Does the brain process words differently from projected light (a monitor) vs. reflected light (printed word)?

Question

I thought I read this once, but I haven't been able to find anything that shows that the neural pathways are different for words that the brain takes in from a computer or TV screen compared to the words we see on a printed page.

Answer 1

It's not likely, but the only way to answer this would be with careful controlled experiments. The presentation on both media would need to be as nearly identical as possible. But that isn't done in normal practice.

The presentation on a printed page is determined by practical economics and history. Dark inks on white paper are used unless there is a good reason to do otherwise. Color (rather than just black) is used only where its added expense is justified.

The computer monitor or TV screen does not have those limitations. Your choice of color has no effect on cost. The number of 'pages' in the presentation has no effect on cost. Underlining a printed phrase is merely for emphasis. On the computer, it is likely a hypertext link to somewhere else. Your brain thus treats it differently. Motion, color change, and dynamic display are possible. Brightness, contrast, and glare relative to ambient light are all different.

You can easily carry a book with you as you move. You can move it up or down as you change positions in your seat.

These factors make a much bigger difference in our perception than whether the light is reflected.

Answer 2

I do not believe so. What we see, the letter L in the word lines, for example, is first processed by our primary visual cortex as an exact replication of what the retina sees. This then goes to the secondary visual cortex which has cells that recognizes vertical lines (as opposed to horizontal lines or diagonal lines, or circles, etc.). These cells fire when looking at the l, but won't fire looking at a period (.). These cells then relay to a secondary processing center in the temporal lobe before finally synapsing on the association cortex. The cells not only recognize that the contrast indicates a line, but a vertical line without branches (such as a t). The entire word is then read. By the way, for most people the entire word doesn't have to be spelled out in order to be recognized. As long as the first and last letter is there, and depending on the length of the word, some correct consonants, most words will be recognized. I believe this works for either printed or projected words.

Answer 3

No its all the same to the visual system and temporal lobe. A grapheme is a grapheme.