The fusiform face area and occipital face area show sensitivity to spatial relations in faces

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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Revisiting the Role of the Fusiform Face Area in Expertise

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00974 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (9) ◽

pp. 1345-1357 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Merim Bilalić

Keyword(s):

Pattern Analysis ◽

Spatial Relations ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Multivariate Pattern Analysis ◽

Multiple Objects ◽

Activation Patterns ◽

Face Area ◽

Single Category ◽

Multivariate Pattern

The fusiform face area (FFA) is considered to be a highly specialized brain module because of its central importance for face perception. However, many researchers claim that the FFA is a general visual expertise module that distinguishes between individual examples within a single category. Here, I circumvent the shortcomings of some previous studies on the FFA controversy by using chess stimuli, which do not visually resemble faces, together with more sensitive methods of analysis such as multivariate pattern analysis. I also extend the previous research by presenting chess positions, complex scenes with multiple objects, and their interrelations to chess experts and novices as well as isolated chess objects. The first experiment demonstrates that chess expertise modulated the FFA activation when chess positions were presented. In contrast, single chess objects did not produce different activation patterns among experts and novices even when the multivariate pattern analysis was used. The second experiment focused on the single chess objects and featured an explicit task of identifying the chess objects but failed to demonstrate expertise effects in the FFA. The experiments provide support for the general expertise view of the FFA function but also extend the scope of our understanding about the function of the FFA. The FFA does not merely distinguish between different exemplars within the same category of stimuli. More likely, it parses complex multiobject stimuli that contain numerous functional and spatial relations.

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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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The bottom-up and top-down processing of faces in the human occipitotemporal cortex

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.48764 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Xiaoxu Fan ◽

Fan Wang ◽

Hanyu Shao ◽

Peng Zhang ◽

Sheng He

Keyword(s):

Facial Features ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Contextual Cues ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Face Area ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Occipitotemporal Cortex ◽

The Right

Although face processing has been studied extensively, the dynamics of how face-selective cortical areas are engaged remains unclear. Here, we uncovered the timing of activation in core face-selective regions using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetoencephalography in humans. Processing of normal faces started in the posterior occipital areas and then proceeded to anterior regions. This bottom-up processing sequence was also observed even when internal facial features were misarranged. However, processing of two-tone Mooney faces lacking explicit prototypical facial features engaged top-down projection from the right posterior fusiform face area to right occipital face area. Further, face-specific responses elicited by contextual cues alone emerged simultaneously in the right ventral face-selective regions, suggesting parallel contextual facilitation. Together, our findings chronicle the precise timing of bottom-up, top-down, as well as context-facilitated processing sequences in the occipital-temporal face network, highlighting the importance of the top-down operations especially when faced with incomplete or ambiguous input.

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The fusiform face area is not sufficient for face recognition: Evidence from a patient with dense prosopagnosia and no occipital face area

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.06.013 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 594-609 ◽

Cited By ~ 142

Author(s):

Jennifer K.E. Steeves ◽

Jody C. Culham ◽

Bradley C. Duchaine ◽

Cristiana Cavina Pratesi ◽

Kenneth F. Valyear ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

Occipital Face Area

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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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Perception of Face Parts and Face Configurations: An fMRI Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21203 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 203-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 164

Author(s):

Jia Liu ◽

Alison Harris ◽

Nancy Kanwisher

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Spatial Configuration ◽

Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

First Order ◽

Face Area ◽

Fmri Study ◽

The Face ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Patient Studies

fMRI studies have reported three regions in human ventral visual cortex that respond selectively to faces: the occipital face area (OFA), the fusiform face area (FFA), and a face-selective region in the superior temporal sulcus (fSTS). Here, we asked whether these areas respond to two first-order aspects of the face argued to be important for face perception, face parts (eyes, nose, and mouth), and the T-shaped spatial configuration of these parts. Specifically, we measured the magnitude of response in these areas to stimuli that (i) either contained real face parts, or did not, and (ii) either had veridical face configurations, or did not. The OFA and the fSTS were sensitive only to the presence of real face parts, not to the correct configuration of those parts, whereas the FFA was sensitive to both face parts and face configuration. Further, only in the FFA was the response to configuration and part information correlated across voxels, suggesting that the FFA contains a unified representation that includes both kinds of information. In combination with prior results from fMRI, TMS, MEG, and patient studies, our data illuminate the functional division of labor in the OFA, FFA, and fSTS.

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Faciotopy—a face-feature map with face-like topology in the human occipital face area

10.1101/012989 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Linda Henriksson ◽

Marieke Mur ◽

Nikolaus Kriegeskorte

Keyword(s):

Visual Experience ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Physical Distance ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Feature Map ◽

Face Area ◽

Face Features ◽

Occipital Face Area ◽

Cortical Map

The occipital face area (OFA) and fusiform face area (FFA) are brain regions thought to be specialized for face perception. However, their intrinsic functional organization and status as cortical areas with well-defined boundaries remains unclear. Here we test these regions for ?faciotopy?, a particular hypothesis about their intrinsic functional organisation. A faciotopic area would contain a face-feature map on the cortical surface, where cortical patches represent face features and neighbouring patches represent features that are physically neighbouring in a face. The faciotopy hypothesis is motivated by the idea that face regions might develop from a retinotopic protomap and acquire their selectivity for face features through natural visual experience. Faces have a prototypical configuration of features, are usually perceived in a canonical upright orientation, and are frequently fixated in particular locations. To test the faciotopy hypothesis, we presented images of isolated face features at fixation to subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The responses in V1 were best explained by low-level image properties of the stimuli. OFA, and to a lesser degree FFA, showed evidence for faciotopic organization. When a single patch of cortex was estimated for each face feature, the cortical distances between the feature patches reflected the physical distance between the features in a face. Faciotopy would be the first example, to our knowledge, of a cortical map reflecting the topology, not of a part of the organism itself (its retina in retinotopy, its body in somatotopy), but of an external object of particular perceptual significance.

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The Fusiform Face Area spontaneously codes spatial relations in faces

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/8.6.165 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 165-165

Author(s):

G. Rhodes ◽

P. Michie ◽

M. Hughes ◽

G. Byatt

Keyword(s):

Spatial Relations ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area

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