ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at reading failure in the context of purely psychological issues. It considers the category of evidence: the study of particular forms of brain damage. When this occurs in some people they become dyslexic that is they may, to varying degrees, be unable to read. Fortunately this symptom is fairly rare, but its occurrence is of particular interest to the psychologist since we can learn a great deal about a process from studying the way in which it breaks down. When the brain is injured, by a blow for example, or as a result of a stroke, the effects produced depend very much on where the injury takes place. Some mental functions, in particular those relating to the use of language, are carried out in distinct regions of the brain. Patients with brain damage often have other communication problems of a rather general kind.
