Name
Title | ||
|---|---|---|
Learning to read an alphabet of human faces produces left-lateralized training effects in the fusiform gyrus |
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
Numerous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that most orthographic stimuli, such as printed English words, produce a left-lateralized response within the fusiform gyrus FG at a characteristic location termed the visual word form area VWFA. We developed an experimental alphabet FaceFont comprising 35 face-phoneme pairs to disentangle phonological and perceptual influences on the lateralization of orthographic processing within the FG. Using functional imaging, we found that a region in the vicinity of the VWFA responded to FaceFont words more strongly in trained versus untrained participants, whereas no differences were observed in the right FG. The trained response magnitudes in the left FG region correlated with behavioral reading performance, providing strong evidence that the neural tissue recruited by training supported the newly acquired reading skill. These results indicate that the left lateralization of the orthographic processing is not restricted to stimuli with particular visual-perceptual features. Instead, lateralization may occur because the anatomical projections in the vicinity of the VWFA provide a unique interconnection between the visual system and left-lateralized language areas involved in the representation of speech. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2014 | 10.1162/jocn_a_00506 | Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
face,young adult,magnetic resonance imaging,analysis of variance,phonetics,visual perception,reading | Neuroscience,Visual word form area,Lateralization of brain function,Functional neuroimaging,Phonetics,Cognitive psychology,Functional imaging,Psychology,Fusiform gyrus,Occipital lobe,Visual perception | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
26 | 4 | 0898-929X |
Citations | PageRank | References |
3 | 0.41 | 6 |
Authors | ||
4 | ||
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michelle W. Moore | 1 | 3 | 0.75 |
| Corrine Durisko | 2 | 3 | 1.09 |
| Charles A. Perfetti | 3 | 6 | 1.48 |
| Julie A Fiez | 4 | 32 | 4.70 |