Dyslexic brains are organized in a way that maximizes strength in making big picture connections at the expense of weaknesses in processing speed and parsing fine details.
Neurons in a non-dyslexic brain establish a different pattern of connections and circuitry, creating a different kind of problem-solving apparatus. The difference is global, not just in certain areas of the brain. Non-dyslexic people have tightly packed minicolumns (sort of highways of neurons), dyslexic people have them spaced widely apart. “This is significant because when the minicolumns are tightly packed, there is very little space between them to send projecting axons” to form a much broader connections.
“As a result, you get circuits that process very rapidly and perform very specialized fine-detail functions ... But people with this kind of brain tend not to make connections between distant areas of the brain that tend to support higher functions like context, analogy, and significance.” As a result dyslexic have the following skills: 1) Seeing the gist of it; being able to put together big pictures, or seeing larger context, or imagining how processes will play out over time 2) Ability to reason in dynamic settings when the facts are incomplete or changing. 3) Some dyslexics are good at spacial reasoning 4) Forming memories as experiences, examples or stories, rather than abstractions.
Dr. Manuel Casanova ... has analyzed the brains of thousands of individuals. He’s found that, in the general population, there is a bell-shaped distribution regarding the spacing of the functional processing units in the brain called minicolumns. These bundles of neurons function together as a unit. Some people have tightly packed minicolumns, for others they are spaced widely apart.
This is significant because when the minicolumns are tightly packed, there is very little space between them to send projecting axons to make connections to form larger scale circuits. Instead the connections link many nearby minicolumns which have very similar functions. As a result, you get circuits that process very rapidly and perform very specialized fine-detail functions, like discriminating slight differences between similar cues. But people with this kind of brain tend not to make connections between distant areas of the brain that tend to support higher functions like context, analogy, and significance.
Among individuals with the most tightly packed minicolumns, Dr. Casanova found many who were diagnosed with autism. In contrast, people with broadly spaced minicolumns, at the other end of the scale, tend to create more connections between functionally more diverse parts of the brain, which can help to support very life-like memories of past events, and more complex mental simulations and comparisons. It’s at this end of the spectrum that Casanova tended to find people with dyslexia.
Four strengths: