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Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to estimate neural activity in this area, while young and old adults viewed words and line drawings. Our results demonstrated the existence of neural dedifferentiation of the left vOT in old adults during visual word processing. More specifically, this dedifferentiation was due to neural attenuation that is, decreased response to words rather than increased response to line drawings in old adults compared with young adults. In addition, individuals who showed decreased neural response to words had worse performance in visual word processing. Taken together, our findings support the neural attenuation hypothesis for the cognitive decline in visual word processing in old adults.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhac488","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,5]],"date-time":"2023-01-05T06:33:11Z","timestamp":1672900391000},"page":"6111-6119","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Neural attenuation: age-related dedifferentiation in the left occipitotemporal cortex for visual word processing"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Licheng","family":"Xue","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University , No. 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"},{"name":"Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, South China Normal University , No. 55 Zhongshan Avenue West Rd, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510631 , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yating","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University , No. 126 Wenzhou Rd, Gongshu District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"},{"name":"Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University , No. 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"},{"name":"Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments , No. 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University , No. 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"},{"name":"Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments , No. 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou 311121 , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,3]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"2023051507224264000_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1007\/s11357-015-9857-y","article-title":"Functional MRI evidence for the decline of word retrieval and generation during normal aging","volume":"38","author":"Baciu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Age Dordr Neth"},{"issue":"4","key":"2023051507224264000_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1266","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2004.12.053","article-title":"Imaging brain connectivity in children with diverse reading ability","volume":"25","author":"Beaulieu","year":"2005","journal-title":"NeuroImage"},{"issue":"9","key":"2023051507224264000_ref3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2387","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2011.21615","article-title":"The development of cortical sensitivity to visual word forms","volume":"23","author":"Ben-Shachar","year":"2011","journal-title":"J Cogn Neurosci"},{"issue":"20","key":"2023051507224264000_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1153","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhp175","article-title":"The left ventral occipito-temporal response to words depends on language lateralization but not on visual familiarity","volume":"1991","author":"Cai","year":"2010","journal-title":"Cereb Cortex N Y N"},{"issue":"1","key":"2023051507224264000_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhq078","article-title":"Cortical representations of symbols, objects, and faces are pruned back during early childhood","volume":"21","author":"Cantlon","year":"2011","journal-title":"Cereb Cortex"},{"issue":"1","key":"2023051507224264000_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2003.12.049","article-title":"Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area","volume":"22","author":"Cohen","year":"2004","journal-title":"NeuroImage"},{"issue":"Pt 2","key":"2023051507224264000_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/123.2.291","article-title":"The visual word form area: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients","volume":"123","author":"Cohen","year":"2000","journal-title":"Brain J Neurol"},{"issue":"5","key":"2023051507224264000_ref8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1054","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awf094","article-title":"Language-specific tuning of visual cortex? 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