title: The putative visual word form area is functionally connected to the dorsal attention network.
abstract: The putative visual word form area (pVWFA) is the most consistently activated region in single word reading studies (i.e., Vigneau et al. 2006), yet its function remains a matter of debate. The pVWFA may be predominantly used in reading or it could be a more general visual processor used in reading but also in other visual tasks. Here, resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI) is used to characterize the functional relationships of the pVWFA to help adjudicate between these possibilities. rs-fcMRI defines relationships based on correlations in slow fluctuations of blood oxygen level-dependent activity occurring at rest. In this study, rs-fcMRI correlations show little relationship between the pVWFA and reading-related regions but a strong relationship between the pVWFA and dorsal attention regions thought to be related to spatial and feature attention. The rs-fcMRI correlations between the pVWFA and regions of the dorsal attention network increase with age and reading skill, while the correlations between the pVWFA and reading-related regions do not. These results argue the pVWFA is not used predominantly in reading but is a more general visual processor used in other visual tasks, as well as reading.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. vogela@wustl.edu
authors.forename: Alecia C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Fran M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Miezin
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Bradley L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Schlaggar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult