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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Evidence for highly selective neuronal tuning to whole words in the "visual word form area"
Laurie S Glezer1, Xiong Jiang, Maximilian Riesenhuber
1Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Research Building Room WP-12, 3970 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
Abstract:
Theories of reading have posited the existence of a neural representation coding for whole real words (i.e., an orthographic lexicon), but experimental support for such a representation has proved elusive. Using fMRI rapid adaptation techniques, we provide evidence that the human left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (specifically the "visual word form area," VWFA) contains a representation based on neurons highly selective for individual real words, in contrast to current theories that posit a sublexical representation in the VWFA.
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