Face processing occurs outside the fusiform `face area' in autism: evidence from functional MRI

Although the right fusiform face area (FFA) is often linked to holistic processing, new data suggest this region also encodes part-based face representations. We examined this question by assessing the metric of neural similarity for faces using a continuous carryover functional MRI (fMRI) design. Using faces varying along dimensions of eye and mouth identity, we tested whether these axes are coded independently by separate part-tuned neural populations or conjointly by a single population of holistically tuned neurons. Consistent with prior results, we found a subadditive adaptation response in the right FFA, as predicted for holistic processing. However, when holistic processing was disrupted by misaligning the halves of the face, the right FFA continued to show significant adaptation, but in an additive pattern indicative of part-based neural tuning. Thus this region seems to contain neural populations capable of representing both individual parts and their integration into a face gestalt. A third experiment, which varied the asymmetry of changes in the eye and mouth identity dimensions, also showed part-based tuning from the right FFA. In contrast to the right FFA, the left FFA consistently showed a part-based pattern of neural tuning across all experiments. Together, these data support the existence of both part-based and holistic neural tuning within the right FFA, further suggesting that such tuning is surprisingly flexible and dynamic.

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Attentional Weighting in the Face Processing Network: A Magnetic Response Image-guided Magnetoencephalography Study Using Multiple Cyclic Entrainments

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01428 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (10) ◽

pp. 1573-1588 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eelke de Vries ◽

Daniel Baldauf

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Magnetic Response ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Facial Identity ◽

Image Guided ◽

Face Area ◽

The Face ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Processing Network

We recorded magnetoencephalography using a neural entrainment paradigm with compound face stimuli that allowed for entraining the processing of various parts of a face (eyes, mouth) as well as changes in facial identity. Our magnetic response image-guided magnetoencephalography analyses revealed that different subnodes of the human face processing network were entrained differentially according to their functional specialization. Whereas the occipital face area was most responsive to the rate at which face parts (e.g., the mouth) changed, and face patches in the STS were mostly entrained by rhythmic changes in the eye region, the fusiform face area was the only subregion that was strongly entrained by the rhythmic changes in facial identity. Furthermore, top–down attention to the mouth, eyes, or identity of the face selectively modulated the neural processing in the respective area (i.e., occipital face area, STS, or fusiform face area), resembling behavioral cue validity effects observed in the participants' RT and detection rate data. Our results show the attentional weighting of the visual processing of different aspects and dimensions of a single face object, at various stages of the involved visual processing hierarchy.

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Encoding deficit during face processing within the fusiform face area in schizophrenia

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2007.01.1193 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 22 ◽

pp. S86

Author(s):

S. Walther ◽

A. Federspiel ◽

H. Horn ◽

P. Bianchi ◽

R. Wiest ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area

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Disentangling the representation of identity from head view along the human face processing pathway

10.1101/045823 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Swaroop Guntupalli ◽

Kelsey G. Wheeler ◽

M. Ida Gobbini

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Frontal Cortex ◽

Face Perception ◽

Face Processing ◽

Visual Features ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Invariant Representation ◽

Face Area ◽

Early Visual Cortex ◽

Occipital Face Area

AbstractNeural models of a distributed system for face perception implicate a network of regions in the ventral visual stream for recognition of identity. Here, we report an fMRI neural decoding study in humans that shows that this pathway culminates in a right inferior frontal cortex face area (rIFFA) with a representation of individual identities that has been disentangled from variable visual features in different images of the same person. At earlier stages in the pathway, processing begins in early visual cortex and the occipital face area (OFA) with representations of head view that are invariant across identities, and proceeds to an intermediate level of representation in the fusiform face area (FFA) in which identity is emerging but still entangled with head view. Three-dimensional, view-invariant representation of identities in the rIFFA may be the critical link to the extended system for face perception, affording activation of person knowledge and emotional responses to familiar faces.Significance StatementIn this fMRI decoding experiment, we address how face images are processed in successive stages to disentangle the view-invariant representation of identity from variable visual features. Representations in early visual cortex and the occipital face area distinguish head views, invariant across identities. An intermediate level of representation in the fusiform face area distinguishes identities but still is entangled with head view. The face-processing pathway culminates in the right inferior frontal area with representation of view-independent identity. This paper clarifies the homologies between the human and macaque face processing systems. The findings show further, however, the importance of the inferior frontal cortex in decoding face identity, a result that has not yet been reported in the monkey literature.

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Dissociation between overt and unconscious face processing in fusiform face area

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.08.038 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 75-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Christoph Lehmann ◽

Thomas Mueller ◽

Andrea Federspiel ◽

Daniela Hubl ◽

Gerhard Schroth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area

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Frontal contributions to face processing differences in autism: Evidence from fMRI of inverted face processing

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s135561770808140x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 922-932 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

SUSAN Y. BOOKHEIMER ◽

A. TING WANG ◽

ASHLEY SCOTT ◽

MARIAN SIGMAN ◽

MIRELLA DAPRETTO

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Visual Information ◽

Functional Neuroimaging ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Social Significance ◽

Inverted Position ◽

Face Area ◽

Reduced Activity

AbstractFunctional neuroimaging studies of face processing deficits in autism have typically focused on visual processing regions, such as the fusiform face area (FFA), which have shown reduced activity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), though inconsistently. We recently reported reduced activity in the inferior frontal region in ASD, implicating impaired mirror-neuron systems during face processing. In the present study, we used fMRI during a face processing task in which subjects had to match faces presented in the upright versus inverted position. Typically developing (TD) children showed a classic behavioral inversion effect, increased reaction time for inverted faces, while this effect was significantly reduced in ASD subjects. The fMRI data showed similar responses in the fusiform face area for ASD and TD children, with both groups demonstrating increased activation for inverted faces. However, the groups did differ in several brain regions implicated in social cognition, particularly prefrontal cortex and amygdala. These data suggest that the behavioral differences in processing upright versus inverted faces for TD children are related not to visual information processing but to the social significance of the stimuli. Our results are consistent with other recent studies implicating frontal and limbic dysfunction during face processing in autism. (JINS, 2008, 14, 922–932.)

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Dedifferentiated face processing in older adults is linked to lower resting state metabolic activity in fusiform face area

Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.brainres.2016.05.007 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1644 ◽

pp. 22-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Leslie Zebrowitz ◽

Noreen Ward ◽

Jasmine Boshyan ◽

Angela Gutchess ◽

Nouchine Hadjikhani

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Metabolic Activity ◽

Face Processing ◽

Resting State ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area

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The Fusiform Face Area: In Quest of Holistic Face Processing

Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1523/jneurosci.1921-10.2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (26) ◽

pp. 8699-8701 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

V. Axelrod

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

Holistic Face Processing

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Face Processing in Developmental Prosopagnosia: Altered Neural Representations in the Fusiform Face Area

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnbeh.2021.744466 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Alexa Haeger ◽

Christophe Pouzat ◽

Volker Luecken ◽

Karim N’Diaye ◽

Christian Elger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Face Processing ◽

Neural Coding ◽

Memory Load ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Load Condition ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Correlation Matrices ◽

Face Area ◽

Neural Representations

Rationale: Face expertise is a pivotal social skill. Developmental prosopagnosia (DP), i.e., the inability to recognize faces without a history of brain damage, affects about 2% of the general population, and is a renowned model system of the face-processing network. Within this network, the right Fusiform Face Area (FFA), is particularly involved in face identity processing and may therefore be a key element in DP. Neural representations within the FFA have been examined with Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA), a data-analytical framework in which multi-unit measures of brain activity are assessed with correlation analysis.Objectives: Our study intended to scrutinize modifications of FFA-activation during face encoding and maintenance based on RSA.Methods: Thirteen participants with DP (23–70 years) and 12 healthy control subjects (19–62 years) participated in a functional MRI study, including morphological MRI, a functional FFA-localizer and a modified Sternberg paradigm probing face memory encoding and maintenance. Memory maintenance of one, two, or four faces represented low, medium, and high memory load. We examined conventional activation differences in response to working memory load and applied RSA to compute individual correlation-matrices on the voxel level. Group correlation-matrices were compared via Donsker’s random walk analysis.Results: On the functional level, increased memory load entailed both a higher absolute FFA-activation level and a higher degree of correlation between activated voxels. Both aspects were deficient in DP. Interestingly, control participants showed a homogeneous degree of correlation for successful trials during the experiment. In DP-participants, correlation levels between FFA-voxels were significantly lower and were less sustained during the experiment. In behavioral terms, DP-participants performed poorer and had longer reaction times in relation to DP-severity. Furthermore, correlation levels were negatively correlated with reaction times for the most demanding high load condition.Conclusion: We suggest that participants with DP fail to generate robust and maintained neural representations in the FFA during face encoding and maintenance, in line with poorer task performance and prolonged reaction times. In DP, alterations of neural coding in the FFA might therefore explain curtailing in working memory and contribute to impaired long-term memory and mental imagery.

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