Visual word processing and experiential origins of functional selectivity in human extrastriate cortex.

ABSTRACT: How do category-selective regions arise in human extrastriate cortex? Visually presented words provide an ideal test of the role of experience: Although individuals have extensive experience with visual words, our species has only been reading for a few thousand years, a period not thought to be long enough for natural selection to produce a genetically specified mechanism dedicated to visual word recognition per se. Using relatively high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (1.4 x 1.4 x 2-mm voxels), we identified a small region of extrastriate cortex in most participants that responds selectively to both visually presented words and consonant strings, compared with line drawings, digit strings, and Chinese characters. Critically, we show that this pattern of selectivity is de

SUBMITTER: Baker CI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1885632 | biostudies-literature | 2007 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature