The function of the fusiform face area (FFA), a face-selective region in human extrastriate cortex, is a matter of active debate. Here we measured the correlation between FFA activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral outcomes in perceptual tasks to determine the role of the FFA in the detection and within-category identification of faces and objects. Our data show that FFA activation is correlated on a trial-by-trial basis with both detecting the presence of faces and identifying specific faces. However, for most non-face objects (including cars seen by car experts), within-category identification performance was correlated with activation in other regions of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, not the FFA. These results indicate that the FFA is involved in both detection and identification of faces, but that it has little involvement in within-category identification of non-face objects (including objects of expertise).

Macular degeneration (MD), the leading cause of visual impairment in the developed world, damages the central retina, often obliterating foveal vision and severely disrupting everyday tasks such as reading, driving, and face recognition. In such cases, the macular damage eliminates the normal retinal input to a large region of visual cortex, comprising tens of square centimeters of surface area in each hemisphere, which is normally responsive only to foveal stimuli. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked whether this deprived cortex simply becomes inactive in subjects with MD, or whether it takes on new functional properties. In two adult MD subjects with extensive bilateral central retinal lesions, we found that parts of visual cortex (including primary visual cortex) that normally respond only to central visual stimuli are strongly activated by peripheral stimuli. Such activation was not observed (1) with visual stimuli presented to the position of the former fovea and (2) in control subjects with visual stimuli presented to corresponding parts of peripheral retina. These results demonstrate large-scale reorganization of visual processing in MD and will likely prove important in any effort to develop new strategies for rehabilitation of MD subjects.

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HCI as a field comfortably and unquestionably links itself with the corporate world. What does this mean in terms of an ethics of problem choice, meaning the considerations that influence what types of design projects HCI researchers consider as important? Using the work of the industrial designer Victor Papanek, I foreground the agency of the designer. By undertaking a close reading of a recent publication of a major corporate research lab, I examine what important social and political aspects are missing from their vision of the future. I end by examining the work of the design team Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, describing how HCI can be involved in the formation of new forms of subjectivity that are not subservient to a market-based ideology.

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The integration of electronics and paper is a burgeoning topic for tangible interaction. Here we show how to use the Korean technique of hand-felting paper known as joomchi to embed electronics in paper after the sheet forming process. This method requires the use of specialized papers that are amenable to joomchi. We present embedded LEDs, multi layer circuit "sheets", and speakers. While labor-intensive, joomchi both enables one to completely integrate paper and electronics, while also making tangible connections between ancient and modern craft.

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