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Over the last 20 years, reading has been the focus of much research using functional imaging. A formal assessment of the implications of this work for a more general understanding of reading processes is still lacking. We performed a new meta-analysis based on an optimized hierarchical clustering algorithm which automatically groups activation peaks into clusters; the functional role of the clusters was assessed on the basis of statistical criteria. We considered the literature from 1992 to 2008, focussing exclusively on experiments based on single words or pseudowords from the following four classes of tasks: reading, lexical decision, phonological decision and semantic tasks. Our analysis was restricted to alphabetic orthographies and was based on 35 studies. We identified three networks: (1) a difficulty modulated network including Broca's area and attention-related brain regions; (2) a word-related network …