The Putative Visual Word Form Area Is Functionally Connected to the Dorsal Attention Network

Abstract

The putative visual word form area (pVWFA) is the most consistently activated region in single word reading studies (i.e., Vigneau et al. 2006), yet its function remains a matter of debate. The pVWFA may be predominantly used in reading or it could be a more general visual processor used in reading but also in other visual tasks. Here, resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI) is used to characterize the functional relationships of the pVWFA to help adjudicate between these possibilities. rs-fcMRI defines relationships based on correlations in slow fluctuations of blood oxygen level-dependent activity occurring at rest. In this study, rs-fcMRI correlations show little relationship between the pVWFA and reading-related regions but a strong relationship between the pVWFA and dorsal attention regions thought to be related to spatial and feature attention. The rs-fcMRI correlations between the pVWFA and regions of the dorsal attention network increase with age and reading skill, while the correlations between the pVWFA and reading-related regions do not. These results argue the pVWFA is not used predominantly in reading but is a more general visual processor used in other visual tasks, as well as reading.

Increased functional connectivity between dorsal posterior parietal and ventral occipitotemporal cortex during uncertain memory decisions

“…Specifically, left SPL, and unexpectedly left lateral IPS, displayed increased functional connectivity with areas of occipotemporal cortex (including the putative visual word-form area and lateral occipital cortex) during uncertain relative to certain decisions. At least for the SPL, this result complements those from a recent study which reported resting-state functional connectivity between SPL and the visual word-form area (Vogel et al, 2012), suggesting that uncertain decisions might engage pathways that are otherwise intrinsically connected.…”

Individual Differences in Adult Reading Are Associated with Left Temporo-parietal to Dorsal Striatal Functional Connectivity

“…However, some studies that have applied network analyses to resting functional connectivity have not found evidence for a dedicated reading network (Vogel et al 2012(Vogel et al , 2013. Regions involved in reading are members of default-mode, visual, motor, and fronto-parietal networks (Vogel et al 2013).…”

“…The network corresponding to the orange/ SMG cluster included bilateral intraparietal sulcus, anterior insula, and dorsal prefrontal regions, consistent with the dorsal attention or fronto-parietal network (DAN; Power et al [2011]). This network also included a bilateral occipito-temporal region that has been associated with orthographic processing (McCandliss et al 2003), but recent work suggests that it is also integrated with the DAN at rest (Vogel et al 2012). This network was anticorrelated with posterior cingulate, medial prefrontal, and anterior caudate regions (shown in blue).…”

Functional neural substrates of posterior cortical atrophy patients

“…Moreover, vWFA has been shown to have resting-state functional correlations with regions in the dorsal attention network (left and right aIPS, MT?, and FEF regions) with minimal or absent correlations with reading-related regions. These dorsal attention correlations were not a general property of all regions in the fusiform cortex (e.g., the FFA was not connected to the MT to which is very closely located) [54]. Thus, the impaired pattern of activation in this region may be associated with our patients' general simultaneous processing deficit.…”