The Alphabet and the Brain

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XVI

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2. General Introduction

   1. General Introduction

      • Derrick de Kerckhove, Charles J. Lumsden

      Pages 1-14

3. Biological Foundations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Gene-Culture Coevolution: Culture and Biology in Darwinian Perspective

      • Charles J. Lumsden

      Pages 17-42

   3. Learning and Selection in the Nervous System

      • Jean-Pierre Changeux

      Pages 43-50

   4. Neuronal Group Selection: A Basis for Categorization by the Nervous System

      • Leif H. Finkel

      Pages 51-69

4. The Evolution of Writing Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

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   2. Writing: The Invention and the Dream

      • Claude Hagège

      Pages 72-83

   3. The Origin of the Greek Alphabet

      • Joseph Naveh

      Pages 84-91

   4. Relationships Between Speech and Writing Systems in Ancient Alphabets and Syllabaries

      • Robert Lafont

      Pages 92-105

   5. Graphic Systems, Phonic Systems, and Linguistic Representations

      • Parth M. Bhatt

      Pages 106-120

5. Writing Right and Left

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. Canons of Alphabetic Change

      • William C. Watt

      Pages 122-152

   3. Logical Principles Underlying the Layout of Greek Orthography

      • Derrick de Kerckhove

      Pages 153-172

   4. The Material Conditions of the Lateralization of the Ductus

      • Colette Sirat

      Pages 173-201

   5. Psychology of Literacy: East and West

      • Insup Taylor

      Pages 202-233

6. Neuropsychological Considerations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235

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   2. The Biology of Writing

      • André Roch Lecours, Jean-Luc Nespoulous

      Pages 236-245

   3. Language Processing: A Neuroanatomical Primer

      • Patricia Ellen Grant

      Pages 246-272

   4. Orthography, Reading, and Cerebral Functions

      • Ovid J. L. Tzeng, Daisy L. Hung

      Pages 273-290

This book is a consequence of the suggestion that a major key to­ ward understanding cognition in any advanced culture is to be found in the relationships between processing orthographies, lan­ guage, and thought. In this book, the contributors attempt to take only the first step, namely to ascertain that there are reliable con­ stancies among the interactions between a given type of writing and specific brain processes. And, among the possible brain processes that could be investigated, only one apparently simple issue is being explored: namely, whether the lateralization of reading and writing to the right in fully phonemic alphabets is the result of formalized but essentially random occurrences, or whether some physiological determinants are at play. The original project was much more complicated. It began with Derrick de Kerckhove's attempt to establish a connection between the rise of the alphabetic culture in Athens and the development of a theatrical tradition in that city from around the end of the 6th century B. c. to the Roman conquest. The underlying assumption, first proposed in a conversation with Marshall McLuhan, was that the Greek alphabet was responsible for a fundamental change in the psychology of the Athenians and that the creation of the great tragedies of Greek theatre was a kind of cultural response to a con­ dition of deep psychological crisis.

• attention
• brain
• evolution
• learning
• linguistics
• memory
• nervous system
• neuroscience
• psychology

• The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

  Derrick Kerckhove

• Sociobiology Research Group, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

  Charles J. Lumsden

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