Repetition of letter strings leads to activation of and connectivity with word-related regions.

ABSTRACT: Individuals learn to read by gradually recognizing repeated letter combinations. However, it is unclear how or when neural mechanisms associated with repetition of basic stimuli (i.e., strings of letters) shift to involvement of higher-order language networks. The present study investigated this question by repeatedly presenting unfamiliar letter strings in a one-back matching task during an hour-long period. Activation patterns indicated that only brain areas associated with visual processing were activated during the early period, but additional regions that are usually associated with semantic and phonological processing in inferior frontal gyrus were recruited after stimuli became more familiar. Changes in activation were also observed in bilateral superior temporal cortex, also sugges

SUBMITTER: Fisher JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3254793 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature