The visual word form area: a prelexical representation of visual words in the fusiform gyrus

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Whenever a skilled reader is presented with a printed word, brain activity can be observed in a well-delineated area of the left fusiform gyrus [1--4], which is consistently found at the same location in Talairach space (about x=#42, Y=#57, z=#6), with a standard deviation of only about 0.5 cm [1]. This activation generally falls on the mesial edge of or within the occipito-temporal sulcus, about halfway along the antero-posterior axis of the fusiform gyrus. Our working hypothesis is that the left fusiform gyrus contains a visual word form area (VWFA) which computes an invariant structural representation of the visual word as an ordered sequence of abstract letter identities invariant for size, font, and case [5,6]. In support of this hypothesis, the VWFA responds with the same intensity whether words are presented in the left or in the right hemifield [1] (location invariance), and show equal repetition priming within and across case (case invariance) [4]. The visual wo