Vin, R., Blauch, N.M., Plaut, D.C., and Behrmann, M. (2024). Visual word processing engages a hierarchical, distributed, bilateral cortical network. iScience, 27, 108809. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.108809

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Abstract: Although the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) in left temporal cortex is considered the pre-eminent region in visual word processing, other regions are also implicated. We examined the entire text-selective circuit, using functional MRI. We defined ten regions of interest (ROI) per hemisphere that, based on clustering, grouped into three clusters. We analysed univariate, multivariate and functional connectivity responses of the ROIs and clusters to words, inverted words, and consonant strings, and demonstrated modulation by stimulus condition bilaterally, albeit more strongly and in more left hemisphere regions. Last, using graph theory, we observed that the high-level vision cluster---and, specifically, the VWFA---was equivalently connected with both early visual and language clusters in both hemispheres. While the individual ROIs and clusters bilaterally were flexibly altered by the nature of the input, stability held at the level of global circuit connectivity, reflecting the complex hierarchical distributed system serving visual text perception.

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