Surface alexia is a type of reading disorder where individuals struggle to recognize whole words, particularly irregularly spelled ones. Instead of reading words as complete units, they often rely on phonetic decoding, which can lead to mispronunciations or incorrect word identification. People with surface alexia may read familiar words correctly but have difficulty with new or complex words. This condition is often associated with damage to specific areas of the brain, such as the angular gyrus, affecting the ability to access the visual form of words directly.