Chien-Hui Tancy Kao
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Contact email:Tancydudu@yahoo.com.tw |
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Research Interests Reading is one of the most amazing ability of human being. In order for reading to be possible, a reader must first analyze the visual information of the printed words and then associated that visual information to meanings. For instance, dyslexia, characterized by deficit in reading performance, can have problems either at perception or in cognition level. Hence, Behavioral studies of reading may either focus on perceptual or cognitive functions. I am interested in how reading is achieved in the brain. I used fMRI to study brain activation for reading. By doing this, I hope to understand the relationship between brain function and reading behavior. My current research focused on (1) What is the relationship between visual word form processing and visual object processing in general? I have focused on the function of the fusiform gyrus on the temporal lobe. This area has been dubbed as “visual word form area” and been considered specific for language related processing by some researchers. However, this area is also used for common visual object processing. Hence, a careful study of the function in the fusiform gyrus may reveal the relations between visual word form processing and object perception. (2) How does the neural system process Chinese characters in the foveal and the peripheral vision? Word superiority effect, in which an observer can recognize an English letter in a word faster than the letter by itself, is reported for foveal viewing. However, the same condition has an opposite effect in peripheral viewing. This crowding effect shows that foveal and peripheral mechanisms process words differently. Most of our reading behavior occurs in the peripheral vision while most of the behavior reading studies had stimuli projected onto the fovea. This situation needs to be rectified. I use both psychophysics experiment and fMRI to study reading processing in the peripheral vision and compare the results with those obtain in the foveal vision. By doing so, I hope to get a more realistic understating of reading. (3) What are the neural mechanisms for Chinese dyslexia? |
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Publications Conference presentation Chien-Hui Kao, Chien-Chung Chen, Der-Yow Chen, Chih-Wei Hue, and Jhy-Horng Chen, 2006, Character inversion effect in the human occipitotemporalregions: an fMRI study, Paper presented in Society for Neuroscience 36th Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Oct. 14-18. Chien-Hui Kao, Chien-Chung Chen, Der-Yow Chen, Chih-Wei Hue, and Jhy-Horng Chen, 2006, Retinotopic representation in the fusiform gyrus: Evidence from the Chinese character processing, Talk in Workshop on Brain & Cognition, Taipei, Jan. 16-20. Chien-Hui Kao, Chien-Chung Chen, Der-Yow Chen, Chih-Wei Hue, and Jhy-Horng Chen, 2005, The retinotopic representation for Chinese characters processing on the ventro-lateral occipital surface, Paper presented in Society for Neuroscience 35 Annual Meeting, Washton DC, Nov . 12-16. Chien-Hui Kao, Chih-Wei Hue, Chien-Chung Chen, Der-Yow Chen, Keng-Cheng Liang and Jhy-Horng Chen, 2004, The Role of the Left Fusiform Gyrus in Processing Chinese Characters, Paper presented in Society for Neuroscience 34th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, Oct. 23-27 |
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