Functional and anatomical changes in high-level visual cortex during reading acquisition

孩子们需要多年的练习才能成为熟练的读者。流畅阅读的一个重要组成部分是对字母和单词的快速视觉处理。学习阅读是如何影响腹侧颞叶皮层（VTC）的？腹侧颞叶皮层是处理高级视觉信息的皮质区域，如形状或物体，包括书面文字。本提案旨在通过分析5-12岁儿童和成人的纵向研究的功能和定量磁共振成像（MRI）数据来研究这个问题。更准确地说，该建议探讨了学习阅读如何与VTC中单词功能选择性的变化以及单词选择区域下灰质的特性相关。

Children require years of practice until they become skilled readers. A central component of fluent reading is fast visual processing of letters and words. How does learning to read affect ventral temporal cortex (VTC) – a cortical expanse that processes high-level visual information such as shapes or objects, including written words? The present proposal aims at investigating this question by analyzing functional and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of a longitudinal study in 5-12-year-old children and adults. More precisely, the proposal explores how learning to read relates to changes in functional selectivity to words in VTC and to properties of gray matter underlying word-selective regions.