Zhou Wei, Kwok Veronica P Y, Su Mengmeng, Luo Jin, Tan Li Hai
1Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037 China.
Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, 518060 China.
NPJ Sci Learn. 2020 Apr 3;5:3. doi: 10.1038/s41539-020-0062-0. eCollection 2020.
Communications through electronic devices require knowledge in typewriting, typically with the pinyin input method in China. Yet, the over utilization of the pronunciation-based pinyin input method may violate the traditional learning processes of written Chinese, which involves abundant visual orthographic analysis of characters and repeated writing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the influence of pinyin typing on reading neurodevelopment of intermediate Chinese readers (age 9-11). We found that, relative to less frequent pinyin users, more frequent pinyin users showed an overall weaker pattern of cortical activations in the left middle frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and right fusiform gyrus in performing reading tasks. In addition, more frequent pinyin typists had relatively less gray matter volume in the left middle frontal region, a site known to be crucial for Chinese reading. This study demonstrates that Chinese children's brain development in the information era is affected by the frequent use of the pinyin input method.
通过电子设备进行交流需要打字知识，在中国通常使用拼音输入法。然而，过度使用基于发音的拼音输入法可能会违反中文传统的学习过程，中文传统学习过程涉及对汉字进行大量的视觉正字法分析和反复书写。我们使用功能磁共振成像来研究拼音打字对中级中文读者（9至11岁）阅读神经发育的影响。我们发现，相对于拼音使用频率较低的人，拼音使用频率较高的人在执行阅读任务时，左额中回、左额下回和右梭状回的皮质激活模式总体上较弱。此外，拼音打字频率较高的人左额中部区域的灰质体积相对较少，该区域是中文阅读的关键部位。这项研究表明，信息时代中国儿童的大脑发育受到拼音输入法频繁使用的影响。
