{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T13:07:43Z","timestamp":1790082463446,"version":"4.0.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]]},"group-title":"Neuroscience","reference-count":60,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785801600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["R01-HD095861"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01-HD095861"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04byxyr05","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The Visual Word Form Area (VWFA), located in ventral occipitotemporal cortex, plays a critical role in skilled reading. Researchers have theorized that the VWFA develops in its specific anatomical location due to the convergence of major white matter tracts and proximity to functionally similar regions. This suggests that precise anatomical positioning may be crucial for optimal VWFA function. Previous research has identified several functional differences in this region between typical and struggling readers (i.e. dyslexia): struggling readers show weaker text-selective responses and often exhibit a smaller or even absent VWFA. However, it remains unexplored whether the precise anatomical location of this region also differs between typical and struggling readers. We tested whether VWFA anatomy differs between children with and without dyslexia (N=87). Participants completed a functional localizer, which we used to manually define the VWFA in each individual\u2019s native anatomy. We examined whether: (1) VWFA anatomical location relates to reading ability, (2) children with dyslexia show greater variability in VWFA location compared to typical readers, and (3) VWFA location with respect to white matter tracts relates to reading ability. Results reveal that, despite being smaller in children with dyslexia, there is no relationship between VWFA location and reading ability. Specifically, individual VWFA location relative to anatomy, relative to other\u2019s VWFAs, and relative to white matter tracts, is not related to reading ability. These findings suggest that while the VWFA\u2019s general anatomy may be facilitated by development, its precise location remains stable and unrelated to reading proficiency.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.07.31.742142","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T10:40:32Z","timestamp":1785840032000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Anatomy of the Visual Word Form Area in Dyslexia"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-0854-1875","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jamie L.","family":"Mitchell","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4432-5275","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maya","family":"Yablonski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"},{"name":"Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-2682-2549","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mia","family":"Jimenez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0398-7619","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Howard","family":"Chiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2686-1293","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jason D.","family":"Yeatman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"},{"name":"Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2011.21615"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4918-13.2014"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00429-021-02384-8"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41592-021-01185-5"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2003.12.049"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/123.2.291"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awf094"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00429-021-02255-2"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2007.10.004"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.04.003"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1194140"},{"key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.2004103"},{"issue":"10","key":"2026092205200596000_2026.07.31.742142v2.13","first-page":"107","article-title":"Improved white matter response function estimation for 3-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution","volume":"555","year":"2019","journal-title":"Proc. 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