Ghislaine Dehaene?Lambertz|Karla Monzalvo|Stanislas Dehaene
The emergence of the visual word form: Longitudinal evolution of category-specific ventral visual areas during reading acquisition
University of Paris-Saclay|Inserm|Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission|CEA Saclay|University of Paris-Saclay|Inserm|Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission|CEA Saclay|CEA Saclay|Collège de France|University of Paris-Saclay|Inserm|Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission
education affect cortical organization literate adults possess region specialized letter strings visual word form area vwfa within mosaic ventral regions involved processing visual categories objects places faces body parts therefore acquisition literacy may induce reorientation cortical maps towards letters expense categories faces test cortical recycling hypothesis studied visual cortex individual children changes first months reading acquisition ten 6yearold children scanned longitudinally 6 7 times functional magnetic resonance imaging fmri throughout first year school subjects exposed variety pictures words numbers tools houses faces bodies performing unrelated targetdetection task behavioral assessment indicated sharp rise graphemephoneme knowledge reading speed first trimester school concurrently voxels specific written words digits emerged vwfa location responses categories remained largely stable although righthemispheric facerelated activity increased proportion reading scores retrospective examination vwfa voxels prior reading acquisition showed reading encroaches voxels initially weakly specialized tools close distinct responsive faces remarkably voxels appear keep initial category selectivity acquiring additional stronger responsivity words propose revised model neuronal recycling process new visual categories invade weakly specified cortex leaving previously stabilized cortical responses unchanged