Sunday, May 27, 2012

Ramachandran vs. Harold Bloom in The Pleasures of the Audiobook

“Language comprehension and production evolved in connection with HEARING probably 150,000 yrs ago and to some extent is ‘hard wired’; whereas writing is 5000 to 7000 years old—partially going piggyback on the same circuits, but partially involving new brain structures like the left angular gyrus (damage to which disrupts reading writing and arithmetic). So it’s possible LISTENING to speech (including such things as cadence, rhythm and intonation) is more spontaneously comprehensible and linked to emotional brain centers —hence more evocative and natural.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/history-of-audiobooks.html

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