Brain mechanisms for reading: the role of the superior temporal gyrus in word and pseudoword naming

The purpose of this study was to test the neurological validity of a dual-r oute model of reading by asking patients, who were undergoing electrocortic al stimulation mapping, to read words with irregular print-to-sound corresp ondences and pseudowords. Brain activation profiles were also obtained from these patients during an auditory and a visual word recognition task using whole-head magnetic source imaging. We demonstrated that reading is subser ved by at least two brain mechanisms that are anatomically dissociable. One mechanism subserves assembled phonology and depends on the activity of the posterior part of the left superior temporal gyrus (STGp), whereas the sec ond is responsible for addressed phonology and does not necessarily involve this region. The contribution of STGp to reading appears to be based on it s specialization for phonological analysis operations, involved in the proc essing of both spoken and written language. NeuroReport 11:2443-2447 (C) 20 00 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.