What did you learn about the brain that was not explicitly mentioned mentioned in the video. Think outside of the box. relations count as long as they can be connected to the video.
First! Well I had to watch the video twice because I could not take my focus of the finger which was tracing the words in the background. What is that technology?! Anyway, I was totally perplexed to imagine how somebody who could no longer read, could still write. Until I realized he could still write because he could still read. He still knows fully well how to read, the only difference is now his brain can't process what he's seeing. The damage is (most likely) in his occipital lobes, where images are interpreted, not his parietal lobes, where the actual process of reading takes place.That's why when he traced the letters he could still "read" the words, because both those actions (tracing and reading) happen in the parietal lobe, skipping occipital entirely. If the damage were in his parietal lobe, "not being able to read" wouldn't be his only problem. From this video, I learned you can read with your fingers.
Milan I agree with you. The stroke most likely damaged the writer's occipital lobes, probably a specific area within the visual cortex that didn't damage the other areas of his sight. Brail is a way to read with one's fingers.
great point Taylor fact that his occipital lobes were destroyed by the stroke entirely rather a very specific part of the brain was affected thus leading to his inability to understand letters I'm curious as to whether the lack of shape recognition is limited only to letters that would be extremely extraordinary
So you're saying that the problem is his occipital lobe? Then why is he able to see other objects and make sense of them with no problem? Wouldn't he also confuse shapes and colors? And how can he write if he can't see letters?
Dude yeah. I mean the damage probably isn't in the occipital lobe itself, it's in the connection between where the image is interpreted in the occipital and where it is supposed to be processed and understood in the parietal. The connection was damaged. The act of seeing basic things like colors and shapes is a completely different path because those things are pretty much unconsciously processed constantly, whereas reading words is effortful and requires consciousness and thought. I dunno. He can still write because when we write, we aren't really constantly looking at every letter as we write it, and we don't need to. Our mind had a map of what we are writing as we are writing it, which is supported by how our hand navigates over the page and our concept of space. Seeing what we are writing is only secondary help to the process.
Sorry to butt into the conversation Milans, but I agree with what you have to say about how the author would not confuse colors and shapes. The author has trouble processing the words he reads because reading does require effortful processing whereas writing does not. After you learn how to write, the process kind of just becomes automatic. When we pick up a pen we do not have to consciously think about how each letter is shaped. This man obviously knew how to write before the stroke and after the stroke that skill was not effected.
Hey Jackie and Milans I definitely feel that the stroke didn't completely wreck the part of his brain that controls distinction. In fact, if you think about it many people who have strokes are able to regain certain functions after awhile–this is due to the brain re-wiring its neural networks. So, agreed the connections between the lobes were what sustained damage :)
Given that the writer was reading by tracing his finger over the letters in order to read them, it must be a real test of his functioning cerebral cortex to process the pattern he draws instead of recognizing the letters due to the damage caused by the stroke. It is also extremely impressive the writer managed to write two books after he lost his ability to read.
But he still could read. He just couldn't see (at least not letters). Blind people write books all the time, I'm sure. No offense to you Taylor. I just think the video was inaccurately titled. It's misleading.
I would also think that relearning how to read by tracing the words would take a lot out of his parasympathetic system in order to calm him down when he got frustrated when the words would become mixed up again. Could you imagine looking at a word you've seen your whole life and not being able to process what it says?
Why wouldn't he be able to write books, he is not mentally challenged just visually. He has all the knowledge in his brain and could put words down on paper but cannot read them. It takes time to trace the letters but it is not impossible to do.
I had no idea that we could write even if we could not read properly. I also agree that the author suffered damage to his occipital lobe which is why he had trouble processing the words that he reads. I always thought that reading and writing came hand in hand that you could not do one without the other but that might only be true when you are learning how to do the both. I can understand how the man can write because it is just like a person who becomes blind from some sort of tragedy. Even though the now blind person cannot read, the way each letter is shaped and how each word is supposed to look is still in their long term memory which allows them to write them down on paper. The stroke probably did not cause any damage to the wernickes area because the author was still able to understand the meaning of each word that he wrote even though after it was written the word became all mixed up again.
I agree with you Jackie about there being no damage to the Wernicke's area because he still understands how to write but just cannot see the words due to the damage that the stoke has caused to his vision.
I agree with jackie. I didn't know that we can write even though we can't read properly. I also that a person needs to read to know how to write because u need to know what the words mean before reading the articles or books.
This video was really interesting because I was under the impression that if you could not read you could not write either, but I guess I was wrong. With the stroke that he had there must have been damage to the occipital lobe or the angular gyrus. If there is damage to the angular gyrus then the person is able the speak and understand but unable to read.
i agree with you Griselda, i also thought it was interesting that if you cannot read you can still write because i thought, if you cannot read you also cannot write.
Agreed: the angular gyrus is associated with the part of the brain of complex language functions. Damage- in this case, Mr. Engle's stroke, to this part of the brain can bring up the Gertmann syndrome- alexia being one symptom- the inability to read. Over time, he was able to use his plastic-like brain to recover and reconnect associated neurons.
while watching this video i thought of dyslexia when the man said he could not read and would confuse the letters like "r" and "s", but then they said he had alexia. i did not know there was a difference, actually i have never heard of alexia. i had to google them both to know the difference. also watching this video, after he had his stroke and could not read, made me think that he could have damaged his occipital lobes.
This is so weird how a man can not read or write but can learn how to make a way to read. I thought how can he feel the letters on the paper if the letters aren't bumpy. I agree with what Cindy how the stroke damaged his occipital lobe.
I agree stroke damaged the occipital lobe (like everyone) because he was unable to read the letters after the stroke. It was weird too how he would "feel" the letters by putting his tongue on the roof of his mouth to try and spell out the letters to make sense of words and stuff.
well, since he can't see, remember that his other senses become more alter. his sense of touch is very sensitive so maybe it is possible for him to feel the difference in the ink of the shape of letters. keep in mind that they feel certain things differently than people who have all there sense working.
Before the lecture on Friday, this video actually made more questions than answers now it makes since. If the guy in the video had a stroke, the stoke must have damaged visual cortex and words that feel like a "d" because of our sensory cortex but might look like an "z".
Totally true there! It got cleared up once it made more sense, after. It's really trippy to think that what we see is so delicately balanced and that so much with our senses can go wrong. I think more research into exactly how the neurons in our head interpret what we see is needed so that we can cure people with issues like what you'd mentioned (ie. seeing a z instead of a d).
What I really got out of this video is that nothing is impossible with the brain. It's just so complex and amazing that it can even re-wire itself after traumatic injuries to regain some of the patient's original potential. Further research on how our brain's neural networks are constructed should be conducted, because hey, who knows? Maybe there's a way to manually re-wire the networks ourselves, as a form of treatment. If we can achieve that, then most issues regarding loss of senses or movement can be quickly cured. very intriguing stuff, kinda makes me want to pursue a career in neurology :)
It's kind like how a blind person acquires good hearing right? the brain is always finding ways around obstacles in order to susain life, and since it is so complex it is able to do so.
Our brain is insane there is so much we don't know about our brain and how it works. The other day we learned we actually use more than 10% percent of our brain which by the way there goes my super hero powers, is just crazy and hard to believe that our brain is always working.
I really wish I could "like" alot of these comments:D Very interesting video, I always assumed that someone who could not read couldn't write either; this video obvioulsy proved me wrong. Also, I had no idea what alexia was- I'm curious to see what other conditions exist. Agreeing to what several comments suggested; the stroke, I belive, affected the man's occipital lobe causing him to distort letters. Although since he was still able to recognize those letters when he traced them, his brain was able to find a way around his condition.
I agree with you Daisy saying that you "always assumed that someone who could not read couldn't write either." This condition, alexia, is very interesting because of how it affects the way people read.
According to my sources- wikipedia d:- Angular Gyrus is associated with processing of language, number processing, spacial cognition, memory retieval, attentions, and theory of mind. So other conditions Mr. Engle could have experiences could have been much worse that just not being able to recognize words and language...I believe. It is so amazing how he was able to find his way around his condition. It is like a blind person learning to read braille- the brain adapts so awesomely.
I also agree with you Daisy. I was surprised to see how damage to a certain part of the brain can affects someone's ability to be able to read but not write. Or write but not read.
Because Howard is an environmentalist. Just kidding. If you think about it tracing the letters in his mouth is simpler, and no one would know if he were to be out in public.
another though the man in the video suffers from alexia which is acquired dysleia does this mean that people born with dyslexia have some malformation in the occipital lobe that is present at birth ?
hey soory to disagree with everyone but according to the book reading is automatic processing "When you see words in your native language, perhaps on the side of a delivery truck, you can’t help but read them and register their meaning. Learning to read wasn’t automatic. You may recall working hard to pick out letters and connect them to certain sounds.But with experience and practice, your reading became automatic." i been reading and it leads me to belive that the reason he can write and not read is that the brain divdes the process for reading into seveal parts and the spciefic part that handles reading was damaged by the stroke
wow that is a really good point! which is true but in the book it also says that rehearsal helps us process things more into our long term memory which makes us not only remember it but have learned it. when it comes to writing, we are always rehearsing the letters either by writing out our name or learning how the shapes of letters are. we have processed this into our brain so frequently that it became into automatic processing.
Very true The brain does divide the reading and writing process writing is something done with the motor cortex while reading in the post part is using the visual cortex. On a different note, I like to point out that many people didn't say that reading isn't a automatic others including myself are just saying one would assume that if one can't read, they can't write.
"They said my spelling would go to hell and it certainly did but it didn't have far to go", heh that was funny. Well the guy developed alexia which is an acquired type of dyslexia. He had gained damage in occipital lobe which damaged his ability to read but not his ability to write. Malachi has a super good point where he states reading is automatic processing (which it is) while learning to read is not automatic. So it is possible the occipital lobe itself wasn't the place the stroke hit or the exact place, but rather another specific part that affected the reading and not anywhere else like the writing.
What is a fitting title? "The Writer Who Drew Letters to Visually Process" or simply "The Writer With Alexia" Anyways yeah, poor Howard. So we can all agree that his occipital lobe was damaged and that the transfer of the visual information was interrupted, but can a person read and not be able to write? Well only if their motor skills were damaged. How inspirational though, Howard fought for his profession. I hope that one day I to will find a profession that I will fight for (not physically).
The writer who couldn't see what he was writing. Like a blind person. Or a 3 year old. Yeah, we're all impressed until someone actually buys his book and it's just "hakxhfdiebfhd Jdiebdk hdjdkkcndslalocj!!" for 500 pages. Guy must have one kickass editor.
wow, this video is truely shocking. it never came to my mind that it was possible for someone who couldn't read could still write. but then i began to think about it more throughly. just because you can't read the letters doesn't mean you'll forget how to write it. for example in chapter 2, obj.11 it says that when you are knocked unconcious, you can't remember what you have learned a couple mins before the accident. long term memory is not disrupted. this man had a stroke while he was trying to read something. since he was trying to use his visual sense, his occipital lobes which process the interpertation of images was damaged. however, his long-term memory still remebers how to write and how a certain letter is shaped since you start learning and you rehearse it almost everyday. now i see why this was possible for the blind man to still be able to write.
I agree on what you said "just because you can't read the letters doesn't mean you'll forget how to write it." The brain is an amazing organ because of how your reading skills are on one section and your writing skills are on another side of your brain.
morenovanessa96@gmail.com This video was mind blowing. I never would have thought that a condition like that existed. It is very similar to dyslexia, but the words look like a look like a different language. I think it was a great idea that the guy traced the words as he read what he was reading because he knew how to write but not read after his stroke.
Yes, I wonder what would have happened if he spoke two languages. Do you think that only one of them would be lost? And well I guess that having him spell out every word that he writes is very helpful to help his dyslexia!
Well, one of the things I learned was, I hope I never have stroke. I always thought that reading and writing were all part of the same place. I was wrong. It makes sense that when you see writing on a piece of paper you read it as if you wrote it. At least in my mind it makes sense. So would this possibly be the same idea for speaking and listening? But this does also prove a point.When you are blind, that doesn't stop you from reading? All in all this video was very eye opening. I truly hope that I never have to go through what he went through.
The book says damage to aaaany cortical areas could result in impaired use of language. Complex brain activites span over many brain areas, so maybe it was multiple areas interrupted. I'm feelin' angular gyrus, though. "Damage to the angular gyrus leaves the person able to speak and understand but unable to read." (pg. 81) Sounds like Howard.
Does that damage from the stroke have to be a high enough level to damage his brain the way it did? I also agree with you about the angular gyrus. I think that not just one part of his brain was damaged from the stroke.
It sounds like there's a great deal of confusion as to where the problem is, and the extent of Mr. Engel's handicap. Looking at the diagram 2.32 in the textbook, there's a path you can follow to diagnose his problem. I think this is what Milan was getting at when she mentioned the 'connection' between his occipital and parietal lobes being damaged, not the occipital lobe itself. Number one on this path is the visual cortex. He says he woke up and "All the normal things looked in their normal, dull fashion". So, his eyesight is fine, but he's understanding the newspaper as being written in gibberish, so that's got to be the problem, right? That doesn't mean his occipital lobe was "completely destroyed" (People have been mentioning braille and their surprise that "the blind man" can still write), because he can still see the words just fine. He is absolutely not blind. That means the visual cortex, the area that translates written words into visual stimulation must be where the glitch is. Either that, or like Rachel mentioned, the Angular Gyrus is the culprit (the quote she cited from p.81 in the textbook sums up that point more eloquently than I can). After that, there looks to be no problem with speaking or pronunciation which means there are no problems in any of the three other areas (Broca's, Wernicke's, or the Motor Cortex).
Watching this video really gave me an idea of how much our brain works unconsciously. It takes in all the symboled-letters and and little punctuation scribbles and we- extremely quickly- comprehend what we are looking at. That is amazing. Imagine, also, how we have memorized the locations of the keys/letters of our laptops and can so swiftly click our thoughts out.
[SIDE NOTE: this experience also reminded of language- how non English speakers hear the English language. Here is an interesting video on how we might sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY&feature=youtu.be ]
I could only imagine the set back Mr. Eengle experienced. Like a painter who wakes up color blind...
Mr. Engle woke up after a stroke with alexia sine agraphia- form of visual agnosia, causes inability to recognize written language. When a person is reading a language the inferotemporal cortex- visual form area- becomes activated. "Why should all human beings have this built-in facility for reading when writing is a relatively recent cultural invention?" (newyorker.com). This is an interesting question... Evolutionary neurobiologists have examined hundreds of writing systems and they have observed that while they are all very visually different- they are topologically similar. In their conclusions, they have found that writing has evolved for inferotemportal neuron preferences for certain visual shapes- this, connected to the plasticity of the brain as it evolves.
In this video I came to the conclusion that the man's stroke most likely injured his angular gyrus or his occipital lobe. His alexia is a form of aphasia
Well, I learn that the brain has two different types of functions for seeing and writing your eyes see the words and your brain is the one that decodes them its like another language when you learn a new language you could write it but you don't know what it is you have to learn it study it write it study it verbally speak it its like he became a kid again he had to learn everything all over his brain could not process what he saw
Well, I learn that the brain has two different types of functions for seeing and writing your eyes see the words and your brain is the one that decodes them its like another language when you learn a new language you could write it but you don't know what it is you have to learn it study it write it study it verbally speak it its like he became a kid again he had to learn everything all over his brain could not process what he saw he injured his anglular gyrus and visual cortex that's why he cant transmit the signals from what hes seeing to knowing
First!
ReplyDeleteWell I had to watch the video twice because I could not take my focus of the finger which was tracing the words in the background. What is that technology?!
Anyway, I was totally perplexed to imagine how somebody who could no longer read, could still write. Until I realized he could still write because he could still read. He still knows fully well how to read, the only difference is now his brain can't process what he's seeing. The damage is (most likely) in his occipital lobes, where images are interpreted, not his parietal lobes, where the actual process of reading takes place.That's why when he traced the letters he could still "read" the words, because both those actions (tracing and reading) happen in the parietal lobe, skipping occipital entirely. If the damage were in his parietal lobe, "not being able to read" wouldn't be his only problem.
From this video, I learned you can read with your fingers.
Milan I agree with you. The stroke most likely damaged the writer's occipital lobes, probably a specific area within the visual cortex that didn't damage the other areas of his sight. Brail is a way to read with one's fingers.
Deletegreat point Taylor fact that his occipital lobes were destroyed by the stroke entirely rather a very specific part of the brain was affected thus leading to his inability to understand letters I'm curious as to whether the lack of shape recognition is limited only to letters that would be extremely extraordinary
DeleteDamage to the occipital lobe would result in blindness, though, no? He wasn't blinded.
DeleteSo you're saying that the problem is his occipital lobe? Then why is he able to see other objects and make sense of them with no problem? Wouldn't he also confuse shapes and colors? And how can he write if he can't see letters?
ReplyDeleteDude yeah. I mean the damage probably isn't in the occipital lobe itself, it's in the connection between where the image is interpreted in the occipital and where it is supposed to be processed and understood in the parietal. The connection was damaged. The act of seeing basic things like colors and shapes is a completely different path because those things are pretty much unconsciously processed constantly, whereas reading words is effortful and requires consciousness and thought. I dunno.
DeleteHe can still write because when we write, we aren't really constantly looking at every letter as we write it, and we don't need to. Our mind had a map of what we are writing as we are writing it, which is supported by how our hand navigates over the page and our concept of space. Seeing what we are writing is only secondary help to the process.
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DeleteDude, no, just Google it.
DeleteSorry to butt into the conversation Milans, but I agree with what you have to say about how the author would not confuse colors and shapes. The author has trouble processing the words he reads because reading does require effortful processing whereas writing does not. After you learn how to write, the process kind of just becomes automatic. When we pick up a pen we do not have to consciously think about how each letter is shaped. This man obviously knew how to write before the stroke and after the stroke that skill was not effected.
DeleteHey Jackie and Milans I definitely feel that the stroke didn't completely wreck the part of his brain that controls distinction. In fact, if you think about it many people who have strokes are able to regain certain functions after awhile–this is due to the brain re-wiring its neural networks. So, agreed the connections between the lobes were what sustained damage :)
DeleteGiven that the writer was reading by tracing his finger over the letters in order to read them, it must be a real test of his functioning cerebral cortex to process the pattern he draws instead of recognizing the letters due to the damage caused by the stroke. It is also extremely impressive the writer managed to write two books after he lost his ability to read.
ReplyDeleteBut he still could read. He just couldn't see (at least not letters). Blind people write books all the time, I'm sure.
DeleteNo offense to you Taylor. I just think the video was inaccurately titled. It's misleading.
Pardon my inaccuracy. By inability to read I was referring to his in ability to process the letter, not that he couldn't SEE them.
DeleteI would also think that relearning how to read by tracing the words would take a lot out of his parasympathetic system in order to calm him down when he got frustrated when the words would become mixed up again. Could you imagine looking at a word you've seen your whole life and not being able to process what it says?
DeleteGriselda Padilla
DeleteWhy wouldn't he be able to write books, he is not mentally challenged just visually. He has all the knowledge in his brain and could put words down on paper but cannot read them. It takes time to trace the letters but it is not impossible to do.
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ReplyDeleteThe writer has a type of aphasia that resulted from the stroke.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that we could write even if we could not read properly. I also agree that the author suffered damage to his occipital lobe which is why he had trouble processing the words that he reads. I always thought that reading and writing came hand in hand that you could not do one without the other but that might only be true when you are learning how to do the both. I can understand how the man can write because it is just like a person who becomes blind from some sort of tragedy. Even though the now blind person cannot read, the way each letter is shaped and how each word is supposed to look is still in their long term memory which allows them to write them down on paper. The stroke probably did not cause any damage to the wernickes area because the author was still able to understand the meaning of each word that he wrote even though after it was written the word became all mixed up again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jackie about there being no damage to the Wernicke's area because he still understands how to write but just cannot see the words due to the damage that the stoke has caused to his vision.
Delete^ that comment was by Griselda Padilla
Deletei agree with you on a blind person. i really like your example Jackie, because it really does back up your argument.
DeleteI agree with jackie. I didn't know that we can write even though we can't read properly. I also that a person needs to read to know how to write because u need to know what the words mean before reading the articles or books.
DeleteGriselda Padilla
ReplyDeleteThis video was really interesting because I was under the impression that if you could not read you could not write either, but I guess I was wrong. With the stroke that he had there must have been damage to the occipital lobe or the angular gyrus. If there is damage to the angular gyrus then the person is able the speak and understand but unable to read.
i agree with you Griselda, i also thought it was interesting that if you cannot read you can still write because i thought, if you cannot read you also cannot write.
DeleteI agree with damage to the angular gyrus, it is a critical area involved in language and the stroke could have caused damage that damage.
DeleteAgreed: the angular gyrus is associated with the part of the brain of complex language functions. Damage- in this case, Mr. Engle's stroke, to this part of the brain can bring up the Gertmann syndrome- alexia being one symptom- the inability to read.
DeleteOver time, he was able to use his plastic-like brain to recover and reconnect associated neurons.
while watching this video i thought of dyslexia when the man said he could not read and would confuse the letters like "r" and "s", but then they said he had alexia. i did not know there was a difference, actually i have never heard of alexia. i had to google them both to know the difference. also watching this video, after he had his stroke and could not read, made me think that he could have damaged his occipital lobes.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy how this reminded you about dyslexia, but its true. I also agree how you said that it damaged him occipital lobe
DeleteI agree with Cindy. He could have damaged his occipital lobes from the stroke.
DeleteThis is so weird how a man can not read or write but can learn how to make a way to read. I thought how can he feel the letters on the paper if the letters aren't bumpy. I agree with what Cindy how the stroke damaged his occipital lobe.
ReplyDeleteI agree stroke damaged the occipital lobe (like everyone) because he was unable to read the letters after the stroke. It was weird too how he would "feel" the letters by putting his tongue on the roof of his mouth to try and spell out the letters to make sense of words and stuff.
Deletewell, since he can't see, remember that his other senses become more alter. his sense of touch is very sensitive so maybe it is possible for him to feel the difference in the ink of the shape of letters. keep in mind that they feel certain things differently than people who have all there sense working.
DeleteBefore the lecture on Friday, this video actually made more questions than answers now it makes since. If the guy in the video had a stroke, the stoke must have damaged visual cortex and words that feel like a "d" because of our sensory cortex but might look like an "z".
ReplyDeleteTotally true there! It got cleared up once it made more sense, after. It's really trippy to think that what we see is so delicately balanced and that so much with our senses can go wrong. I think more research into exactly how the neurons in our head interpret what we see is needed so that we can cure people with issues like what you'd mentioned (ie. seeing a z instead of a d).
DeleteWhat I really got out of this video is that nothing is impossible with the brain. It's just so complex and amazing that it can even re-wire itself after traumatic injuries to regain some of the patient's original potential. Further research on how our brain's neural networks are constructed should be conducted, because hey, who knows? Maybe there's a way to manually re-wire the networks ourselves, as a form of treatment. If we can achieve that, then most issues regarding loss of senses or movement can be quickly cured. very intriguing stuff, kinda makes me want to pursue a career in neurology :)
ReplyDeleteIt's kind like how a blind person acquires good hearing right? the brain is always finding ways around obstacles in order to susain life, and since it is so complex it is able to do so.
DeleteOur brain is insane there is so much we don't know about our brain and how it works. The other day we learned we actually use more than 10% percent of our brain which by the way there goes my super hero powers, is just crazy and hard to believe that our brain is always working.
DeleteI really wish I could "like" alot of these comments:D Very interesting video, I always assumed that someone who could not read couldn't write either; this video obvioulsy proved me wrong. Also, I had no idea what alexia was- I'm curious to see what other conditions exist. Agreeing to what several comments suggested; the stroke, I belive, affected the man's occipital lobe causing him to distort letters. Although since he was still able to recognize those letters when he traced them, his brain was able to find a way around his condition.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Daisy saying that you "always assumed that someone who could not read couldn't write either." This condition, alexia, is very interesting because of how it affects the way people read.
DeleteAccording to my sources- wikipedia d:- Angular Gyrus is associated with processing of language, number processing, spacial cognition, memory retieval, attentions, and theory of mind. So other conditions Mr. Engle could have experiences could have been much worse that just not being able to recognize words and language...I believe. It is so amazing how he was able to find his way around his condition. It is like a blind person learning to read braille- the brain adapts so awesomely.
DeleteI also agree with you Daisy. I was surprised to see how damage to a certain part of the brain can affects someone's ability to be able to read but not write. Or write but not read.
Deletejust a thought instead of tracing things in his mouth or in the air why cant he simply trace the letters on the page with a pencil?
ReplyDeleteBecause Howard is an environmentalist. Just kidding. If you think about it tracing the letters in his mouth is simpler, and no one would know if he were to be out in public.
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Deleteand also let me just say someone should just go ahead and crown Milan the queen of the blog seriously she has denates with herself
ReplyDeleteanother though the man in the video suffers from alexia which is acquired dysleia does this mean that people born with dyslexia have some malformation in the occipital lobe that is present at birth ?
ReplyDeletehey soory to disagree with everyone but according to the book reading is automatic processing "When you see words in your native language, perhaps on the side of a delivery truck, you can’t help but read them and register their meaning. Learning to read wasn’t automatic. You may recall working hard to pick out letters and connect them to certain sounds.But with experience and practice, your reading became automatic." i been reading and it leads me to belive that the reason he can write and not read is that the brain divdes the process for reading into seveal parts and the spciefic part that handles reading was damaged by the stroke
ReplyDeletewow that is a really good point! which is true but in the book it also says that rehearsal helps us process things more into our long term memory which makes us not only remember it but have learned it. when it comes to writing, we are always rehearsing the letters either by writing out our name or learning how the shapes of letters are. we have processed this into our brain so frequently that it became into automatic processing.
DeleteVery true The brain does divide the reading and writing process writing is something done with the motor cortex while reading in the post part is using the visual cortex. On a different note, I like to point out that many people didn't say that reading isn't a automatic others including myself are just saying one would assume that if one can't read, they can't write.
Delete"They said my spelling would go to hell and it certainly did but it didn't have far to go", heh that was funny. Well the guy developed alexia which is an acquired type of dyslexia. He had gained damage in occipital lobe which damaged his ability to read but not his ability to write. Malachi has a super good point where he states reading is automatic processing (which it is) while learning to read is not automatic. So it is possible the occipital lobe itself wasn't the place the stroke hit or the exact place, but rather another specific part that affected the reading and not anywhere else like the writing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a fitting title? "The Writer Who Drew Letters to Visually Process" or simply "The Writer With Alexia" Anyways yeah, poor Howard. So we can all agree that his occipital lobe was damaged and that the transfer of the visual information was interrupted, but can a person read and not be able to write? Well only if their motor skills were damaged. How inspirational though, Howard fought for his profession. I hope that one day I to will find a profession that I will fight for (not physically).
ReplyDeleteThe writer who couldn't see what he was writing.
DeleteLike a blind person. Or a 3 year old.
Yeah, we're all impressed until someone actually buys his book and it's just "hakxhfdiebfhd Jdiebdk hdjdkkcndslalocj!!" for 500 pages.
Guy must have one kickass editor.
wow, this video is truely shocking.
ReplyDeleteit never came to my mind that it was possible for someone who couldn't read could still write. but then i began to think about it more throughly. just because you can't read the letters doesn't mean you'll forget how to write it. for example in chapter 2, obj.11 it says that when you are knocked unconcious, you can't remember what you have learned a couple mins before the accident. long term memory is not disrupted. this man had a stroke while he was trying to read something. since he was trying to use his visual sense, his occipital lobes which process the interpertation of images was damaged. however, his long-term memory still remebers how to write and how a certain letter is shaped since you start learning and you rehearse it almost everyday. now i see why this was possible for the blind man to still be able to write.
I agree on what you said "just because you can't read the letters doesn't mean you'll forget how to write it." The brain is an amazing organ because of how your reading skills are on one section and your writing skills are on another side of your brain.
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ReplyDeleteThis video was mind blowing. I never would have thought that a condition like that existed. It is very similar to dyslexia, but the words look like a look like a different language. I think it was a great idea that the guy traced the words as he read what he was reading because he knew how to write but not read after his stroke.
Yes, I wonder what would have happened if he spoke two languages. Do you think that only one of them would be lost? And well I guess that having him spell out every word that he writes is very helpful to help his dyslexia!
DeleteYeah Josh, I wondered the same thing, and it never addressed if he could process numbers still. Would he gave to form everything all over again?
DeleteWell, one of the things I learned was, I hope I never have stroke. I always thought that reading and writing were all part of the same place. I was wrong. It makes sense that when you see writing on a piece of paper you read it as if you wrote it. At least in my mind it makes sense. So would this possibly be the same idea for speaking and listening? But this does also prove a point.When you are blind, that doesn't stop you from reading? All in all this video was very eye opening. I truly hope that I never have to go through what he went through.
ReplyDeleteThe book says damage to aaaany cortical areas could result in impaired use of language. Complex brain activites span over many brain areas, so maybe it was multiple areas interrupted. I'm feelin' angular gyrus, though. "Damage to the angular gyrus leaves the person able to speak and understand but unable to read." (pg. 81) Sounds like Howard.
ReplyDeleteDoes that damage from the stroke have to be a high enough level to damage his brain the way it did? I also agree with you about the angular gyrus. I think that not just one part of his brain was damaged from the stroke.
DeleteYah this is what I learned, by the way. We went over the language areas twice already but it wasn't 'til this video that I got 'em down.
DeleteDude, strokes stop the blood flow to your brain. Heck yeah that's a "high enough level to damage his brain the way it did", wouldn't ya think?
DeleteIt sounds like there's a great deal of confusion as to where the problem is, and the extent of Mr. Engel's handicap. Looking at the diagram 2.32 in the textbook, there's a path you can follow to diagnose his problem. I think this is what Milan was getting at when she mentioned the 'connection' between his occipital and parietal lobes being damaged, not the occipital lobe itself. Number one on this path is the visual cortex. He says he woke up and "All the normal things looked in their normal, dull fashion". So, his eyesight is fine, but he's understanding the newspaper as being written in gibberish, so that's got to be the problem, right? That doesn't mean his occipital lobe was "completely destroyed" (People have been mentioning braille and their surprise that "the blind man" can still write), because he can still see the words just fine. He is absolutely not blind.
ReplyDeleteThat means the visual cortex, the area that translates written words into visual stimulation must be where the glitch is. Either that, or like Rachel mentioned, the Angular Gyrus is the culprit (the quote she cited from p.81 in the textbook sums up that point more eloquently than I can). After that, there looks to be no problem with speaking or pronunciation which means there are no problems in any of the three other areas (Broca's, Wernicke's, or the Motor Cortex).
Watching this video really gave me an idea of how much our brain works unconsciously. It takes in all the symboled-letters and and little punctuation scribbles and we- extremely quickly- comprehend what we are looking at. That is amazing. Imagine, also, how we have memorized the locations of the keys/letters of our laptops and can so swiftly click our thoughts out.
ReplyDelete[SIDE NOTE: this experience also reminded of language- how non English speakers hear the English language. Here is an interesting video on how we might sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY&feature=youtu.be ]
I could only imagine the set back Mr. Eengle experienced. Like a painter who wakes up color blind...
Mr. Engle woke up after a stroke with alexia sine agraphia- form of visual agnosia, causes inability to recognize written language. When a person is reading a language the inferotemporal cortex- visual form area- becomes activated. "Why should all human beings have this built-in facility for reading when writing is a relatively recent cultural invention?" (newyorker.com). This is an interesting question... Evolutionary neurobiologists have examined hundreds of writing systems and they have observed that while they are all very visually different- they are topologically similar. In their conclusions, they have found that writing has evolved for inferotemportal neuron preferences for certain visual shapes- this, connected to the plasticity of the brain as it evolves.
In this video I came to the conclusion that the man's stroke most likely injured his angular gyrus or his occipital lobe. His alexia is a form of aphasia
ReplyDeleteWell, I learn that the brain has two different types of functions for seeing and writing your eyes see the words and your brain is the one that decodes them its like another language when you learn a new language you could write it but you don't know what it is you have to learn it study it write it study it verbally speak it its like he became a kid again he had to learn everything all over his brain could not process what he saw
ReplyDeleteWell, I learn that the brain has two different types of functions for seeing and writing your eyes see the words and your brain is the one that decodes them its like another language when you learn a new language you could write it but you don't know what it is you have to learn it study it write it study it verbally speak it its like he became a kid again he had to learn everything all over his brain could not process what he saw he injured his anglular gyrus and visual cortex that's why he cant transmit the signals from what hes seeing to knowing
ReplyDelete