Current themes in neuroimaging studies of reading

Abstract

This editorial provides a summary of the highlights from 11 new papers that have been published in a special issue of Brain and Language on the neurobiology of reading. The topics investigate reading mechanisms in both adults and children. Several of the findings illustrate how responses in the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex, and other reading areas, change with learning, expertise and the task: In the early stages of reading acquisition, learning/expertise increases activation in reading areas as well as in an attentionally-controlled, learning circuit. In later stages, expertise and efficiency decrease activation within the reading network and increase anatomical connectivity. Special interest is given to a white matter tract (the vertical occipital fasciculus) that projects dorsally from the left occipito-temporal cortex to the posterior parietal lobe. This observation fits with a magnetoencephalography study showing how activity in the angular gyrus is influenced by early occipito-temporal activity; with angular gyrus activity contributing to inferior frontal activity. Overall, the papers within the special issue illustrate the wide range of different techniques that can be used to reveal the functional anatomy of reading and the time course of activity within the different reading pathways.