Question: How do our brains recognise and read words and letters?

Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 20 Mar 2014:

This happens in the language centre of our brains, one of the bits which is thought to be particularly developed in humans. We can learn any kind of language and written down ones are just one kind. Symbols such as a hand gesture have a learnt meaning associated with layers and layers of repeated use and so do certain letters or words in language. Our brains are actually quite rigid and they will refuse to interpret letters a different way once they have learn. Try writing the word “red” in blue and other words in other colours and looking at them and saying what colour it is – it feels wrong. Flip through some different ones quickly and call out the colour and it gets even harder – we want to use the word symbols we recognise!