The Role of the Fusiform Gyrus in Successful Encoding of Face Stimuli

Kuskowski, Michael A.; Pardo, José V.

doi:10.1006/nimg.1999.0442

Cited by 70 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…Our findings may appear at odds with the studies suggesting a role for the FFA in face identification (1,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). However, the contrasting evidence can be reconciled: the FFA may detect faces (2, 3, 27, 28), engage aIT to identify them (4,16,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26), and subsequently receive feedback from aIT. In this view, face identification requires both regions, and the activity of both should predict success and failure of the process.…”

Section: Figcontrasting

confidence: 91%

“…A puzzle to both brain and computer scientists, this computational feat involves a network of brain regions (1) including the fusiform face area (FFA) (2, 3) and anterior inferotemporal cortex (aIT) (4). There is a wealth of evidence for an involvement in face identification of both the FFA (1, 5-18) and aIT (4,16,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).The FFA responds vigorously whenever a face is perceived (2,3,27). This implies that the FFA distinguishes faces from objects of other categories and suggests the function of face detection (27,28).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neuroimaging studies (4,(22)(23)(24)26) found anterior temporal activation during face recognition with the activity predictive of performance (22). Lesion studies (19,20,25) suggest that right anterior temporal cortex is involved in face identification.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A puzzle to both brain and computer scientists, this computational feat involves a network of brain regions (1) including the fusiform face area (FFA) (2,3) and anterior inferotemporal cortex (aIT) (4). There is a wealth of evidence for an involvement in face identification of both the FFA (1,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) and aIT (4,16,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Individual faces elicit distinct response patterns in human anterior temporal cortex

Kriegeskorte

Formisano

Sorger

et al. 2007

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

465

424

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Visual face identification requires distinguishing between thousands of faces we know. This computational feat involves a network of brain regions including the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior inferotemporal cortex (aIT), whose roles in the process are not well understood. Here, we provide the first demonstration that it is possible to discriminate cortical response patterns elicited by individual face images with high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Response patterns elicited by the face images were distinct in aIT but not in the FFA. Individual-level face information is likely to be present in both regions, but our data suggest that it is more pronounced in aIT. One interpretation is that the FFA detects faces and engages aIT for identification.fMRI ͉ information-based ͉ population code W hen we perceive a familiar face, we usually effortlessly recognize its identity. Identification requires distinguishing between thousands of faces we know. A puzzle to both brain and computer scientists, this computational feat involves a network of brain regions (1) including the fusiform face area (FFA) (2, 3) and anterior inferotemporal cortex (aIT) (4). There is a wealth of evidence for an involvement in face identification of both the FFA (1, 5-18) and aIT (4,16,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).The FFA responds vigorously whenever a face is perceived (2,3,27). This implies that the FFA distinguishes faces from objects of other categories and suggests the function of face detection (27,28). An additional role for the FFA in face identification has been suggested by three lines of evidence: (i) Lesions in the region of the FFA are frequently associated with deficits at recognizing individual faces (prosopagnosia) (6, 9, 10). (ii) The FFA response level covaries with behavioral performance at identification (11). (iii) The FFA responds more strongly to a sequence of different individuals than to the same face presented repeatedly (8,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).For aIT as well, human lesion and neuroimaging studies suggest a role in face identification. Neuroimaging studies (4,(22)(23)(24)26) found anterior temporal activation during face recognition with the activity predictive of performance (22). Lesion studies (19,20,25) suggest that right anterior temporal cortex is involved in face identification. In monkey electrophysiology, in fact, face-identity effects appear stronger in anterior than in posterior inferotemporal cortex (29-31).These lines of evidence suggest an involvement of both the FFA and aIT in face identification. A region representing faces at the individual level should distinguish individual faces by its activity pattern. However, it has never been directly demonstrated that either the FFA or aIT responds with distinct activity patterns to different individual faces.We therefore investigated response patterns elicited by two face images by means of high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 Tesla (voxels: 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 2 mm 3 ). We asked whether response pattern...

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Section: Figcontrasting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A puzzle to both brain and computer scientists, this computational feat involves a network of brain regions (1) including the fusiform face area (FFA) (2,3) and anterior inferotemporal cortex (aIT) (4). There is a wealth of evidence for an involvement in face identification of both the FFA (1,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) and aIT (4,16,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Individual faces elicit distinct response patterns in human anterior temporal cortex

Kriegeskorte

Formisano

Sorger

et al. 2007

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

465

424

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show abstract

“…There are several lines of evidence that processing of faces may "automatically" activate the anterior temporal structures associated with recognition and naming of unique entities, even when unique level processing is not required: (a) although not requiring recognition at unique level, our face orientation baseline task engaged the temporal poles, more so on the right, compared to the building orientation baseline task (Fig. 3); (b) although not requiring recognition at unique level, intentional encoding of unfamiliar faces [Kuskowski and Pardo, 1999] engaged the right temporal pole; (c) although not requiring naming, the face categorization task of engaged the left TP. But when a briefer ISI was employed (2 sec vs. 3 sec), the temporal polar activation was diminished [Sergent et al, 1994].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

A role for left temporal pole in the retrieval of words for unique entities

Grabowski

Damásio

Tranel

et al. 2001

Human Brain Mapping

282

108

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Both lesion and functional imaging studies have implicated sectors of high-order association cortices of the left temporal lobe in the retrieval of words for objects belonging to varied conceptual categories. In particular, the cortices located in the left temporal pole have been associated with naming unique persons from faces. Because this neuroanatomical-behavioral association might be related to either the specificity of the task (retrieving a name at unique level) or to the possible preferential processing of faces by anterior temporal cortices, we performed a PET imaging experiment to test the hypothesis that the effect is related to the specificity of the word retrieval task. Normal subjects were asked to name at unique level entities from two conceptual categories: famous landmarks and famous faces. In support of the hypothesis, naming entities in both categories was associated with increases in activity in the left temporal pole. No main effect of category (faces vs. landmarks/buildings) or interaction of task and category was found in the left temporal pole. Retrieving names for unique persons and for names for unique landmarks activate the same brain region. These findings are consistent with the notion that activity in the left temporal pole is linked to the level of specificity of word retrieval rather than the conceptual class to which the stimulus belongs.

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