Shared and Distinct Neural Correlates of Reading and Writing in Chinese and Alphabetic Scripts: A Meta-Analysis
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis
Abstract: Reading and writing are closely related literacy skills that draw on partially shared orthographic and linguistic representations while differing in their perceptual and motor demands. Although robust behavioral associations between reading and writing have been established, the extent to which they share neural substrates, whether these neural relationships vary across writing systems, and how the involved regions are embedded within broader functional systems remain unclear. In the current study, we conducted Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analyses of 138 reading and 36 writing experiments, followed by conjunction and contrast analyses to identify shared and domain-preferential neural convergence between reading and writing. We further conducted the same analyses separately in alphabetic (67 reading, 25 writing experiments) and Chinese (71 reading, 11 writing experiments) datasets to examine how these patterns vary across writing systems. To characterize the functional profiles of representative regions identified by the ALE analyses, we conducted Meta-Analytic Connectivity Modeling (MACM) to delineate their coactivation patterns, examined their spatial overlap with 14 canonical functional networks, and performed whole-map functional decoding using Neurosynth. Across writing systems, reading and writing showed a shared, predominantly left-lateralized neural organization centered on frontoparietal regions, alongside domain-preferential convergence in left inferior frontal, temporal, and ventral occipitotemporal regions for reading and in frontoparietal and sensorimotor regions for writing. These patterns also varied across writing systems. For example, the left MTG (overall reading-preferential), left IOG (Chinese reading-writing shared), left PreCG (alphabetic writing-preferential), and left SPL (Chinese writing-preferential) represented distinct patterns of shared and preferential involvement in reading and writing. The MACM and functional characterization results indicated that these regions were embedded within differentiated but partially overlapping large-scale functional systems, with distinct functional profiles spanning linguistic-semantic, visual-orthographic, sensorimotor, and visuospatial functions. Together, these findings provide a quantitative account of the shared and domain-preferential neural organization of reading and writing and its variation between the Chinese and alphabetic literatures.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Authors: Luchang Qiao, Jie Chen, Siyi Fan, Li Liu, Xiaoxia FENG
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223107466