STUDIES of primates(1) and of patients with brain lesions(2) have show
n that the visual system represents the external world in regions and
pathways specialized to compute visual features and attributes. For ex
ample, object recognition is performed by a ventral pathway located in
the inferior portion of the temporal lobe(3). We studied visual proce
ssing of words and word-like stimuli (letter-strings) by recording hel
d potentials directly from the human inferior temporal lobe. Our resul
ts showed that two discrete portions of the fusiform gyrus responded p
referentially to letter-strings. A region of the posterior fusiform gy
rus responded equally to words and nonwords, and was unaffected by the
semantic context in which words were presented. In contrast, a region
of the anterior fusiform gyrus was sensitive to these stimulus dimens
ions. These regions were distinct from areas that responded to other t
ypes of complex visual stimuli, including faces and coloured patterns,
and thus form a functionally specialized stream within the ventral vi
sual pathway.