How does reading work?

Aside from the odd unfamiliar or complicated word, a lot of us won't think twice when it comes to reading. It's a skill we take for granted. But, relatively speaking, it's actually a fairly new skill - beginning about 5500 years ago. This suggests it's not something we evolved to do, so, how does it work? We chat to Prof Ole Jensen from Oxford's Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry, who is trying to gain a better understanding of the neural processes behind reading, with the ultimate aim of helping those who are struggling to learn.

You can listen to How does reading work? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How does reading work? is an episode from Oxford Sparks Big Questions by Fiona Jones.

This episode is 13:21 long.

This episode was published on Apr 8, 2026.

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