Structural Imaging Reveals Anatomical Alterations in Inferotemporal Cortex in Congenital Prosopagnosia

Behrmann, Marlene; Avidan, Galia; Gao, Fuqiang; Black, Sandra E.

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl144

Cited by 145 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

110

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1 and 28). The critical role of the anterior temporal lobe in face recognition is further supported by a recent structural imaging study, which showed a significant reduction in the volume of white/gray matter in the anterior IT cortex, in individuals with congenital prosopagnosia, relative to the normal subjects (29). This volumetric reduction of cortex was correlated with the extent of behavioral deficits in face recognition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

An anterior temporal face patch in human cortex, predicted by macaque maps

Rajimehr

Young

Tootell

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

260

235

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing evidence suggests that primate visual cortex has a specialized architecture for processing discrete object categories such as faces. Human fMRI studies have described a localized region in the fusiform gyrus [the fusiform face area (FFA)] that responds selectively to faces. In contrast, in nonhuman primates, electrophysiological and fMRI studies have instead revealed 2 apparently analogous regions of face representation: the posterior temporal face patch (PTFP) and the anterior temporal face patch (ATFP). An earlier study suggested that human FFA is homologous to the PTFP in macaque. However, in humans, no obvious homologue of the macaque ATFP has been demonstrated. Here, we used fMRI to map face-selective sites in both humans and macaques, based on equivalent stimuli in a quantitative topographic comparison. This fMRI evidence suggests that such a face-selective area exists in human anterior inferotemporal cortex, comprising the apparent homologue of the fMRI-defined ATFP in macaques.face processing ͉ fMRI ͉ inferotemporal cortex ͉ macaque-human homology T he fusiform face area (FFA) is one of the most distinctive regions in the human ventral temporal cortex. A wide range of noninvasive techniques, including PET, fMRI, ERP, and MEG have shown that FFA responds selectively to images of faces, relative to a wide variety of control objects (1-7). Such approaches have revealed an enormous amount about face selectivity in this distinctive region of human cerebral cortex.Such noninvasive techniques cannot furnish the kind of incisive information that is available from classical neurobiological techniques (e.g., single-unit recording) in nonhuman primates. These 2 realms have begun to be bridged by recent fMRI studies in awake monkeys, which demonstrated that apparently homologous face-selective regions also exist in macaque inferotemporal (IT) cortex (8,9). Subsequent experiments reported that Ϸ97% of the single units in the largest face-selective region (the so-called posterior temporal face patch, located in caudal TE) respond strongly and selectively to images of faces, compared with images of control objects (10). This fMRI and physiological evidence supports the idea that this region of monkey cortex is indeed selective for faces.A computational transformation concluded that this posterior temporal face patch (PTFP) in macaques is located in a cortical region that corresponds topographically to area FFA in human subjects (8). This analysis assumes that neighborhood relations between specific cortical areas are evolutionarily conserved across the sheet of cortical gray matter, as validated in many previous human-monkey comparisons (11-14).However, this conclusion raises a significant issue. In macaques, an additional face-selective region is consistently found further anterior in the temporal lobe, in rostral TE (8-10, 15, 16); here, this is termed the anterior temporal face patch (ATFP). However, in humans, no such area (i.e., anterior to FFA) has been reported by conventional fMRI mapping of face rep...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

An anterior temporal face patch in human cortex, predicted by macaque maps

Rajimehr

Young

Tootell

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

260

235

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Alternatively, if actual differences in processing strategy or biological markers of DP and super-recognition are observed, this would be stronger evidence that the two terms refer to qualitatively different groups of people. There is some evidence to support this in individuals with DP, given recent neurological findings that suggest structural atypicalities within critical regions implicated in face-processing (e.g., Behrmann, Avidan, Gao, & Black, 2007;Burns, Tree, & Weidemann, 2014;Garrido et al, 2009;Song et al, 2015).…”

Section: Developmental Prosopagnosia: Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Definition and Diagnosis of Developmental Prosopagnosia

Bate

Tree

2017

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over the last 20 years much attention in the field of face recognition has been directed towards the study of developmental prosopagnosia (DP), with some authors investigating the behavioural characteristics of the condition, and many others using these individuals to further our theoretical understanding of the typical face-processing system. It is broadly agreed that the term “DP” refers to people who have failed to develop the ability to recognize faces in the absence of neurological illness or injury, yet more precise terminology in relation to potential subtypes of the population are yet to be confirmed. Furthermore, specific diagnostic techniques and inclusion and exclusion criteria have yet to be uniformly accepted across the field, making cross-paper comparisons and meta-analyses very difficult. This paper presents an overview of the current challenges that face research into DP and introduces a series of papers that attempt to further our understanding of the condition's characteristics. It is hoped that this special issue will provide a springboard for further research addressing these issues, improving the current state of the art by ensuring the quality of theoretical investigations into DP, and by posing advances that will assist those who have the condition.

show abstract

“…Neural abnormalities in DPs have been reported. Behrmann et al (2007) and Garrido et al (2009) reported decreased gray matter in the fusiform gyrus, STS, and ATL of participants with DP. Gomez et al (2015) and Song et al (2015) found altered white matter around the FFA in DP.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Effective Connectivity from Early Visual Cortex to Posterior Occipitotemporal Face Areas Supports Face Selectivity and Predicts Developmental Prosopagnosia

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Face processing is mediated by interactions between functional areas in the occipital and temporal lobe, and the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior temporal lobe play key roles in the recognition of facial identity. Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP), a lifelong face recognition impairment, have been shown to have structural and functional neuronal alterations in these areas. The present study investigated how face selectivity is generated in participants with normal face processing, and how functional abnormalities associated with DP, arise as a function of network connectivity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and dynamic causal modeling, we examined effective connectivity in normal participants by assessing network models that include early visual cortex (EVC) and face-selective areas and then investigated the integrity of this connectivity in participants with DP. Results showed that a feedforward architecture from EVC to the occipital face area, EVC toFFA,andEVCtoposteriorsuperiortemporalsulcus(pSTS)bestexplainedhowfaceselectivityarisesinbothcontrolsandparticipantswithDP. In this architecture, the DP group showed reduced connection strengths on feedforward connections carrying face information from EVC to FFA and EVC to pSTS. These altered network dynamics in DP contribute to the diminished face selectivity in the posterior occipitotemporal areas affected in DP. These findings suggest a novel view on the relevance of feedforward projection from EVC to posterior occipitotemporal face areas in generating cortical face selectivity and differences in face recognition ability.

show abstract

Structural Imaging Reveals Anatomical Alterations in Inferotemporal Cortex in Congenital Prosopagnosia

Cited by 145 publications

References 65 publications

An anterior temporal face patch in human cortex, predicted by macaque maps

An anterior temporal face patch in human cortex, predicted by macaque maps

The Definition and Diagnosis of Developmental Prosopagnosia

Effective Connectivity from Early Visual Cortex to Posterior Occipitotemporal Face Areas Supports Face Selectivity and Predicts Developmental Prosopagnosia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About