First Name:
Deborah
Last Name:
Mueffelmann
Major Department:
Communication Disorders
Thesis Director:
Richard McGarry
Date of Thesis:
May 2009
Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, authored a collection of books unique in their combination of narrative and nonsense. He used language simply yet creatively to engage the minds of young readers through the use of pseudowords, narrative cohesion, rhyme, and rhythm. Each of these linguistic features has been investigated in recent neuroimaging studies and are correlated with activation in particular regions of the brain, both inside and outside of areas frequently activated by language. Comparing these areas of activation reveals that reading Dr. Seuss books is a complex process that engages a wide variety of neural networks not only in the language-dominant left hemisphere but also in the right hemisphere.