Wang Shuai, Dubarry Anne-Sophie, Chanoine Valérie, Sein Julien, Anton Jean-Luc, Nazarian Bruno, Mercier Manuel R, Trébuchon Agnès, Pattamadilok Chotiga
Aix Marseille University, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France.
Aix Marseille University, Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain, Aix-en-Provence, France.
Imaging Neurosci (Camb). 2025 Mar 31;3. doi: 10.1162/imag_a_00524. eCollection 2025.
Reading relies on the ability to map written symbols with speech sounds. A specific part of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex, known as the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA), plays a crucial role in this process. Through the automatization of the mapping ability, this area progressively becomes specialized in written word recognition. Yet, despite its key role in reading, the area also responds to speech. This observation raises questions about the actual nature of neural representations encoded in the VWFA and, therefore, the underlying mechanism of the cross-modal responses. Here, we addressed this issue by applying fine-grained analyses of within- and cross-modal repetition suppression effects (RSEs) and Multi-Voxel Pattern Analyses in fMRI and sEEG experiments. Convergent evidence across analysis methods and protocols showed significant RSEs and successful decoding in both within-modal visual and auditory conditions, suggesting that populations of neurons within the VWFA distinctively encode written and spoken language. This functional organization of neural populations enables the area to respond to both written and spoken inputs. The finding opens further discussions on how the human brain may be prepared and adapted for an acquisition of a complex ability such as reading.
阅读依赖于将书面符号与语音进行映射的能力。左腹侧枕颞叶皮层的一个特定区域，即视觉词形区（VWFA），在这一过程中起着至关重要的作用。通过映射能力的自动化，该区域逐渐专门用于书面单词识别。然而，尽管它在阅读中起关键作用，但该区域也对语音做出反应。这一观察结果引发了关于VWFA中编码的神经表征的实际性质的问题，因此也引发了关于跨模态反应潜在机制的问题。在这里，我们通过在功能磁共振成像（fMRI）和立体脑电图（sEEG）实验中对模态内和跨模态重复抑制效应（RSE）以及多体素模式分析进行细粒度分析来解决这个问题。跨分析方法和实验方案的一致证据表明，在模态内视觉和听觉条件下都有显著的RSE和成功的解码，这表明VWFA内的神经元群体分别编码书面语言和口头语言。神经群体的这种功能组织使该区域能够对书面和口头输入做出反应。这一发现开启了关于人类大脑如何为获取诸如阅读这样的复杂能力做好准备并进行适应的进一步讨论。
