Visual Word Form Area demonstrates individual and task-agnostic consistency but inter-individual variability

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• The Ventral Occipital Temporal Cortex (VOTC) contains specialized regions for visual stimuli.
• The Visual Word Form Area (VWFA), located in the left VOTC, is a text-selective region crucial for reading.
• There is variability in the precise location and size of the VWFA across individuals, and debate exists on whether it processes visual text features or is driven by reading tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the localization and task-dependency of the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA).
• To determine if the VWFA's response is modulated by cognitive tasks or inherent visual processing of text.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan adults and children.
• Participants performed two tasks (fixation and one-back) while viewing text, pseudo-fonts, faces, objects, and limbs.
• Analysis focused on identifying text-selective regions on individual cortical surfaces and in template space.

Main Results:

• A consistent VWFA location was identifiable on each individual's cortical surface using either task.
• The one-back task elicited a larger text-selective response area compared to the fixation task.
• Averaging data in template space obscured text-selective cortex due to inter-individual anatomical variability.

Conclusions:

• The VWFA can be reliably localized on an individual's cortical surface in both children and adults.
• The identified VWFA consistently responds to text regardless of the cognitive task.
• Inter-individual variability in the arrangement of category-selective regions masks VWFA responses when data is averaged in template space.