DYSLEXIA ISN’T A DISORDER, IT’S ESSENTIAL TO HOW OUR SPECIES ADAPTS, SAY RESEARCHERS
People with dyslexia have brains that are geared towards exploring the unknown, a trait that’s been crucial to the survival and success of humans
Dyslexia should be considered a difference, not a disorder, researchers at the University of Cambridge say. This is evidenced by studies that show that people with dyslexia have brains that are specialised to explore the unknown and think in terms of the bigger picture.
The strengths of the dyslexic brain could have evolved as humans adapted to changing culture. To survive, we needed to learn skills and acquire habits, but we also needed to be creative and find novel solutions through exploration. In their new study, Dr Helen Taylor and Dr Martin Vestergaard say that this resulted in a trade-off whereby some people specialised in exploiting learned information, while others focused on discovery and invention.
“In many other fields of research it’s understood that adaptive systems – be they organisations, the brain or a beehive – need to achieve a balance between the extent to which they explore and exploit in order to adapt and survive,” said Taylor, who studies cognition and human evolution.
Studies have shown that people with dyslexia are less efficient at procedural learning than non-dyslexic people, said Taylor, and this has positives and negatives for both groups.
“Learning to read, write or play the piano are all skills that are dependent upon procedural memory; once learned, the skills can be processed automatically and rapidly,” Taylor added. “However, once a skill becomes automatic, you’re essentially exploiting the same information again and again. Conversely, if an individual has difficulty acquiring automaticity, they retain conscious awareness of the process. The upside is that a skill or process can still be improved.”
Dyslexia has long been viewed through a negative lens. It has been called a developmental disorder, learning disability or learning difficulty. Instead, the distinction between dyslexic and non-dyslexic brains should be framed simply as a difference, said Taylor.
“We all possess difficulties in areas that are other people’s strengths. It’s just unfortunate that in the case of people with dyslexia their difficulties are continually highlighted, in part due to the nature of education and also to the importance of reading and writing in our culture.”
By re-examining past studies in psychology and neuroscience, Taylor and Vestergaard found fundamental differences in how the dyslexic brain is wired. Particularly, the way the brain organises its neurons and pathways differs depending on whether the brain is better at global, ‘big picture’ thinking or local, ‘detail-oriented’ thinking. Individuals with dyslexia were shown to have more long-range connections and fewer local connections.
Because these ways of thinking evolved as a trade-off, they work best in collaboration, said Taylor. Bringing explorative, global-thinking brains together with exploitative, local-thinking brains leads to solutions that couldn’t be imagined by an individual, or even a group of similar people.
In reframing dyslexia as a difference, society can benefit from more innovative solutions, said Taylor.
“It’s important to emphasise that people with dyslexia still face a lot of difficulties, but the difficulties exist because of the environment and an emphasis on rote learning and reading and writing. [Instead, we could] nurture ‘explorative learning’ – learning through discovery, invention and creativity, which would work more to their strengths.”