Dyslexics would have played an important role in the survival of our species

It’s a change of perspective on dyslexia. In the specialist journal Borders in psychologyresearchers show that people with it would have played an important role in the adaptation and survival of human beings.

What is dyslexia?

The World Federation of Neurology defines dyslexia as “a disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, fail to acquire language skills in reading, writing and spelling commensurate with their intellectual abilities”. In most cases, the disorders are visible from the very beginning of learning to read at school. The French Federation of Dys specifies that they can take the form of a difficulty in identifying words, in reading or understanding texts, or even in numerous spelling errors.

Valuable exploration abilities

“The deficit-centric view of dyslexia does not tell the whole story“, explains the lead author of this new study, Dr. Helen Taylor. “This research offers a new framework to help us better understand the cognitive strengths of people with dyslexia.” With his team, they relied on the analysis of cognition and behavior to carry out their work.

They found that people with dyslexia’s ability to adapt and explore is a strength for survival. “This is likely to play a fundamental role in human adaptation to changing environments.”, they say. Because to survive, humans must make a compromise between exploration and exploitation: “pFor example, if you eat all the food you have, you may starve when it is gone. But if you spend all your time looking for food, you’re wasting energy that you don’t need to waste.”, they explain. For the main author, this compromise is the key to our adaptation, and it explains a significant number of the decisions we make on a daily basis.

What implications today?

In the modern world, this tendency of dyslexic people to explore has different consequences. According to researchers from the University of Cambridge, this is one of the probable causes of their difficulties with exploitation-related tasks, such as reading and writing. “This could also explain why people with dyslexia seem to gravitate toward certain professions that require exploration-related abilities, such as the arts, architecture, engineering, and entrepreneurship.“, they continue.

Changing perspective on dyslexia

For the researchers, these results are proof that we need to change our perspective on dyslexia as a neurological disorder. “Schools, colleges and workplaces are not designed to make the most of exploratory learningemphasizes Dr. Helen Taylor. But we urgently need to start nurturing this way of thinking to allow humanity to continue to adapt and solve key challenges.”