A property of face representation at the categorical level

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2008.09.053

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 448, Issue 1, 19 December 2008, Pages 1-5

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2008.09.053 Get rights and content

Abstract

Face processing is unique to human beings and is likely to have special neuronal properties. We studied one of these properties, categorical representation of the face in perception processing (perception) and in memory recall processing (imagery), using the face and building stimuli. The same building-selective areas showed categorical selectivity in imagery as well as in perception, but face-selective areas did not. The selective areas to face stimuli in perception were completely different from those in imagery. This indicates that conceptual category selectivity in top-down processing is based on schemes different from that in bottom-up processing in the case of face processing. This may explain an aspect of specialized processing mechanisms of the face.

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Involvement of low-level visual areas in hemispheric superiority for face processing
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Citation Excerpt :
Face-selective areas in OFA and FFA were identified bilaterally by contrasting face responses to those of buildings in the localization experiment (Fig. 3). The area locations were consistent with those found in our previous study (Sung and Ogawa, 2008). In V1, OFA and FFA responses to S, SW, and DW stimuli were evaluated.
Previous studies on laterality in face processing have indicated superiority of the right hemisphere in discriminating and recognizing faces; however, the reasons for this feature are poorly understood. We employed functional MRI (fMRI) to elucidate the origin of this feature and used a paired-stimulus paradigm in which face pairs were presented unilaterally at the left or right visual hemifield of the participants. Each face in a pair was at a different position in the visual field. Refractory suppression in the fMRI response was observed bilaterally at the fusiform face area (FFA) for the same face pairs when pictures were presented in the left visual hemifield. In contrast, suppression was observed bilaterally at the FFA for the different as well as for the same face pairs when pictures were presented in the right visual hemifield. This pattern indicated inferior discrimination ability for paired stimuli presented to the right visual hemifield. These observations, along with changes in bilaterally interlocked responses at the FFA, suggest that low-level visual areas, and not high-level face areas, are strongly associated with the superiority of the right hemisphere in face processing.
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View full text

A property of face representation at the categorical level

Abstract

Behav. Brain Res.

Neuroimage

Neuroimage

Neuron

Neuroimage

Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.

A cortical representation of the local visual environment

Nature

Fine structure in representations of faces and objects

Nat. Neurosci.