Can we be conscious without language? Does language influence our conscious experience? These questions, which are central to understanding the human mind, have been explored by researchers at the University of Liège. Their study, published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, shows the complex links between language and consciousness.

Learning to read reshapes how the brain processes language. New research from Baycrest and the University of São Paulo shows that learning to read fundamentally changes how the brain responds to spoken language, even when no written words are present. While previous brain imaging studies have demonstrated that literacy strongly affects how the brain responds to written words, this study is among the first to show differences in brain activity during listening alone.

Most of us spend the day tossing out words without thinking about how they fit together. We text, we talk, we grumble in traffic. Every sentence quietly