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Xu Chu Weng - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Familiarity with visual forms contributes to a left-lateralized and increased N170 response for Chinese characters.
    Neuropsychologia, 2019
    Co-Authors: Licheng Xue, Urs Maurer, Xu Chu Weng, Jing Zhao
    Abstract:

    Abstract While skilled readers produce an increased and left-lateralized event-related-potential (ERP) component, known as N170, for strings of letters compared to strings of less familiar units, it remains unclear whether perceptual familiarity plays an important role in driving the increased and left-lateralized N170 for print. The present study addressed this issue by examining N170 responses for regular Chinese characters and cursive Chinese characters which are visually less familiar regarding their form, yet with phonological and semantic properties. Stroke combinations, which are with unfamiliar visual form and without phonological or semantic properties, were used as low-level control stimuli. Twenty college students (22.6 ± 1.2 years) were examined. A content-irrelevant color matching task was used to control for differences of attention load across familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. A left-lateralized N170 was evoked only by regular characters, but not by cursive characters or stroke combinations. Moreover, cursive characters, which are principally readable but visually unfamiliar, produced a lower N170 than regular characters, and no N170 difference was found compared with stroke combinations. These results suggest that visual form familiarity serves as an important driver for the increased and left-lateralized N170 response.

  • training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate chinese children
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Xu Chu Weng, Carl M. Gaspar
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (similar to 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  • Training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate Chinese children.
    Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Carl M. Gaspar, Xu Chu Weng
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (∼ 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects.

  • Selectivity of N170 in the left hemisphere as an electrophysiological marker for expertise in reading Chinese.
    Neuroscience bulletin, 2012
    Co-Authors: Jing Zhao, Si En Lin, Xiaohua Cao, Xu Chu Weng
    Abstract:

    Objective The left-lateralized N170, an event-related potential component consistently shown in response to alphabetic words, is a robust electrophysiological marker for reading expertise in an alphabetic language. In contrast, such a marker is lacking for expertise in reading Chinese, because the existing results about the lateralization of N170 for Chinese characters are mixed, reflecting complicated factors such as top-down modulation that contribute to the relative magnitudes of N170 in the left and right hemispheres. The present study aimed to explore a potential electrophysiologi- cal marker for reading expertise in Chinese with minimal top-down influence. Methods We recorded N170 responses to Chinese characters and three kinds of control stimuli in a content-irrelevant task, minimizing potential top-down effects. Results Direct comparison of the N170 amplitude in response to Chinese characters between the hemispheres showed a marginally significant left-lateralization effect. However, detailed analyses of N170 in each hemisphere revealed a more ro- bust pattern of left-lateralization — the N170 in the left but not the right hemisphere differentiated Chinese characters from control stimuli. Conclusion These results suggest that the selectivity of N170 (a greater N170 in response to Chinese characters than to control stimuli) within the left hemisphere rather than the hemispheric difference of N170 with regard to Chinese characters is an electrophysiological marker for expertise in reading Chinese.

Bruce D. Mccandliss - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Attentional Focus During Learning Impacts N170 ERP Responses to an Artificial Script
    Developmental neuropsychology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Yuliya N. Yoncheva, Urs Maurer, Vera C. Blau, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    Reading instruction can direct attention to different unit sizes in print-to-speech mapping, ranging from grapheme-phoneme to whole-word relationships. Thus, attentional focus during learning might influence brain mechanisms recruited during reading, as indexed by the N170 response to visual words. To test this, two groups of adults were trained to read an artificial script under instructions directing attention to grapheme-phoneme versus whole-word associations. N170 responses were subsequently contrasted within an active reading task. Grapheme-phoneme focus drove a left-lateralized N170 response relative to the right-lateralized N170 under whole-word focus. These findings suggest a key role for attentional focus in early reading acquisition.

  • category specificity in early perception face and word N170 responses differ in both lateralization and habituation properties
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Bruno Rossion, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    Enhanced N170 ERP responses to both faces and visual words raises questions about category specific processing mechanisms during early perception and their neural basis. Topographic differences across word and face N170s might suggest a form of category specific processing in early perception - the word N170 is consistently left lateralized, while less consistent evidence suggests a right lateralization for the face N170. Additionally, the face N170 shows a reduction in amplitude across consecutive unique faces, a form of habituation that might differ across studies thereby helping to explain inconsistencies in lateralization. This effect remains unexplored for visual words. The current study directly contrasts N170 responses to words and faces within the same subjects, examining both category-level habituation and lateralization effects. ERP responses to a series of different faces and words were collected under two contexts: blocks that alternated faces and words versus pure blocks designed to induce category level habituation. Global and occipito-temporal measures of N170 amplitude demonstrated an interaction between category (word, faces) and block context (alternating, pure). N170 amplitude demonstrated class level habituation for faces but not words. Furthermore, the pure block context diminished the right lateralization of the face N170, potentially pointing to class level habituation as a factor that might drive inconsistencies of right lateralization across different paradigms. No analogous effect for the word N170 was found, suggesting category specificity for this process. Taken together, these topographic and habituation effects suggest distinct forms of perceptual processing drive the face N170 and the visual word form N170.

  • Category specificity in early perception : face and word N170 responses differ in both lateralization and habituation properties
    Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Bruno Rossion, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    N170 event-related potential (ERP) responses to both faces and visual words raises questions about category specific processing mechanisms during early perception and their neural basis. Topographic differences across word and face N170s suggests a form of category specific processing in early perception - the word N170 is consistently left-lateralized, while less consistent evidence supports a right-lateralization for the face N170. Additionally, the face N170 shows a reduction in amplitude across consecutive individual faces, a form of habituation that might differ across studies thereby helping to explain inconsistencies in lateralization. This effect remains unexplored for visual words. The current study directly contrasts N170 responses to words and faces within the same subjects, examining both category-level habituation and lateralization effects. ERP responses to a series of different faces and words were collected under two contexts: blocks that alternated faces and words vs. pure blocks of a single category designed to induce category-level habituation. Global and occipito-temporal measures of N170 amplitude demonstrated an interaction between category (words, faces) and block context (alternating categories, same category). N170 amplitude demonstrated class-level habituation for faces but not words. Furthermore, the pure block context diminished the right-lateralization of the face N170, pointing to class-level habituation as a factor that might drive inconsistencies in findings of right-lateralization across different paradigms. No analogous effect for the word N170 was found, suggesting category specificity for this form of habituation. Taken together, topographic and habituation effects suggest distinct forms of perceptual processing drive the face N170 and the visual word form N170.

  • left lateralized N170 effects of visual expertise in reading evidence from japanese syllabic and logographic scripts
    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Jason D Zevin, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) reflects experience-dependent neural changes in several forms of visual expertise, including expertise for visual words. Readers skilled in writing systems that link characters to phonemes (i.e., alphabetic writing) typically produce a left-lateralized N170 to visual word forms. This study examined the N170 in three Japanese scripts that link characters to larger phonological units. Participants were monolingual English speakers (EL1) and native Japanese speakers (JL1) who were also proficient in English. ERPs were collected using a 129-channel array, as participants performed a series of experiments viewing words or novel control stimuli in a repetition detection task. The N170 was strongly left-lateralized for all three Japanese scripts (including logographic Kanji characters) in JL1 participants, but bilateral in EL1 participants viewing these same stimuli. This demonstrates that left-lateralization of the N170 is dependent on specific reading expertise and is not limited to alphabetic scripts. Additional contrasts within the moraic Katakana script revealed equivalent N170 responses in JL1 speakers for familiar Katakana words and for Kanji words transcribed into novel Katakana words, suggesting that the N170 expertise effect is driven by script familiarity rather than familiarity with particular visual word forms. Finally, for English words and novel symbol string stimuli, both EL1 and JL1 subjects produced equivalent responses for the novel symbols, and more left-lateralized N170 responses for the English words, indicating that such effects are not limited to the first language. Taken together, these cross-linguistic results suggest that similar neural processes underlie visual expertise for print in very different writing systems.

  • The face-specific N170 component is modulated by emotional facial expression
    Behavioral and brain functions : BBF, 2007
    Co-Authors: Vera C. Blau, Urs Maurer, Nim Tottenham, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    Background According to the traditional two-stage model of face processing, the face-specific N170 event-related potential (ERP) is linked to structural encoding of face stimuli, whereas later ERP components are thought to reflect processing of facial affect. This view has recently been challenged by reports of N170 modulations by emotional facial expression. This study examines the time-course and topography of the influence of emotional expression on the N170 response to faces.

Urs Maurer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Familiarity with visual forms contributes to a left-lateralized and increased N170 response for Chinese characters.
    Neuropsychologia, 2019
    Co-Authors: Licheng Xue, Urs Maurer, Xu Chu Weng, Jing Zhao
    Abstract:

    Abstract While skilled readers produce an increased and left-lateralized event-related-potential (ERP) component, known as N170, for strings of letters compared to strings of less familiar units, it remains unclear whether perceptual familiarity plays an important role in driving the increased and left-lateralized N170 for print. The present study addressed this issue by examining N170 responses for regular Chinese characters and cursive Chinese characters which are visually less familiar regarding their form, yet with phonological and semantic properties. Stroke combinations, which are with unfamiliar visual form and without phonological or semantic properties, were used as low-level control stimuli. Twenty college students (22.6 ± 1.2 years) were examined. A content-irrelevant color matching task was used to control for differences of attention load across familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. A left-lateralized N170 was evoked only by regular characters, but not by cursive characters or stroke combinations. Moreover, cursive characters, which are principally readable but visually unfamiliar, produced a lower N170 than regular characters, and no N170 difference was found compared with stroke combinations. These results suggest that visual form familiarity serves as an important driver for the increased and left-lateralized N170 response.

  • Attentional Focus During Learning Impacts N170 ERP Responses to an Artificial Script
    Developmental neuropsychology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Yuliya N. Yoncheva, Urs Maurer, Vera C. Blau, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    Reading instruction can direct attention to different unit sizes in print-to-speech mapping, ranging from grapheme-phoneme to whole-word relationships. Thus, attentional focus during learning might influence brain mechanisms recruited during reading, as indexed by the N170 response to visual words. To test this, two groups of adults were trained to read an artificial script under instructions directing attention to grapheme-phoneme versus whole-word associations. N170 responses were subsequently contrasted within an active reading task. Grapheme-phoneme focus drove a left-lateralized N170 response relative to the right-lateralized N170 under whole-word focus. These findings suggest a key role for attentional focus in early reading acquisition.

  • category specificity in early perception face and word N170 responses differ in both lateralization and habituation properties
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Bruno Rossion, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    Enhanced N170 ERP responses to both faces and visual words raises questions about category specific processing mechanisms during early perception and their neural basis. Topographic differences across word and face N170s might suggest a form of category specific processing in early perception - the word N170 is consistently left lateralized, while less consistent evidence suggests a right lateralization for the face N170. Additionally, the face N170 shows a reduction in amplitude across consecutive unique faces, a form of habituation that might differ across studies thereby helping to explain inconsistencies in lateralization. This effect remains unexplored for visual words. The current study directly contrasts N170 responses to words and faces within the same subjects, examining both category-level habituation and lateralization effects. ERP responses to a series of different faces and words were collected under two contexts: blocks that alternated faces and words versus pure blocks designed to induce category level habituation. Global and occipito-temporal measures of N170 amplitude demonstrated an interaction between category (word, faces) and block context (alternating, pure). N170 amplitude demonstrated class level habituation for faces but not words. Furthermore, the pure block context diminished the right lateralization of the face N170, potentially pointing to class level habituation as a factor that might drive inconsistencies of right lateralization across different paradigms. No analogous effect for the word N170 was found, suggesting category specificity for this process. Taken together, these topographic and habituation effects suggest distinct forms of perceptual processing drive the face N170 and the visual word form N170.

  • Category specificity in early perception : face and word N170 responses differ in both lateralization and habituation properties
    Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Bruno Rossion, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    N170 event-related potential (ERP) responses to both faces and visual words raises questions about category specific processing mechanisms during early perception and their neural basis. Topographic differences across word and face N170s suggests a form of category specific processing in early perception - the word N170 is consistently left-lateralized, while less consistent evidence supports a right-lateralization for the face N170. Additionally, the face N170 shows a reduction in amplitude across consecutive individual faces, a form of habituation that might differ across studies thereby helping to explain inconsistencies in lateralization. This effect remains unexplored for visual words. The current study directly contrasts N170 responses to words and faces within the same subjects, examining both category-level habituation and lateralization effects. ERP responses to a series of different faces and words were collected under two contexts: blocks that alternated faces and words vs. pure blocks of a single category designed to induce category-level habituation. Global and occipito-temporal measures of N170 amplitude demonstrated an interaction between category (words, faces) and block context (alternating categories, same category). N170 amplitude demonstrated class-level habituation for faces but not words. Furthermore, the pure block context diminished the right-lateralization of the face N170, pointing to class-level habituation as a factor that might drive inconsistencies in findings of right-lateralization across different paradigms. No analogous effect for the word N170 was found, suggesting category specificity for this form of habituation. Taken together, topographic and habituation effects suggest distinct forms of perceptual processing drive the face N170 and the visual word form N170.

  • left lateralized N170 effects of visual expertise in reading evidence from japanese syllabic and logographic scripts
    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2008
    Co-Authors: Urs Maurer, Jason D Zevin, Bruce D. Mccandliss
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) reflects experience-dependent neural changes in several forms of visual expertise, including expertise for visual words. Readers skilled in writing systems that link characters to phonemes (i.e., alphabetic writing) typically produce a left-lateralized N170 to visual word forms. This study examined the N170 in three Japanese scripts that link characters to larger phonological units. Participants were monolingual English speakers (EL1) and native Japanese speakers (JL1) who were also proficient in English. ERPs were collected using a 129-channel array, as participants performed a series of experiments viewing words or novel control stimuli in a repetition detection task. The N170 was strongly left-lateralized for all three Japanese scripts (including logographic Kanji characters) in JL1 participants, but bilateral in EL1 participants viewing these same stimuli. This demonstrates that left-lateralization of the N170 is dependent on specific reading expertise and is not limited to alphabetic scripts. Additional contrasts within the moraic Katakana script revealed equivalent N170 responses in JL1 speakers for familiar Katakana words and for Kanji words transcribed into novel Katakana words, suggesting that the N170 expertise effect is driven by script familiarity rather than familiarity with particular visual word forms. Finally, for English words and novel symbol string stimuli, both EL1 and JL1 subjects produced equivalent responses for the novel symbols, and more left-lateralized N170 responses for the English words, indicating that such effects are not limited to the first language. Taken together, these cross-linguistic results suggest that similar neural processes underlie visual expertise for print in very different writing systems.

Jing Zhao - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Familiarity with visual forms contributes to a left-lateralized and increased N170 response for Chinese characters.
    Neuropsychologia, 2019
    Co-Authors: Licheng Xue, Urs Maurer, Xu Chu Weng, Jing Zhao
    Abstract:

    Abstract While skilled readers produce an increased and left-lateralized event-related-potential (ERP) component, known as N170, for strings of letters compared to strings of less familiar units, it remains unclear whether perceptual familiarity plays an important role in driving the increased and left-lateralized N170 for print. The present study addressed this issue by examining N170 responses for regular Chinese characters and cursive Chinese characters which are visually less familiar regarding their form, yet with phonological and semantic properties. Stroke combinations, which are with unfamiliar visual form and without phonological or semantic properties, were used as low-level control stimuli. Twenty college students (22.6 ± 1.2 years) were examined. A content-irrelevant color matching task was used to control for differences of attention load across familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. A left-lateralized N170 was evoked only by regular characters, but not by cursive characters or stroke combinations. Moreover, cursive characters, which are principally readable but visually unfamiliar, produced a lower N170 than regular characters, and no N170 difference was found compared with stroke combinations. These results suggest that visual form familiarity serves as an important driver for the increased and left-lateralized N170 response.

  • training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate chinese children
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Xu Chu Weng, Carl M. Gaspar
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (similar to 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  • Training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate Chinese children.
    Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Carl M. Gaspar, Xu Chu Weng
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (∼ 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects.

  • Selectivity of N170 in the left hemisphere as an electrophysiological marker for expertise in reading Chinese.
    Neuroscience bulletin, 2012
    Co-Authors: Jing Zhao, Si En Lin, Xiaohua Cao, Xu Chu Weng
    Abstract:

    Objective The left-lateralized N170, an event-related potential component consistently shown in response to alphabetic words, is a robust electrophysiological marker for reading expertise in an alphabetic language. In contrast, such a marker is lacking for expertise in reading Chinese, because the existing results about the lateralization of N170 for Chinese characters are mixed, reflecting complicated factors such as top-down modulation that contribute to the relative magnitudes of N170 in the left and right hemispheres. The present study aimed to explore a potential electrophysiologi- cal marker for reading expertise in Chinese with minimal top-down influence. Methods We recorded N170 responses to Chinese characters and three kinds of control stimuli in a content-irrelevant task, minimizing potential top-down effects. Results Direct comparison of the N170 amplitude in response to Chinese characters between the hemispheres showed a marginally significant left-lateralization effect. However, detailed analyses of N170 in each hemisphere revealed a more ro- bust pattern of left-lateralization — the N170 in the left but not the right hemisphere differentiated Chinese characters from control stimuli. Conclusion These results suggest that the selectivity of N170 (a greater N170 in response to Chinese characters than to control stimuli) within the left hemisphere rather than the hemispheric difference of N170 with regard to Chinese characters is an electrophysiological marker for expertise in reading Chinese.

Carl M. Gaspar - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate chinese children
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Xu Chu Weng, Carl M. Gaspar
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (similar to 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  • Training by visual identification and writing leads to different visual word expertise N170 effects in preliterate Chinese children.
    Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2015
    Co-Authors: Pei Zhao, Jing Zhao, Carl M. Gaspar, Xu Chu Weng
    Abstract:

    The N170 component of EEG evoked by visual words is an index of perceptual expertise for the visual word across different writing systems. In the present study, we investigated whether these N170 markers for Chinese, a very complex script, could emerge quickly after short-term learning (∼ 100 min) in young Chinese children, and whether early writing experience can enhance the acquisition of these neural markers for expertise. Two groups of preschool children received visual identification and free writing training respectively. Short-term character training resulted in selective enhancement of the N170 to characters, consistent with normal expert processing. Visual identification training resulted in increased N170 amplitude to characters in the right hemisphere, and N170 amplitude differences between characters and faces were decreased; whereas the amplitude difference between characters and tools increased. Writing training led to the disappearance of an initial amplitude difference between characters and faces in the right hemisphere. These results show that N170 markers for visual expertise emerge rapidly in young children after word learning, independent of the type of script young children learn; and visual identification and writing produce different effects.

  • The overlap of neural selectivity between faces and words: evidences from the N170 adaptation effect
    Experimental brain research, 2014
    Co-Authors: Xiaohua Cao, Bei Jiang, Carl M. Gaspar
    Abstract:

    Faces and words both evoke an N170, a strong electrophysiological response that is often used as a marker for the early stages of expert pattern perception. We examine the relationship of neural selectivity between faces and words by using a novel application of cross-category adaptation to the N170. We report a strong asymmetry between N170 adaptation induced by faces and by words. This is the first electrophysiological result showing that neural selectivity to faces encompasses neural selectivity to words and suggests that the N170 response to faces constitutes a neural marker for versatile representations of familiar visual patterns.