Word recognition in the human inferior temporal lobe
Abstract
Studies of primates and of patients with brain lesions have shown that the visual system represents the external world in regions and pathways specialized to compute visual features and attributes. For example, object recognition is performed by a ventral pathway located in the inferior portion of the temporal lobe. We studied visual processing of words and word-like stimuli (letter-strings) by recording field potentials directly from the human inferior temporal lobe. Our results showed that two discrete portions of the fusiform gyrus responded preferentially to letter-strings. A region of the posterior fusiform gyrus responded equally to words and non-words, and was unaffected by the semantic context in which words were presented. In contrast, a region of the anterior fusiform gyrus was sensitive to these stimulus dimensions. These regions were distinct from areas that responded to other types of complex visual stimuli, including faces and coloured patterns, and thus form a functionally specialized stream within the ventral visual pathway.
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MEG and intracranial electrical recordings provide increasingly specific localization information that is consistent with the fMRI findings for the VWFA.
“Similar results have also been found with magneto-encephalography (MEG) [14,15] and intracranial electrical recordings [16] that provide increasingly specific localization information that is consistent with the fMRI findings for the VWFA.”
From The visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus (2003) · cites this paper as [16]
The VWFA demonstrates a form of tuning to learned letter stimuli, which produce greater activity than well-controlled pseudoletters.
“The response properties of the VWFA demonstrate a form of tuning to learned letter stimuli, which produce greater activity than well-controlled pseudoletters, that can be measured by blocks of PET data [19], as well by the first 200 ms of activity in MEG and intracranial electrical recordings [16].”
From The visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus (2003) · cites this paper as [16]
The left fusiform region appears as a likely source of electrical and magnetic fields that are recorded over the left ventral occipitotemporal region, with a latency of about 150-200 ms, whenever subjects see words.
“This region appears as a likely source of electrical and magnetic fields that are recorded over the left ventral occipitotemporal region, with a latency of about 150-200 ms, whenever subjects see words (Allison et al., 1994, 1999; Cohen et al., 2000; Nobre et al., 1994; Salmelin et al., 1996; Simos et al., 2002; Tarkiainen et al., 1999).”
From Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area (2004) · cites this paper as Nobre et al., 1994
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- Authors
- Nobre, A. C., Allison, T., & McCarthy, G.
- Affiliations
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
- ORCID
- Nobre, Anna C.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1994-11
- Volume
- 372
- Issue
- 6503
- Pages
- 260-263
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2073146149
- Cited by
- 789
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 42.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- word recognition, inferior temporal lobe, fusiform gyrus, ventral stream, letter strings, pseudowords, semantic context, visual word processing, functional specialization, human visual cortex
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Electroencephalography, Epilepsy, Evoked Potentials, Visual, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Reading, Temporal Lobe, Visual Pathways, Visual Perception
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