E.E. Cummings and dyslexia.

We suggest that the American poet E.E. Cummings was probably mildly dyslexic. Evidence, which is drawn in particular from inspection of his archival papers, includes consideration of his spelling, letter formation, handwriting, approach to page orientation, proclivity for exploration of the mirror-image, reading and educational history, struggles in the composition of analytical prose, and notable strengths in lateral thinking and the making of surprising lateral connections. We emphasise the importance of Cummings' modernist literary context as the primary shaping force for his literary aesthetic and we resist any simply reductive explanation of his literary style as a function of dyslexia. However, dyslexia may be one factor that contributes to his unique style.

The Genetics of Reading and Language.

Recounts how our collaboration with Nick Martin was shaped over two decades, leading to the first studies of predictions from the 'Dual Route Cascaded' computational model of reading in twins, and extending into the molecular work, first linkage, fine mapping of genes identified in pedigree studies, into now the genomewide association study era and the first polygenic risk scores for reading and their potential in early clarifying causality and validating interventions, as well as for future global collaborations in improving these predictors and identifying causal variants. We highlight Nick's warm, future-focused optimism, support and inclusive approach without which none of this would have been possible. The circle of Nick asking, over half a century ago, 'What genes do you think make some kids get better grades?' has built a diverse scientific legacy involving thousands of papers and collaborations. The (heritable) traits of curiosity, boldness, warmth, interest in societally important questions, openness to new methods, ambition and collaborative skill to bring into being the infrastructure and samples needed for this research are rare, and we are grateful.

Dyslexia Augusti: Does Suetonius describe a pattern of signs consistent with dyslexia?

It is generally agreed that Morgan was the first to reliably describe dyslexia with the case of Percy F. However, Suetonius, in "The lives of the twelve Caesars" describes the Emperor Augustus as having a range of language and literacy difficulties that could be consistent with this diagnosis. Using the framework of cognitive psychology, which rarely comments on the historical record, this article argues that Suetonius describes both signs and compensating strategies typical of an adult with remediated developmental dyslexia. If accepted, this analysis would locate a possible coherent description of the condition back to the second century CE.

Kanji (Morphogram) and Kana (Phonogram) Problem in Japanese Alexia and Agraphia.

The kanji and kana (or kanji vs. kana) problem in the Japanese language denotes the dissociation between kanji (morphograms) and kana (phonograms) in reading/comprehension and writing. Since paragraphia of kana in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was first reported in 1893, kanji-kana dissociation has been the central topic in Japanese aphasiology. Recent advancements in lesion-to-symptom analyses and functional imaging studies have identified some areas whose damage causes dissociative disturbances of reading or writing between kanji and kana. That is, (1) angular alexia with agraphia causes kanji agraphia; alexia of kana with an angular gyrus lesion is the result of a damage to the middle occipital gyrus; (2) alexia with agraphia for kanji is caused by a posterior inferior temporal cortex (mid-fusiform/inferior temporal gyri; visual word form area) lesion, whereas pure agraphia for kanji is caused by a posterior middle temporal gyrus lesion; and (3) pure alexia, particularly for kanji, results from a mid-fusiform gyrus lesion (Brodmann's Area [BA] 37), whereas pure alexia for kana results from a posterior fusiform/inferior occipital gyri lesion (BA 18/19).

[Jose Ingenieros and the amusias: the beginning of the neuropsychology in Argentina]. / Jose Ingenieros y las amusias, sobre los origenes de la neuropsicologia argentina.

The Argentine neuropsychological school is born of the hand of the European school and is part of the beginning of the Experimental Psychology. In 1896 Horacio Pinero creates the first Department of Psychology at the University of Buenos Aires and in 1898 the first laboratory of Experimental Psychology is annexed. Jose Ingeniero, psychiatrist, neurologist, politician and above all sociologist publishes in France his work about the musical aphasia, the first neuropsychological work with international significance. In the same redeems to Charcot instead of to Knoblauch like the first one to describe the amusias, it speaks of an intelligence instead of a musical language and proposes a new classification and a methodology of assessment with a neurological-psychiatric integrative perspective. This article gave rise to this book in French on the musical language and its hysterical alterations awarded by the Academy of Medicine of Paris.

TITLE: Jose Ingenieros y las amusias, sobre los origenes de la neuropsicologia argentina.La escuela neuropsicologica argentina nace de la mano de la escuela europea y forma parte del inicio de la psicologia experimental. En 1896, Horacio Pinero crea la primera catedra de psicologia de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, y en 1898 se anexa el primer laboratorio de psicologia experimental. Jose Ingenieros, psiquiatra, neurologo, politico y, sobre todo, sociologo publica en Francia su trabajo sobre afasias musicales, el primer estudio neuropsicologico argentino con trascendencia internacional. En el redime a Charcot y no a Knoblauch como el primero en describir la amusia, habla de una inteligencia y no de un lenguaje musical, y propone una clasificacion y una metodologia de evaluacion con una perspectiva integradora neurologica-psiquiatrica. Este articulo dio origen a su libro en frances sobre el lenguaje musical y sus alteraciones histericas, premiado por la Academia de Medicina de Paris.

Reading Disorders: Pro-Eating Disorder Rhetoric and Anorexia Life-Writing.

This article explores the relationship between eating disorders and reading behaviors, arguing that there is a meaningful difference in a minority of readers' approach to and understanding of anorexia life-writing, and of literary texts more broadly. To illuminate this distinction, this article begins by considering the reported deleterious influence of Marya Hornbacher's anorexia memoir, Wasted, elaborating the ways Hornbacher offers a positive presentation of anorexia nervosa that may, intentionally or not, induce certain readers to "try it" themselves. This is followed by an exploration of how Hornbacher's own reading praxis is implicated in a discursive feedback loop around anorexia narratives. It concludes with a discussion of disordered reading attitudes in relation to the emergence of the "pro-anorexia" phenomenon.

A Patient With Word Blindness in the Seventeenth Century.

Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620-1695), city physician in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, published two books on "apoplexy." He proposed new ideas about the events in the brain during such attacks, based on Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood. Wepfer postulated extravasation of whole blood or serum in the brain, in opposition to the Galenic notion of blocked ventricles. His case histories are remarkably precise and untainted by interpretation. This allows the recognition of a patient with word blindness, who was also unable to read words written by himself. Unlike patients with pure "alexia without agraphia," he could not write complete sentences because of additional language defects, especially speech comprehension. Jules Dejerine (1849-1917) would, in 1892, not only describe a patient with the pure form of this syndrome (cécité verbale avec intégrité de l'écriture spontanée et sous dictée) but also provide an explanation of its anatomical basis.

The Dide-Botcazo syndrome: forgotten and misunderstood.

Bilateral infarcts of the posterior cerebral arteries are associated with a range of visual and memory deficits. In 1902, Dide and Botcazo presented a clinico-pathological case study linking visual field defects, topographical disorientation, retro-anterograde amnesia and alexia with bilateral medial occipito-temporal lesions. Based on the findings they suggested the occipital lobe and inferior longitudinal fasciculus played an important role in memory. The combination of deficits was subsequently referred to on occasion as Dide-Botcazo syndrome but the term was largely forgotten until revived in the 1980s. More recently, some authors have included visual anosognosia--Anton's syndrome--in the syndrome, a feature that was not in the original case report. Here we present a historical review of Dide-Botcazo syndrome, illustrated with a recent case with almost identical clinical features to that described by Dide and Botcazo. Although Dide and Botcazo's theory of occipital amnesia has been superseded by developments in our understanding of the neurobiology of memory, it seems fitting to remember in some way their description of a clinical association of visual and memory deficits. We suggest Dide-Botcazo syndrome be used to describe a variant of vascular dementia, where visual field deficits are associated with memory impairment and, depending on the location of the vascular lesions, visual perceptual dysfunction, topographic, imagery or dreaming deficits.

Tracking citations: a science detective story.

The earliest hypothesis concerning the phonetic-phonological roots of reading and writing learning disabilities is usually attributed to Boder in the U.S. literature. Yet by following a trail of references to work in psychology and education conducted some 30 years earlier in the USSR, we find the seeds of this idea already well established in the work of Russian educator and psychologist Roza Levina. Here we trace the Soviet origins of these ideas and discuss their heretofore unrecognized importance in the field of learning disabilities and special education.

Did Herbert Spencer have reading epilepsy?

Herbert Spencer, the nineteenth-century philosopher, has frequently been dismissed as a "fantastical hypochondriac" (as his most recent biographer, Mark Francis, terms him). Yet he left a record in his Autobiography of symptoms that suggest a very different diagnosis. Abruptly at age 35, he found that the activity of reading, previously indulged in without difficulty, triggered paroxysmal episodes of disturbing "head-sensations" including "giddiness" (so Spencer described them); these severely curtailed his ability to carry out his philosophical studies. Of all possible explanations for such episodes, none seems as likely as reading epilepsy. Enduring preconceptions about Spencer's presumed neurosesmay have kept modern historians from appreciating that Spencer suffered from a legitimate, if esoteric, neurological malady.

Chapter 37: alexia and agraphia.

Studies of alexia and agraphia have played important roles in understanding how complex cognitive functions are related to brain structure and activity. Modern interests in brain-behavior relations began during the second half of the 19th century as an outgrowth of flawed correlative studies by neuroanatomist Franz Gall and subsequent clinical-pathological analyses by Jean-Baptiste Boulliaud on speech and the frontal lobes. In 1856, Louis Victor Marcé drew attention to writing disorders and postulated a cerebral faculty for writing. Following Paul Broca's epochal reports on aphemia, many European physicians investigated reading and writing impairments after brain injury. Albert Pitres published the first detailed description of isolated agraphia, and Adolf Kussmaul identified alexia as an isolated symptom of brain disease. Jules Dejerine in 1892 provided the first clinical-pathological descriptions of pure alexia, and he suggested a key role for the left parietal lobe in reading and writing. In the 20th century, varieties of agraphia or alexia were linked to apraxia (Hugo Liepmann), impaired body image (Josef Gerstmann), spatial misperception, and interhemispheric disconnection. Other analyses focused on error types that defined new clinical syndromes (e.g. deep dyslexia) and provided evidence for cognitive modularity.

General George S. Patton, Jr. and the conquest of fear.

General George S. Patton, Jr. was a highly successful World War II battle commander whose flamboyance and many idiosyncrasies made him a focus of interest for biographers. But he was an enigmatic and complex man whose success came at a high price. Despite his prominence and celebrity, there have been minimal efforts to examine his psychological makeup so crucial to his success on the battlefield. In this essay, Patton's personal story and how it relates to the stresses of war and to his leadership of men in arms is examined. Central to his success was his early triumph over dyslexia, his ability to control the fear and guilt inherent in combat, his intense physical activity, his theatrical skills, and his deep knowledge of the history and methods of warfare.

[Alexia without agraphia: an exemplary deficit, cherished by neuropsychologists]. / L'alexie sans agraphie : un déficit exemplaire, choyé par les neuropsychologues.

Alexia without agraphia is the result of a left inferotemporal cortical lesion. This unilateral lesion provokes an almost irrecoverable word reading disability. This anatomical-clinical observation has identified as crucial an area on the left fusiform gyrus, which represents a sort of "letter cranial bump". This area, located near the left V4, has been labeled the visual word form area (VWFA). The VWFA ensures visual word processing whatever the visual field stimulated. In normal subjects, imaging methods show an activation of the VWFA during reading. In patients, the alexia that follows a VWFA lesion proves that this area is an essential relay for cerebral word reading processing. Therefore, pure alexia is no longer explained by a posterior interhemispheric disconnection.

The significance of visual information processing in reading: Insights from hemianopic dyslexia.

We present the first comprehensive review of research into hemianopic dyslexia since Mauthner's original description of 1881. We offer an explanation of the reading impairment in patients with unilateral homonymous visual field disorders and clarify its functional and anatomical bases. The major focus of our review is on visual information processing, visuospatial attention and eye-movement control during reading. An advanced understanding of the basis of hemianopic dyslexia and its rehabilitation also increases our knowledge about normal reading and its underlying neural mechanisms. By drawing together various sources of evidence we illustrate the significance of bottom-up and attentional top-down control of visual information processing and saccadic eye-movements in reading. Reading depends critically on the cortical-subcortical network subserving the integration of visual, attentional and oculomotor processes involved in text processing.