The reading brain upside down and inside out, by Laurent Cohen

The reading brain upside down and inside out

Summary
The ventral occipitotemporal (VOT) cortex plays a pivotal role in the visual recognition of various types of items, including objects, faces, places, and written words. The role of the left VOT in reading has been recognized since the 19th century from the study of patients with pure alexia. More recently, anatomical and functional brain imaging revealed that this ability rests on a reproducible patch of cortex along the left fusiform gyrus, the Visual Word Form Area or VWFA. I will provide an overview of some recent approaches to the study of this system, in literate or illiterate, typical or atypical, healthy or brain-damaged individuals.

Short Biography
Laurent Cohen is professor of neurology at Sorbonne Université, neurologist at the Salpêtrière hospital, and co-director of the PICNIC Lab team at the Paris Brain Institute (ICM). His scientific activity is dedicated to the study of higher cognitive functions, particularly language, reading, and mental calculation, in healthy individuals and in brain-damaged patients, using behavioral and multimodal brain imaging.
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