Tracy M. Centanni|Elizabeth S. Norton|Anne Park|Sara Beach|Kelly Halverson|Ola Ozernov?Palchik|Nadine Gaab|John D. E. Gabrieli
Early development of letter specialization in left fusiform is associated with better word reading and smaller fusiform face area
McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Texas Christian University|McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Northwestern University|McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Boston Children's Museum|Boston Children's Hospital|Boston Children's Museum|Boston Children's Hospital|McGovern Institute for Brain Research|Massachusetts Institute of Technology
functional region left fusiform gyrus termed visual word form area vwfa develops reading acquisition respond strongly printed words visual stimuli examined responses letters among 5 6yearold early kindergarten children n 48 little schoolbased reading instruction varied reading ability used functional magnetic resonance imaging fmri measure responses individual letters false fonts faces left right fusiform gyri evaluated whether signal change size spatial extent lettersensitive cortex greater activation letters versus faces letterspecific cortex greater activation letters versus false fonts regions related standardized measures wordreading ability b signal change size facesensitive cortex fusiform face area ffa greater activation faces versus letters greater letter specificity letter sensitivity left fusiform gyrus correlated positively word reading scores across children left fusiform gyrus greater size lettersensitive cortex correlated lesser size ffa findings first suggest beginning readers development letter responsivity left fusiform cortex associated better reading ability also reduction size left ffa may result righthemisphere dominance face perception