On the functional neuroanatomy of visual word processing: effects of case and letter deviance

J Cogn Neurosci. 2009 Feb;21(2):222-9. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21002.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology*
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Occipital Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Occipital Lobe / physiology
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Reading
  • Semantics*
  • Temporal Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Visual Perception / physiology*
  • Young Adult