Ventral and Dorsal Contributions to Word Reading

Abstract

The core component of expert reading is the fast and accurate perception of single words by the visual system, an ability that results from years of intensive learning. We propose an integrated view of the contributions of the ventral and dorsal streams to this process, associating brain imaging in normal subjects and studies of brain-damaged patients. Together, these two sources of data indicate that fluent reading results from a tight collaboration of both pathways. In the left occipitotemporal cortex, the Visual Word Form system allows for the fast, invariant, and parallel encoding of well-formed letter strings. The occipitoparietal pathway makes an important contribution to reading through attention orienting, word selection, and within-word serial decoding under nonoptimal reading conditions.