A Ventral Visual Stream Reading Center Independent of Visual Experience
A Ventral Visual Stream Reading Center Independent of Visual Experience
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.040
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发表时间：
2011-03-08
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Amedi, Amir
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Reich, Lior;Szwed, Marcin;Amedi, Amir
视觉词形区域（VWFA）是腹侧流视觉区域，可培养视觉阅读的专业知识[1-3]。它在书写系统和脚本中被激活 [4, 5]，并且无论大小写、字体或视野中的位置如何 [1]，都会对字母字符串进行编码，并且在个体之间具有惊人的解剖学再现性 [6]。在盲人中，使用盲文可以实现类似的阅读体验。本研究调查了 VWFA 在盲人中发挥作用的区域。人们预计该区域位于顶叶或双侧枕叶皮层，分别反映任务的触觉性质和跨模态可塑性 [7, 8]。然而，根据元模态理论 [9]，该理论表明大脑区域对特定的表示或计算做出反应，无论其输入感觉方式如何，我们预测左半球 VWFA 的募集，与视力相同。使用功能性磁共振成像，我们发现盲人阅读盲文时的激活在 VWFA 中达到峰值，并且盲人和视力正常者之间具有惊人的解剖学一致性。此外，与高级语言和低级感官控制相比，VWFA 具有选择性阅读。因此，我们建议 VWFA 是一个元模式阅读区域，无论视觉体验如何，都可以发展阅读专业化。
The visual word form area (VWFA) is a ventral stream visual area that develops expertise for visual reading [1-3]. It is activated across writing systems and scripts [4, 5] and encodes letter strings irrespective of case, font, or location in the visual field [1] with striking anatomical reproducibility across individuals [6]. In the blind, comparable reading expertise can be achieved using Braille. This study investigated which area plays the role of the VWFA in the blind. One would expect this area to be at either parietal or bilateral occipital cortex, reflecting the tactile nature of the task and crossmodal plasticity, respectively [7, 8]. However, according to the metamodal theory [9], which suggests that brain areas are responsive to a specific representation or computation regardless of their input sensory modality, we predicted recruitment of the left-hemispheric VWFA, identically to the sighted. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that activation during Braille reading in blind individuals peaks in the VWFA, with striking anatomical consistency within and between blind and sighted. Furthermore, the VWFA is reading selective when contrasted to high-level language and low-level sensory controls. Thus, we propose that the VWFA is a metamodal reading area that develops specialization for reading regardless of visual experience.