The role of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex in speech processing-The influence of visual deprivation.

ABSTRACT: The role of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) in reading is well-established in both sighted and blind readers. Its role in speech processing remains only partially understood. Here, we test the involvement of the left vOT in phonological processing of spoken language in the blind (N = 50, age: 6.76-60.32) and in the sighted (N = 54, age: 6.79-59.83) by means of whole-brain and region-of-interest (including individually identified) fMRI analyses. We confirm that the left vOT is sensitive to phonological processing (shows greater involvement in rhyming compared to control spoken language task) in both blind and sighted participants. However, in the sighted, the activation was observed only during the rhyming task and in the speech-specific region of the left vOT,

SUBMITTER: Dziegiel-Fivet G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10730934 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature