ArticleNature communications2019
The visual word form area (VWFA) is part of both language and attention circuitry.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Culture Shapes the Neural Functional Alteration and Its Development in Children With Dyslexia: A Cross-Linguistic Meta-Analysis.Developmental science · 2026Pooled it
- Brain-wide decoding of numbers and letters: Converging evidence from multivariate fMRI analysis and probabilistic meta-analysis.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of the functional neuroimaging literature with probabilistic logic programming.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Reading intervention and neuroplasticity: A systematic review and meta-analysis of brain changes associated with reading intervention.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Typical and Atypical Development of Visual Expertise for Print as Indexed by the Visual Word N1 (N170w): A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Uncovering Latent Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Neural Bases of Problem-Solving Deficits in Children with Developmental Dyscalculia.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Motion perception and eye movements predict reading readiness: Evidence from pre-readers in an action video game task.iScience · 2026Article
- Context-dependent reconfiguration of functional connectivity in posterior (VWFA-1) and anterior (VWFA-2) visual word form area under attentional and linguistic demands.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Glutamatergic signaling underlies brain structural organization for mathematical and reading abilities in children.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Functional and Metabolic Abnormalities in Primary Visual Cortex and Frontal Eye Fields and Candidate Biomarkers of Acute Acquired Comitant Esotropia.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- The reading brain - Transforming vision into language.Progress in neurobiology · 2026Review
- Functional Connectivity Fingerprints of Emerging Reading Skill in the First Months of Schooling.Developmental science · 2026Article
- The Cortico-Cortical and Subcortical Circuits of the Human Brain Language Centers Including the Dual Limbic and Language Functioning Fiber Tracts.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- A Matter of Font: Visual Word Form Area Responses to Brand Names Are More Sensitive to Font Than to Letter Case Changes.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Functional Specialization of the Visual Word Form Area During Word Reading: A Multimodal Neuroimaging Study.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Overlapping and distinct intrinsic connectivity of hippocampal and triple networks in autistic individuals with and without a comorbid condition of ADHD.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neural Coding of Multiple Linguistic Components During Reading Comprehension Across Development.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Spoonerism Beyond Language: A Multi-Componential Perspective on Phonological Awareness.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Growing together: Dynamic connectivity between developmentally sensitive regions serving verbal working memory in children and adolescents.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
While predominant models of visual word form area (VWFA) function argue for its specific role in decoding written language, other accounts propose a more general role of VWFA in complex visual processing. However, a comprehensive examination of structural and functional VWFA circuits and their relationship to behavior has been missing. Here, using high-resolution multimodal imaging data from a large Human Connectome Project cohort (N = 313), we demonstrate robust patterns of VWFA connectivity with both canonical language and attentional networks. Brain-behavior relationships revealed a striking pattern of double dissociation: structural connectivity of VWFA with lateral temporal language network predicted language, but not visuo-spatial attention abilities, while VWFA connectivity with dorsal fronto-parietal attention network predicted visuo-spatial attention, but not language abilities. Our findings support a multiplex model of VWFA function characterized by distinct circuits for integrating language and attention, and point to connectivity-constrained cognition as a key principle of human brain organization.
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