title: To read or not to read: a neurophysiological study.
abstract: Pure alexia (PA) has been associated with visual deficits or a failure to activate the visual word form area (VWFA). We report a patient with pure alexia due to posterior cortical atrophy, in whom event-related potentials revealed a delay in the P100 component and an absent N170 compared with controls. Furthermore, there was a tendency for a larger delay in P100 latencies associated with incorrectly read words. This suggests that some cases of PA might result from deficits in visual perception, signaled by the P100 early potential which could lead to an inability to consistently activate the VWFA, marked by the absent N170.
authors.affiliation: a Language Research Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Faculty of Medicine , University of Lisbon (FMUL) , Lisbon , Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mares
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Custodio
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bentes
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerreiro
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pavão Martins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020237:Alexia, Pure / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERPs; alexia; letter-by-letter reading; posterior cortical atrophy