Decoding of Faces and Face Components in Face-sensitive Human Visual Cortex

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2011 Aug 12

PMID 21833198

Citations 23

Authors

David F Nichols

Lisa R Betts

Hugh R Wilson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A great challenge to the field of visual neuroscience is to understand how faces are encoded and represented within the human brain. Here we show evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for spatially distributed processing of the whole face and its components in face-sensitive human visual cortex. We used multi-class linear pattern classifiers constructed with a leave-one-scan-out verification procedure to discriminate brain activation patterns elicited by whole faces, the internal features alone, and the external head outline alone. Furthermore, our results suggest that whole faces are represented disproportionately in the fusiform cortex (FFA) whereas the building blocks of faces are represented disproportionately in occipitotemporal cortex (OFA). Faces and face components may therefore be organized with functional clustering within both the FFA and OFA, but with specialization for face components in the OFA and the whole face in the FFA.

Citing Articles

Image classification and reconstruction from low-density EEG.

Guenther S, Kosmyna N, Maes P Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):16436.

PMID: 39013929 PMC: 11252274. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66228-1.

Relative tuning of holistic face processing towards the fovea.

Canas-Bajo T, Whitney D Vision Res. 2022; 197:108049.

PMID: 35461170 PMC: 10101769. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2022.108049.

Categorizing objects from MEG signals using EEGNet.

Shi R, Zhao Y, Cao Z, Liu C, Kang Y, Zhang J Cogn Neurodyn. 2022; 16(2):365-377.

PMID: 35401863 PMC: 8934895. DOI: 10.1007/s11571-021-09717-7.

The Face Module Emerged in a Deep Convolutional Neural Network Selectively Deprived of Face Experience.

Xu S, Zhang Y, Zhen Z, Liu J Front Comput Neurosci. 2021; 15:626259.

PMID: 34093154 PMC: 8173218. DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2021.626259.

Acute administration of methylphenidate differentially affects cortical processing of emotional facial expressions in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder children as studied by functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Kobayashi M, Ikeda T, Tokuda T, Monden Y, Nagashima M, Mizushima S Neurophotonics. 2020; 7(2):025003.

PMID: 32377545 PMC: 7201297. DOI: 10.1117/1.NPh.7.2.025003.

References

Kanwisher N, Yovel G . The fusiform face area: a cortical region specialized for the perception of faces. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2006; 361(1476):2109-28. PMC: 1857737. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1934. View

Gauthier I, Tarr M, Moylan J, Skudlarski P, Gore J, Anderson A . The fusiform "face area" is part of a network that processes faces at the individual level. J Cogn Neurosci. 2000; 12(3):495-504. DOI: 10.1162/089892900562165. View

Engel S, Glover G, Wandell B . Retinotopic organization in human visual cortex and the spatial precision of functional MRI. Cereb Cortex. 1997; 7(2):181-92. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/7.2.181. View

Steeves J, Culham J, Duchaine B, Pratesi C, Valyear K, Schindler I . The fusiform face area is not sufficient for face recognition: evidence from a patient with dense prosopagnosia and no occipital face area. Neuropsychologia. 2005; 44(4):594-609. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.06.013. View

Kim M, Ducros M, Carlson T, Ronen I, He S, Ugurbil K . Anatomical correlates of the functional organization in the human occipitotemporal cortex. Magn Reson Imaging. 2006; 24(5):583-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2005.12.005. View

Caldara R, L Seghier M, Rossion B, Lazeyras F, Michel C, Hauert C . The fusiform face area is tuned for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrasted elements in the upper part. Neuroimage. 2006; 31(1):313-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.011. View

Kanwisher N, McDermott J, Chun M . The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception. J Neurosci. 1997; 17(11):4302-11. PMC: 6573547. View

Perrett D, Rolls E, Caan W . Visual neurones responsive to faces in the monkey temporal cortex. Exp Brain Res. 1982; 47(3):329-42. DOI: 10.1007/BF00239352. View

Wilkinson F, James T, Wilson H, Gati J, Menon R, Goodale M . An fMRI study of the selective activation of human extrastriate form vision areas by radial and concentric gratings. Curr Biol. 2000; 10(22):1455-8. DOI: 10.1016/s0960-9822(00)00800-9. View

10.

Rossion B . Constraining the cortical face network by neuroimaging studies of acquired prosopagnosia. Neuroimage. 2007; 40(2):423-426. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.10.047. View

11.

Betts L, Wilson H . Heterogeneous structure in face-selective human occipito-temporal cortex. J Cogn Neurosci. 2009; 22(10):2276-88. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21346. View

12.

Bruce C, DeSimone R, GROSS C . Visual properties of neurons in a polysensory area in superior temporal sulcus of the macaque. J Neurophysiol. 1981; 46(2):369-84. DOI: 10.1152/jn.1981.46.2.369. View

13.

Pitcher D, Walsh V, Yovel G, Duchaine B . TMS evidence for the involvement of the right occipital face area in early face processing. Curr Biol. 2007; 17(18):1568-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.07.063. View

14.

Levy I, Hasson U, Avidan G, Hendler T, Malach R . Center-periphery organization of human object areas. Nat Neurosci. 2001; 4(5):533-9. DOI: 10.1038/87490. View

15.

Grill-Spector K, Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N . The lateral occipital complex and its role in object recognition. Vision Res. 2001; 41(10-11):1409-22. DOI: 10.1016/s0042-6989(01)00073-6. View

16.

Loffler G, Yourganov G, Wilkinson F, Wilson H . fMRI evidence for the neural representation of faces. Nat Neurosci. 2005; 8(10):1386-90. DOI: 10.1038/nn1538. View

17.

Harris A, Aguirre G . The representation of parts and wholes in face-selective cortex. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008; 20(5):863-78. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20509. View

18.

Rossion B, Caldara R, Seghier M, Schuller A, Lazeyras F, Mayer E . A network of occipito-temporal face-sensitive areas besides the right middle fusiform gyrus is necessary for normal face processing. Brain. 2003; 126(Pt 11):2381-95. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awg241. View

19.

Pitcher D, Garrido L, Walsh V, Duchaine B . Transcranial magnetic stimulation disrupts the perception and embodiment of facial expressions. J Neurosci. 2008; 28(36):8929-33. PMC: 6670866. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1450-08.2008. View

20.

Caldara R, L Seghier M . The Fusiform Face Area responds automatically to statistical regularities optimal for face categorization. Hum Brain Mapp. 2008; 30(5):1615-25. PMC: 6870713. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20626. View