In the previous chapter we noted that the introduction of writing implies a cognitive reorientation and a restructuring of symbolic behaviour. Names of objects are conceptually dissociated from their denotata, as signs of physical objects are reinterpreted as signs of linguistic objects, names. In a second step, signs of names are recognized as potentially meaningless signs of bits of sound, which are then broken down into smaller components. This cognitive reorientation first happened five thousand years ago, and philosophers have speculated about the human capacity to produce and process visible signs since antiquity. The scientific investigation of the literate mind is, however, of relatively recent origin. Yet, testifying to the importance of writing in modern times, it has grown into a vast field of research dealing with the psychological differences between Language by Ear and by Eye, to quote the title of a seminal book by James Kavanagh and Ignatius Mattingly.