Strother Lars, Zhou Zhiheng, Coros Alexandra K, Vilis Tutis
University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Psychology, USA.
University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Psychology, USA.
Neuropsychologia. 2017 Jun;100:35-43. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.003. Epub 2017 Apr 7.
The human brain integrates hemifield-split visual information via interhemispheric transfer. The degree to which neural circuits involved in this process behave differently during word recognition as compared to object recognition is not known. Evidence from neuroimaging (fMRI) suggests that interhemispheric transfer during word viewing converges in the left hemisphere, in two distinct brain areas, an "occipital word form area" (OWFA) and a more anterior occipitotemporal "visual word form area" (VWFA). We used a novel fMRI half-field repetition technique to test whether or not these areas also integrate nonverbal hemifield-split string stimuli of similar visual complexity. We found that the fMRI responses of both the OWFA and VWFA while viewing nonverbal stimuli were strikingly different than those measured during word viewing, especially with respect to half-stimulus changes restricted to a single hemifield. We conclude that normal reading relies on left-lateralized neural mechanisms, which integrate hemifield-split visual information for words but not for nonverbal stimuli.
人类大脑通过半球间传递整合半视野分割的视觉信息。与物体识别相比，参与这一过程的神经回路在单词识别过程中的行为差异程度尚不清楚。神经影像学（功能磁共振成像，fMRI）证据表明，在单词观看过程中的半球间传递在左半球的两个不同脑区汇聚，一个是“枕叶单词形式区”（OWFA），另一个是更靠前的枕颞“视觉单词形式区”（VWFA）。我们使用一种新颖的fMRI半视野重复技术来测试这些区域是否也整合视觉复杂度相似的非语言半视野分割字符串刺激。我们发现，在观看非语言刺激时，OWFA和VWFA的fMRI反应与单词观看时测量到的反应显著不同，特别是在仅限于单个半视野的半刺激变化方面。我们得出结论，正常阅读依赖于左侧化的神经机制，该机制整合单词的半视野分割视觉信息，但不整合非语言刺激的信息。
