EdTechnical Rewiring the Brain: Reading, AI and the Science of Literacy
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Sep 18, 2025 
Dr. Jason Yeatman, a neuroscientist and associate professor at Stanford, dives into the fascinating world of how our brains learn to read. He explains how reading rewires the brain's visual cortex and discusses the creation of ROAR, a tool developed to identify literacy gaps in students. The conversation explores the interplay between AI and reading, addressing both its potential benefits and limitations. They reflect on the essential nature of literacy in an age dominated by technology and the challenges educators face in fostering deep comprehension.
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Reading Rewires Visual Brain Circuits
- Reading is a learned skill that rewires visual and language brain circuits rather than a prewired ability.
- Teaching reading sculpts physical brain connections and creates a region specialized for processing text.
Foundations Persist Into Later Grades
- 'Learning to read' (foundational decoding) usually spans K–2 while 'reading to learn' begins around grade 3 in US systems.
- Many older students still lack foundational skills, so comprehension failures often reflect missing basics, not only vocabulary or background knowledge.
ROAR Began During The Pandemic
- ROAR began as a pandemic project using a silent lexical decision task to measure reading quickly and remotely.
- Validation studies found very high correlation (around 0.9) with traditional aloud assessments across diverse districts.