Pure alexia: clinical-pathologic evidence for a lateralized visual language association cortex.

Traditional views of pure alexia have held that the disorder results from a disconnection between the secondary visual cortices of both hemispheres and the angular gyrus of the dominant hemisphere. Evidence has accumulated, however, suggesting the importance of the posterior inferior temporal area in visual language processing. We describe clinical-pathological support for the presence of a lateralized visual language association area residing in the dominant posterior inferior temporal lobe.