Just like how we recycle materials to give them new life, the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) of our brains recycles its neural resources as we learn and experience the world. The VTC houses high-level visual areas responsible for recognizing important categories, like faces and words. It was previously thought that the right hemisphere becomes specialized for face recognition due to competition with the left hemisphere’s word recognition abilities. However, recent long-term studies on children challenge this theory. Instead, they suggest that word representations actually repurpose cortical regions previously used for processing other stimuli, such as limbs. This means that our brain’s recycling system is even more intricate and dynamic than we thought! To fully understand this fascinating phenomenon, further research is needed to investigate how visual experiences and behaviors are linked to these neural responses in the VTC.

High-level visual areas in ventral temporal cortex (VTC) support recognition of important categories, such as faces and words. Word-selective regions are left lateralized and emerge at the onset of reading instruction. Face-selective regions are right lateralized and have been documented in infancy. Prevailing theories suggest that face-selective regions become right lateralized due to competition with word-selective regions in the left hemisphere. However, recent longitudinal studies examining face- and word-selective responses in childhood do not provide support for this theory. Instead, there is evidence that word representations recycle cortex previously involved in processing other stimuli, such as limbs. These findings call for more longitudinal investigations of cortical recycling and a new era of work that links visual experience and behavior with neural responses.

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