Different Attentional Modulation in the Visual Word Form Area and Parahippocampal Place Area

Many studies have reported that blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) activity in object-selective extrastriate areas is enhanced by visual attention. However, only a few studies have compared the effects of attention between these areas. In this study, we examined the influence of small and big noise level on BOLD responses in the word-selective region (visual word form area, VWFA) and house-selective region (parahippocampal place area, PPA) during Chinese character and house pictograph discrimination task. Our results showed that the BOLD response in the VWFA and PPA are modulated differently by visual attention. More specifically, the selective response in the VWFA is more easily affected by attentional demand than that in the PPA. These results may suggest that visual attention is distributed differently along the extrastiate cortex.