Laurent D. Cohen|Stéphane Lehéricy|F Chochon|Cathy Lemer|S. Rivaud|Stanislas Dehaene
Language?specific tuning of visual cortex? Functional properties of the Visual Word Form Area
Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris|Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale|Inserm|Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris|Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris|Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale|Inserm|Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris|Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale|Inserm
first steps process reading printed word belong domain visual object perception culminate representation letter strings ordered set abstract letter identities representation known visual word form vwf brain lesions patients pure alexia functional imaging data suggest vwf subtended restricted patch lefthemispheric fusiform cortex reproducibly activated reading order determine whether operation visual word form area vwfa depends exclusively visual features stimuli influenced languagedependent parameters brain activations induced words consonant strings chequerboards compared normal subjects using functional mri fmri stimuli presented left right visual hemifield vwfa identified blockeddesign experiment eventrelated experiment lefthemispheric inferotemporal area showing stronger activation alphabetic strings chequerboards invariant spatial location stimuli experiments stronger activations vwfa words strings consonants observed considering vwfa equally activated real words readable pseudowords result demonstrates vwfa initially plastic becomes attuned orthographic regularities constrain letter combination acquisition literacy additionally use splitfield stimulation shed light cerebral bases classical right visual field rvf advantage reading left occipital extrastriate area found activated rvf letter strings chequerboards symmetrical region observed right hemisphere moreover activations precuneus left thalamus observed subjects reading rvf versus left visual field lvf words likely reflect attentional component rvf advantage