Functional connectivity scaffolds the emergence of the visual word form area

Abstract

Complex cognitive tasks, like reading, require coordinated computations across distant cortical regions. Connectivity among regions is therefore key for understanding the neurobiological basis of behavior. It remains an open question whether connectivity serves as an innate organizational blueprint that guides functional specialization, or if it evolves with learning. Here, we address this fundamental question through the prism of learning to read: We measured functional connectivity at five timepoints over a year in children with dyslexia who participated in an intensive reading intervention. We found that specific patterns of functional connectivity of the reading circuitry were in place prior to the intervention, and remained stable over time. Further, functional connectivity before the intervention predicted the location of text-selective regions a year later, showing that connectivity precedes and predicts functional specialization that emerge with learning. These findings support a view of functional connectivity as a stable organizational principle of high-level cortex.