Year: 2019
Type: article
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.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: Santa Clara University, Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, Université Paris-Sud, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CEA Paris-Saclay - Etablissement de Saclay, Centre Inria de Saclay, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique, Centre Inria d'Université Côte d'Azur
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,200
Funders: National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA), National Institutes of Health, McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, H2020 European Research Council
Awards: Accelerating Neuroscience Research by Unifying Knowledge Representation and Analysis Through a Domain Specific Language, Spectrum Stanford Center for clinical and Translational Research and Education, Decoding Neural Systems Underlying Affective Prosody in Children with Autism, Stanford Center for Clinical & Translational Education and Research (Spectrum), Mapping the Human Connectome: Structure, Function, and Heritability, Learning and brain plasticity in children with autism: relation to cognitive inflexibility and restricted-repetitive behaviors, G3848525072, G6389824285, G8299918676, G9000089182, Longitudinal Neurocognitive Studies of Mathematical Disabilities: Outcomes and Trajectories, Interventions in math learning disabilities: cognitive and neural correlates
OpenAlex ID: W2992930145