The visual word form area: a prelexical representation of visual words in the fusiform gyrus

INTRODUCTION Whenever a skilled reader is presented with a printed word, brain activity can be observed in a well-delineated area of the left fusiform gyrus 1--4, which is consistently found at the same location in Talairach space (about x=#42, Y=#57, z=#6), with a standard deviation of only about 0.5 cm 1. This activation generally falls on the mesial edge of or within the occipito-temporal sulcus, about halfway along the antero-posterior axis of the fusiform gyrus. Our working hypothesis is that the left fusiform gyrus contains a visual word form area (VWFA) which computes an invariant structural representation of the visual word as an ordered sequence of abstract letter identities invariant for size, font, and case 5,6. In support of this hypothesis, the VWFA responds with the same intensity whether words are presented in the left or in the right hemifield 1 (location invariance), and show equal repetition priming within and across case (case invariance) 4. The visual wo