On the functional neuroanatomy of visual word processing: effects of case and letter deviance.
This functional magnetic resonance imaging study contrasted case-deviant and letter-deviant forms with familiar forms of the same phonological words (e.g., TaXi and Taksi vs Taxi) and found that both types of deviance led to increased activation in a left occipito-temporal regions, corresponding to the visual word form area (VWFA). The sensitivity of the VWFA to both types of deviance may suggest that this region represents well-known visual words not only as sequences of abstract letter identities but also includes information on the typical case-format pattern of visual words. Case-deviant items, in addition to increased activation in a right occipito-temporal region and in a left occipital and a left posterior occipito-temporal region, which may reflect increased demands on the letter processing posed by the case-deviant forms.
Kronbichler
Martin
M
University of Salzburg, Austria. martin.kronbichler@sbg.ac.at
Klackl
Johannes
J
Richlan
Fabio
F
Schurz
Matthias
M
Staffen
Wolfgang
W
Ladurner
Gunther
G
Wimmer
Heinz
H
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult