Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
Stanford University Graduate School of Education, Stanford, California, USA.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2024 Mar;45(4):e26655. doi: 10.1002/hbm.26655.
Reading entails transforming visual symbols to sound and meaning. This process depends on specialized circuitry in the visual cortex, the visual word form area (VWFA). Recent findings suggest that this text-selective cortex comprises at least two distinct subregions: the more posterior VWFA-1 is sensitive to visual features, while the more anterior VWFA-2 processes higher level language information. Here, we explore whether these two subregions also exhibit different patterns of functional connectivity. To this end, we capitalize on two complementary datasets: Using the Natural Scenes Dataset (NSD), we identify text-selective responses in high-quality 7T adult data (N = 8), and investigate functional connectivity patterns of VWFA-1 and VWFA-2 at the individual level. We then turn to the Healthy Brain Network (HBN) database to assess whether these patterns replicate in a large developmental sample (N = 224; age 6-20 years), and whether they relate to reading development. In both datasets, we find that VWFA-1 is primarily correlated with bilateral visual regions. In contrast, VWFA-2 is more strongly correlated with language regions in the frontal and lateral parietal lobes, particularly the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus. Critically, these patterns do not generalize to adjacent face-selective regions, suggesting a specific relationship between VWFA-2 and the frontal language network. No correlations were observed between functional connectivity and reading ability. Together, our findings support the distinction between subregions of the VWFA, and suggest that functional connectivity patterns in the ventral temporal cortex are consistent over a wide range of reading skills.
阅读涉及将视觉符号转化为声音和意义。这个过程依赖于视觉皮层中的专门电路，即视觉词形区（VWFA）。最近的发现表明，这个文本选择性皮层至少包括两个不同的子区域：更靠后的 VWFA-1 对视觉特征敏感，而更靠前的 VWFA-2 则处理更高层次的语言信息。在这里，我们探讨这两个子区域是否也表现出不同的功能连接模式。为此，我们利用了两个互补的数据集：使用自然场景数据集（NSD），我们在高质量的 7T 成人数据（N=8）中识别出文本选择性反应，并在个体水平上研究 VWFA-1 和 VWFA-2 的功能连接模式。然后，我们转向健康大脑网络（HBN）数据库，以评估这些模式是否在一个大的发展样本（N=224；年龄 6-20 岁）中复制，以及它们是否与阅读发展有关。在这两个数据集中，我们发现 VWFA-1 主要与双侧视觉区域相关。相比之下，VWFA-2 与额侧和顶叶的语言区域相关性更强，特别是双侧额下回。关键的是，这些模式不能推广到相邻的面孔选择性区域，这表明 VWFA-2 与额语言网络之间存在特定的关系。没有观察到功能连接与阅读能力之间的相关性。总之，我们的研究结果支持 VWFA 子区域的区分，并表明腹侧颞叶皮层的功能连接模式在广泛的阅读技能范围内是一致的。
