Individual variation in the functional lateralization of human ventral temporal cortex: Local competition and long-range coupling.

ABSTRACT: The ventral temporal cortex (VTC) of the human cerebrum is critically engaged in high-level vision. One intriguing aspect of this region is its functional lateralization, with neural responses to words being stronger in the left hemisphere, and neural responses to faces being stronger in the right hemisphere; such patterns can be summarized with a signed laterality index (LI), positive for leftward laterality. Converging evidence has suggested that word laterality emerges to couple efficiently with left-lateralized frontotemporal language regions, but evidence is more mixed regarding the sources of the right-lateralization for face perception. Here, we use individual differences as a tool to test three theories of VTC organization arising from: 1) local competition between words and faces

SUBMITTER: Blauch NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11507683 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature