Ventral and dorsal contributions to word reading.

abstract The BLOCKINcore BLOCKINcomponent BLOCKINof BLOCKINexpert BLOCKINreading BLOCKINis BLOCKINthe BLOCKINfast BLOCKINand accurate BLOCKINperception BLOCKINof BLOCKINsingle BLOCKINwords BLOCKINby BLOCKINthe BLOCKINvisual BLOCKINsystem, BLOCKINan BLOCKINability that BLOCKINresults BLOCKINfrom BLOCKINyears BLOCKINof BLOCKINintensive BLOCKINlearning. BLOCKINWe BLOCKINpropose BLOCKINan BLOCKINinte-grated BLOCKINview BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINcontributions BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINventral BLOCKINand BLOCKINdorsal BLOCKINstreams to this process, associating brain imaging in normal subjects and studies BLOCKINof BLOCKINbrain-damaged BLOCKINpatients. BLOCKINTogether, BLOCKINthese BLOCKINtwo BLOCKINsources BLOCKINof data BLOCKINindicate BLOCKINthat BLOCKINfluent BLOCKINreading BLOCKINresults BLOCKINfrom BLOCKINa BLOCKINtight BLOCKINcollaboration of both pathways. In the left occipitotemporal cortex, the Visual Word Form system allows for the fast, invariant, and parallel encoding BLOCKINof BLOCKINwell-formed BLOCKINletter BLOCKINstrings. BLOCKINThe BLOCKINoccipitoparietal BLOCKINpathway makes an important contribution to reading through attention orienting, word selection, and within-word serial decoding under nonoptimal BLOCKINreading BLOCKINconditions. The acquisition of reading by children rests on a delicate tuning of the visual system and of the verbal system, and on BLOCKINthe BLOCKINelaboration BLOCKINof BLOCKINnovel BLOCKINinteractions BLOCKINbetween BLOCKINthese BLOCKINtwo preexisting domains. As a result of this long and effortful process, BLOCKINadult BLOCKINreaders BLOCKINare BLOCKINable BLOCKINto BLOCKINscan BLOCKINpages BLOCKINof BLOCKINtext BLOCKINin BLOCKINa BLOCKINfast and orderly manner, identifying a flow of words that are each fixated only for a fraction of a second, immediately accessing BLOCKINtheir BLOCKINsound BLOCKINand BLOCKINmeaning, BLOCKINand BLOCKINbuilding BLOCKINup BLOCKINat BLOCKINthe same BLOCKINtime BLOCKINan BLOCKINintegrated BLOCKINinterpretation BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINtext. BLOCKINThe BLOCKINcore component BLOCKINof BLOCKINthis BLOCKINremarkable BLOCKINprocess BLOCKINis BLOCKINthe BLOCKINfast BLOCKINand BLOCKINaccu-rate BLOCKINperception BLOCKINof BLOCKINsingle BLOCKINwords BLOCKINby BLOCKINthe BLOCKINvisual BLOCKINsystem. BLOCKINA BLOCKINpre-requisite for access to a word's sound and meaning is the identification of its component letters and of their order, an abstract representation that has been called the Visual Word BLOCKINForm BLOCKIN In BLOCKINpast BLOCKINyears, BLOCKINresearch BLOCKINhas BLOCKINconcentrated BLOCKINon BLOCKINthe BLOCKINcontribu-tion of the left ventral visual system to word-identification processes. However, like any complex visual task, reading is most likely achieved through a collaboration of the two BLOCKINcomponents BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINcerebral BLOCKINvisual BLOCKINsystem—that BLOCKINis, BLOCKINthe ventral occipitotemporal " what " stream and the dorsal occipitoparietal " where " stream (Ungerleider & Mishkin, 1982). BLOCKINIn BLOCKINthis BLOCKINchapter BLOCKINwe BLOCKINpropose BLOCKINan BLOCKINintegrated BLOCKINview BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe contributions of the ventral and dorsal streams to single-word BLOCKINreading. BLOCKINWe BLOCKINsystematically BLOCKINassociate BLOCKINinformation BLOCKINfrom brain imaging in normal subjects and contributions from studies BLOCKINof BLOCKINbrain-damaged BLOCKINpatients BLOCKINwith BLOCKINvarieties BLOCKINof BLOCKINacquired " peripheral " dyslexias—that is, reading deficits resulting from impaired visual processing, as opposed to language-related " central " dyslexias. Together, these two sources of data BLOCKINindicate BLOCKINthat BLOCKINfluent BLOCKINreading BLOCKINresults BLOCKINfrom BLOCKINa BLOCKINtight BLOCKINcollabo-ration …