Simplified illustration of brain systems for reading. Reading begins with visual input to the occipital-striate cortex, then creating a visual representation of written words and efficiently connecting it through multiple bidirectional interactions to brain areas coding for speech sounds and word meaning. People with dyslexia exhibit dysfunction in the left hemisphere parieto-temporal and occipito-temporal areas and decreased connections to the visual pathways. They compensate by using the occipito-temporal area on the right side and the inferior frontal gyri bilaterally. They also show decreased functional connectivity to the prefrontal attention area.