is more difficult than English. The Chinese need both sides of the brain to grapple with challenges of Mandarin, but English speakers listen with only half their minds on the job. Sophie Scott, a psychologist at the Wellcome Trust, and colleagues from hospitals in Oxford and London performed brain scans on volunteers as they listened to their native languages. When English speakers heard the sound of Mockney, Mersey or Geordie, their left temporal lobes lit up on screen. When Mandarin Chinese speakers heard their native tongue, there was a buzz of action in both the right and left temporal lobes. "We were very surprised to discover that people who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways, said Dr Scott. "It overturned some long-held theories." The left temporal lobe is normally associated with piecing sounds together into words; the right with processing melody and intonation. Full text http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,987745,00.html News in Brain and Behavioural Sciences - Issue 101 - 29th June, 2003 http://human-nature.com/nibbs/issue101.html Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com/ Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/