title: The unique role of the visual word form area in reading.
abstract: Reading systematically activates the left lateral occipitotemporal sulcus, at a site known as the visual word form area (VWFA). This site is reproducible across individuals/scripts, attuned to reading-specific processes, and partially selective for written strings relative to other categories such as line drawings. Lesions affecting the VWFA cause pure alexia, a selective deficit in word recognition. These findings must be reconciled with the fact that human genome evolution cannot have been influenced by such a recent and culturally variable activity as reading. Capitalizing on recent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we provide strong corroborating evidence for the hypothesis that reading acquisition partially recycles a cortical territory evolved for object and face recognition, the prior properties of which influenced the form of writing systems.
authors: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Gif sur Yvette, 91191 France. stanislas.dehaene@gmail.com
authors: Stanislas
authors: S
authors: Dehaene
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Cohen