article_snippet: When we learn how to write, we brain does not learn the individual lettering of words - instead it is tuned to remember how the word appears as a whole.
article_snippet: When we learn how to write, we doesn't learn individual letters, instead it is tuned to remember how the word appears as a whole, according to new research.
article_snippet: Instead, neurons in a small brain area remember how the whole word looks - using what could be called a visual dictionary.'
article_snippet: The small area in the brain called the visual word form area
article_snippet: is found in the left side of the visual cortex, opposite the fusiform face area on the right side, which remembers how faces look.
article_snippet: Dr Riesenhuber added: 'One area is selective for a whole face, allowing us to quickly recognise people, and the other is selective for a whole word, which helps us read quickly.'
article_snippet: Dr Riesenhuber said: 'The visual word form area does not care how the word sounds, just how the letters of the word look together. '
article_snippet: The fact that this kind of learning only happens in one very small part of the brain is a nice example of selective plasticity in the brain.'