THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUAL WORD AND FACE processing LATERALIZATION IN THE FUSIFORM GYRI: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract Visual words and faces activate similar networks but with complementary hemispheric asymmetries, faces being lateralized to the right and words to the left. A recent theory proposes that this reflects developmental competition between visual word and face processing. We investigated whether...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research 2016-08, Vol.1644, p.88-97
Main Authors: Davies-Thompson, Jodie, Johnston, Sam, Tashakkor, Yashar, Pancaroglu, Raika, Barton, Jason J.S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain Mapping
Cross-Sectional Studies
Facial Recognition - physiology
Female
fMRI
Functional Laterality
Fusiform face area
Hemispheric specialization
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neurology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Reading
Temporal Lobe - physiology
Visual word form area
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Visual words and faces activate similar networks but with complementary hemispheric asymmetries, faces being lateralized to the right and words to the left. A recent theory proposes that this reflects developmental competition between visual word and face processing. We investigated whether this results in an inverse correlation between the degree of lateralization of visual word and face activation in the fusiform gyri. 26 literate right-handed healthy adults underwent functional MRI with face and word localizers. We derived lateralization indices for cluster size and peak responses for word and face activity in left and right fusiform gyri, and correlated these across subjects. A secondary analysis examined all face- and word-selective voxels in the inferior occipitotemporal cortex. No negative correlations were found. There were positive correlations for the peak MR response between word and face activity within the left hemisphere, and between word activity in the left visual word form area and face activity in the right fusiform face area. The face lateralization index was positively rather than negatively correlated with the word index. In summary, we do not find a complementary relationship between visual word and face lateralization across subjects. The significance of the positive correlations is unclear: some may reflect the influences of general factors such as attention, but others could suggest the existence of other factors that influence lateralization of function.
ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/j.brainres.2016.05.009