The visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus
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Updated: Sep 23, 2026

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex with Wide-View Retinotopic Stimulation
Published on: December 8, 2023
Bruce D. McCandliss1, Laurent Cohen, Stanislas Dehaene
1Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Box 140, 1300 York Avenue, 10021, New York, NY, USA
Abstract:
Brain imaging studies reliably localize a region of visual cortex that is especially responsive to visual words. This brain specialization is essential to rapid reading ability because it enhances perception of words by becoming specifically tuned to recurring properties of a writing system. The origin of this specialization poses a challenge for evolutionary accounts involving innate mechanisms for functional brain organization. We propose an alternative account, based on studies of other forms of visual expertise (i.e. bird and car experts) that lead to functional reorganization. We argue that the interplay between the unique demands of word reading and the structural constraints of the visual system lead to the emergence of the Visual Word Form Area.
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