Neural substrates of word and number categorization (C10*)

• Subject Area: Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 222641018

Project C10 will evaluate how the brain supports word and number categorization, by further characterizing regions in the ventral visual stream that respond preferentially to each of these stimuli. We will i) elucidate if and how neural responses in word and number regions are impacted by the task the participants are performing, ii) investigate recent reports that number regions are challenging to identify across studies and provide a reliable fMRI localizer to overcome these challenges, iii) evaluate the emergence of number regions during childhood education and model this process in convolutional neural networks. By providing a better characterization of word and number regions, we will generate insight on visual categorization, as well as learning-induced changes in the brain. Moreover, as word and number regions in the ventral visual stream have been implicated in dyslexia and dyscalculia, the current project may facilitate future clinical work on these disorders.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 135: Cardinal mechanisms of perception: Prediction, Valuation, Categorization
• International Connection: USA
• Applicant Institution: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
• Project Head: Dr. Mareike Grotheer