The processing of dynamic faces in the human brain: Support for an integrated neural framework of face processing

AbstractFaces convey rich information including identity, gender and expression. Current neural models of face processing suggest a dissociation between the processing of invariant facial aspects such as identity and gender, that engage the fusiform face area (FFA) and the processing of changeable aspects, such as expression and eye gaze, that engage the posterior superior temporal sulcus face area (pSTS-FA). Recent studies report a second dissociation within this network such that the pSTS-FA, but not the FFA, shows much stronger response to dynamic than static faces. The aim of the current study was to test a unified model that accounts for these two major functional characteristics of the neural face network. In an fMRI experiment, we presented static and dynamic faces while subjects judged an invariant (gender) or a changeable facial aspect (expression). We found that the pSTS-FA was more engaged in processing dynamic than static faces and changeable than invariant facial aspects, whereas the OFA and FFA showed similar response across all four conditions. Our results reveal no dissociation between the processing of changeable and invariant facial aspects, but higher sensitivity to the processing of changeable facial aspects by the motion-sensitive face area in the superior temporal sulcus.

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Learning to See Biological Motion: Brain Activity Parallels Behavior

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/0898929042568569 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 16 (9) ◽

pp. 1669-1679 ◽

Cited By ~ 85

Author(s):

Emily D. Grossman ◽

Randolph Blake ◽

Chai-Youn Kim

Keyword(s):

Neural Activity ◽

Biological Motion ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Daily Practice ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

Perceptual Performance ◽

Trained Observers ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Individuals improve with practice on a variety of perceptual tasks, presumably reflecting plasticity in underlying neural mechanisms. We trained observers to discriminate biological motion from scrambled (nonbiological) motion and examined whether the resulting improvement in perceptual performance was accompanied by changes in activation within the posterior superior temporal sulcus and the fusiform “face area,” brain areas involved in perception of biological events. With daily practice, initially naive observers became more proficient at discriminating biological from scrambled animations embedded in an array of dynamic “noise” dots, with the extent of improvement varying among observers. Learning generalized to animations never seen before, indicating that observers had not simply memorized specific exemplars. In the same observers, neural activity prior to and following training was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neural activity within the posterior superior temporal sulcus and the fusiform “face area” reflected the participants' learning: BOLD signals were significantly larger after training in response both to animations experienced during training and to novel animations. The degree of learning was positively correlated with the amplitude changes in BOLD signals.

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Thetaburst TMS to the posterior superior temporal sulcus decreases resting-state fMRI connectivity across the face processing network

10.1101/794578 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel A Handwerker ◽

Geena Ianni ◽

Benjamin Gutierrez ◽

Vinai Roopchansingh ◽

Javier Gonzalez-Castillo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Face Processing ◽

Resting State ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Blood Oxygenation ◽

The Face ◽

The Right ◽

Processing Network ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

AbstractHumans process faces using a network of face-selective regions distributed across the brain. Neuropsychological patient studies demonstrate that focal damage to nodes in this network can impair face recognition, but such patients are rare. We approximated the effects of damage to the face network in neurologically normal human participants using thetaburst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TBS). Multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) resting-state data were collected pre- and post-TBS delivery over the face-selective right superior temporal sulcus (rpSTS), or a control site in the right motor cortex. Results showed that TBS delivered over the rpSTS reduced resting-state connectivity across the extended face-processing network. This connectivity reduction was observed not only between the rpSTS and other face-selective areas, but also between non-stimulated face-selective areas across the ventral, medial and lateral brain surfaces (e.g. between the right amygdala and bilateral fusiform face areas and occipital face areas). TBS delivered over the motor cortex did not produce significant changes in resting-state connectivity across the face-processing network. These results demonstrate that, even without task-induced fMRI signal changes, disrupting a single node in a brain network can decrease the functional connectivity between nodes in that network that have not been directly stimulated.Author SummaryHuman behavior is dependent on brain networks that perform different cognitive functions. We combined thetaburst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TBS) with resting-state fMRI to study the face processing network. Disruption of the face-selective right posterior superior temporal sulcus (rpSTS) reduced fMRI connectivity across the face network. This impairment in connectivity was observed not only between the rpSTS and other face-selective areas, but also between non-stimulated face-selective areas on the ventral and medial brain surfaces (e.g. between the right amygdala and bilateral fusiform face areas and occipital face areas). Thus, combined TBS/fMRI can be used to approximate and measure the effects of focal brain damage on brain networks, and suggests such an approach may be useful for mapping intrinsic network organization.Technical TermsTBS vs TMSTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a method that induces current in neural tissue by using a rapidly changing magnetic field. The pattern of magnetic field changes can vary. Thetaburst TMS (TBS) is a type of TMS where the same stimulation pattern fluctuates at around a 5Hz cycle.Multi-echo fMRIDuring typical fMRI, protons are excited and there is a delay, the echo time, before data are collected. That delay is typically designed to result in a high contrast for blood oxygenation differences. In multi-echo fMRI, data are collected at several echo times each time protons are excited. This results in data that have different levels of contrast for blood oxygenation differences. This added information can be used to empirically decrease noise.Face networkA group of brain regions that show significant activity changes in response to visual face stimuli. While these regions have been defined using univariate analyses with task-based fMRI, they often significantly correlate with each other at rest. In this manuscript, the following regions were a priori defined as part of the face network: posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), amygdala, fusiform face area (FFA), and occipital face area (OFA).Matrix based analysis (MBA)A recent approach that uses a Bayesian multilevel modeling framework to identify pairs of ROIs where a decrease in correlation magnitude was larger than expected along with a measure of statistical evidence. With this approach, correlations between all pairs of ROIs are assessed as part of a single model rather than many independent statistical tests.

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Facial Expression Recognition Takes Longer in the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus than in the Occipital Face Area

Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1523/jneurosci.5038-13.2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 34 (27) ◽

pp. 9173-9177 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

D. Pitcher

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Facial Expression Recognition ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Expression Recognition ◽

Face Area ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

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Using Live and Video Stimuli to Localize Face and Object Processing Regions of the Canine Brain

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani12010108 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 108

Author(s):

Kirsten D. Gillette ◽

Erin M. Phillips ◽

Daniel D. Dilks ◽

Gregory S. Berns

Keyword(s):

Random Order ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Regions Of Interest ◽

Two Dimensional ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Object Processing ◽

Lateral Occipital Complex ◽

Face Area ◽

Static Images ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Previous research to localize face areas in dogs’ brains has generally relied on static images or videos. However, most dogs do not naturally engage with two-dimensional images, raising the question of whether dogs perceive such images as representations of real faces and objects. To measure the equivalency of live and two-dimensional stimuli in the dog’s brain, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we presented dogs and humans with live-action stimuli (actors and objects) as well as videos of the same actors and objects. The dogs (n = 7) and humans (n = 5) were presented with 20 s blocks of faces and objects in random order. In dogs, we found significant areas of increased activation in the putative dog face area, and in humans, we found significant areas of increased activation in the fusiform face area to both live and video stimuli. In both dogs and humans, we found areas of significant activation in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (ectosylvian fissure in dogs) and the lateral occipital complex (entolateral gyrus in dogs) to both live and video stimuli. Of these regions of interest, only the area along the ectosylvian fissure in dogs showed significantly more activation to live faces than to video faces, whereas, in humans, both the fusiform face area and posterior superior temporal sulcus responded significantly more to live conditions than video conditions. However, using the video conditions alone, we were able to localize all regions of interest in both dogs and humans. Therefore, videos can be used to localize these regions of interest, though live conditions may be more salient.

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Investigating the influence of autism spectrum traits on face processing mechanisms in developmental prosopagnosia

10.31234/osf.io/kvxeb ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Regan Fry ◽

Xian Li ◽

Travis Clark Evans ◽

Michael Esterman ◽

Jim Tanaka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Resting State ◽

Network Connectivity ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Autism Traits ◽

Face Selectivity ◽

Processing Mechanisms ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Autism traits are commonly used as exclusionary criteria in studies of developmental prosopagnosia (DP). We investigated whether autism traits result in qualitatively different face processing in 43 DPs with high vs. low autism quotient (AQ) scores and 27 controls. Compared to controls, behavioral face recognition deficits were similar between the high and low AQ DP groups aside from worse emotion recognition in the high AQ DPs. Both DP groups showed reduced face selectivity in task-based fMRI, although higher AQ DPs showed decreased face selectivity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus. Resting-state fMRI showed similar face network connectivity between DP groups. This suggests that face processing is similar between the DP groups, with additional emotion processing deficits in higher AQ DPs.

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The Human Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus Samples Visual Space Differently From Other Face-Selective Regions

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhz125 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 778-785 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

David Pitcher ◽

Amy Pilkington ◽

Lionel Rauth ◽

Chris Baker ◽

Dwight J Kravitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Space ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Human Motion ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Face Area ◽

Selective Area ◽

The Face ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Abstract Neuroimaging studies show that ventral face-selective regions, including the fusiform face area (FFA) and occipital face area (OFA), preferentially respond to faces presented in the contralateral visual field (VF). In the current study we measured the VF response of the face-selective posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). Across 3 functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, participants viewed face videos presented in different parts of the VF. Consistent with prior results, we observed a contralateral VF bias in bilateral FFA, right OFA (rOFA), and bilateral human motion-selective area MT+. Intriguingly, this contralateral VF bias was absent in the bilateral pSTS. We then delivered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over right pSTS (rpSTS) and rOFA, while participants matched facial expressions in both hemifields. TMS delivered over the rpSTS disrupted performance in both hemifields, but TMS delivered over the rOFA disrupted performance in the contralateral hemifield only. These converging results demonstrate that the contralateral bias for faces observed in ventral face-selective areas is absent in the pSTS. This difference in VF response is consistent with face processing models proposing 2 functionally distinct pathways. It further suggests that these models should account for differences in interhemispheric connections between the face-selective areas across these 2 pathways.

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Eye gaze patterns and functional brain responses during emotional face processing in adolescents with conduct disorder

NeuroImage Clinical ◽

10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102519 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 102519

Author(s):

Willeke Martine Menks ◽

Lynn Valérie Fehlbaum ◽

Réka Borbás ◽

Philipp Sterzer ◽

Christina Stadler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conduct Disorder ◽

Face Processing ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Functional Brain ◽

Gaze Patterns ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Emotional Face Processing ◽

Emotional Face

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Systemic, but not local, low-grade endotoxinemia increases plasma sCD163 independently of the cortisol response

Endocrine Connections ◽

10.1530/ec-18-0554 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 95-99

Author(s):

Ermina Bach ◽

Niels Møller ◽

Jens Otto L Jørgensen ◽

Mads Buhl ◽

Holger Jon Møller

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Syndrome ◽

Low Dose ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Femoral Vein ◽

Independent Effect ◽

Low Grade ◽

Similar Response ◽

Dependent Manner ◽

The Metabolic Syndrome ◽

And Gender

Aims/hypothesis The macrophage-specific glycoprotein sCD163 has emerged as a biomarker of low-grade inflammation in the metabolic syndrome and related disorders. High sCD163 levels are seen in acute sepsis as a result of direct lipopolysaccharide-mediated shedding of the protein from macrophage surfaces including Kupffer cells. The aim of this study was to investigate if low-grade endotoxinemia in human subjects results in increasing levels of sCD163 in a cortisol-dependent manner. Methods We studied eight male hypopituitary patients and eight age- and gender-matched healthy controls during intravenous low-dose LPS or placebo infusion administered continuously over 360 min. Furthermore, we studied eight healthy volunteers with bilateral femoral vein and artery catheters during a 360-min infusion with saline and low-dose LPS in each leg respectively. Results: Systemic low-grade endotoxinemia resulted in a gradual increase in sCD163 from 1.65 ± 0.51 mg/L (placebo) to 1.92 ± 0.46 mg/L (LPS) at 220 min, P = 0.005 and from 1.66 ± 0.42 mg/L (placebo) to 2.19 ± 0.56 mg/L (LPS) at 340 min, P = 0.006. A very similar response was observed in hypopituitary patients: from 1.59 ± 0.53 mg/L (placebo) to 1.83 ± 0.45 mg/L (LPS) at 220 min, P = 0.021 and from 1.52 ± 0.53 mg/L (placebo) to 2.03 ± 0.44 mg/L (LPS) at 340 min, P < 0.001. As opposed to systemic treatment, continuous femoral artery infusion did not result in increased sCD163. Conclusion: Systemic low-grade endotoxinemia resulted in increased sCD163 to levels seen in the metabolic syndrome in both controls and hypopituitary patients. This suggests a direct and cortisol-independent effect of LPS on the shedding of sCD163. We observed no effect of local endotoxinemia on levels of serum sCD163.

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Clinical prediction and diagnosis of neurosyphilis in HIV-negative patients: a case-control study

BMC Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1186/s12879-019-4582-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yong Lu ◽

Wujian Ke ◽

Ligang Yang ◽

Zhenyu Wang ◽

Ping Lv ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Roc Analysis ◽

Treponema Pallidum ◽

Neurological Symptoms ◽

Control Group ◽

Case Group ◽

Alternative Test ◽

And Gender ◽

Group Control Group ◽

No Gold Standard ◽

Higher Sensitivity

Abstract Background Early diagnosis and treatment of neurosyphilis is of great significance for regression. There is no gold standard for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. We did this study to explore the factors associated with the clinical diagnosis of neurosyphilis and assess their accuracy for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 100 cases of syphilis patients who underwent lumbar puncture at a major dermatology hospital in Guangzhou, China between April 2013 and November 2016. Fifty patients who were clinically diagnosed with neurosyphilis were selected as case group. Control group consisted of 50 general syphilis patients who were matched with age and gender. The records of patients were reviewed to collect data of socio-demographic information, clinical symptom, and laboratory indicators. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore diagnostic indictors, and ROC analysis was used to assess diagnostic accuracy. Results Neurological symptoms (odds ratio (OR) = 59.281, 95% CI:5.215–662.910, P = 0.001), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA) titer (OR = 1.004, 95% CI:1.002–1.006, P < 0.001), CSF protein (OR = 1.005, 95% CI:1.000–1.009, P = 0.041), and CSF white blood cell (WBC) (OR = 1.120, 95% CI:1.017–1.233, P = 0.021) were found to be statistically associated with neurosyphilis. In ROC analysis, CSF TPPA titer had a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 84%, and an area under curve (AUC) of 0.941. Conclusion CSF TPPA can potentially be considered as an alternative test for diagnosis of neurosyphilis. Combining with neurological symptoms, CSF protein, CSF WBC, the diagnosis would have a higher sensitivity.

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