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

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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P34. Working memory for faces in congenital prosopagnosia: altered neural representations in the fusiform face area

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2018.04.674 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 129 (8) ◽

pp. e80-e81

Author(s):

A. Haeger ◽

C. Pouzat ◽

V. Luecken ◽

K. N’Diaye ◽

C.E. Elger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

Neural Representations ◽

Congenital Prosopagnosia

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Dissecting Contributions of Prefrontal Cortex and Fusiform Face Area to Face Working Memory

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892903322370708 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (6) ◽

pp. 771-784 ◽

Cited By ~ 140

Author(s):

T. Jason Druzgal ◽

Mark D'Esposito

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

Neural Information ◽

Behaving Monkeys ◽

Visual Cortical

Interactions between prefrontal cortex (PFC) and stimulusspecific visual cortical association areas are hypothesized to mediate visual working memory in behaving monkeys. To clarify the roles for homologous regions in humans, event-related fMRI was used to assess neural activity in PFC and fusiform face area (FFA) of subjects performing a delay-recognition task for faces. In both PFC and FFA, activity increased parametrically with memory load during encoding and maintenance of face stimuli, despite quantitative differences in the magnitude of activation. Moreover, timing differences in PFC and FFA activation during memory encoding and retrieval implied a context dependence in the flow of neural information. These results support existing neurophysiological models of visual working memory developed in the nonhuman primate.

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Activity in fusiform face area modulated as a function of working memory load

Cognitive Brain Research ◽

10.1016/s0926-6410(00)00056-2 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 355-364 ◽

Cited By ~ 114

Author(s):

T.Jason Druzgal ◽

Mark D’Esposito

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Face Area

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EXPRESS: Bored, distracted and forgetful – The impact of mind wandering and boredom on memory encoding

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/17470218211026301 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182110263

Author(s):

Philippe Blondé ◽

Marco Sperduti ◽

Dominique Makowski ◽

Pascale Piolino

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Load Condition ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Mind Wandering ◽

Memory Encoding ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Thought Probes ◽

The Impact

Mind wandering, defined as focusing attention toward task unrelated thoughts, is a common mental state known to impair memory encoding. This phenomenon is closely linked to boredom. Very few studies, however, have tested the potential impact of boredom on memory encoding. Thus, the present study aimed at manipulating mind wandering and boredom during an incidental memory encoding task, to test their differential impact on memory encoding. Thirty-two participants performed a variant of the n-back task in which they had to indicate if the current on-screen object was the same as the previous one (1-back; low working memory load) or the one presented three trials before (3-back; high working memory load). Moreover, thought probes assessing either mind wandering or boredom were randomly presented. Afterward, a surprise recognition task was delivered. Results showed that mind wandering and boredom were highly correlated, and both decreased in the high working memory load condition, while memory performance increased. Although both boredom and mind wandering predicted memory performance taken separately, we found that mind wandering was the only reliable predictor of memory performance when controlling for boredom and working memory load. Model comparisons also revealed that a model with boredom only was outperformed by a model with mind wandering only and a model with both mind wandering and boredom, suggesting that the predictive contribution of boredom in the complete model is minimal. The present results confirm the high correlation between mind wandering and boredom and suggest that the hindering effect of boredom on memory is subordinate to the effect of mind wandering.

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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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The Role of Cognitive Load in Intentional Forgetting Using the Think/No-Think Task

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000347 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 14-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Saima Noreen ◽

Jan W. de Fockert

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Memory Task ◽

Load Condition ◽

Cognitive Resources ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Intentional Forgetting ◽

Probe Test ◽

Target Words

Abstract. We investigated the role of cognitive control in intentional forgetting by manipulating working memory load during the think/no-think task. In two experiments, participants learned a series of cue-target word pairs and were asked to recall the target words associated with some cues or to avoid thinking about the target associated with other cues. In addition to this, participants also performed a modified version of the n-back task which required them to respond to the identity of a single target letter present in the currently presented cue word (n = 0 condition, low working memory load), and in either the previous cue word (n = 1 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 1) or the cue word presented two trials previously (n = 2 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 2). Participants’ memory for the target words was subsequently tested using same and novel independent probes. In both experiments it was found that although participants were successful at forgetting on both the same and independent-probe tests in the low working memory load condition, they were only successful at forgetting on the same-probe test in the high working memory load condition. We argue that our findings suggest that the high load working memory task diverted attention from direct suppression and acted as an interference-based strategy. Thus, when cognitive resources are limited participants can switch between the strategies they use to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.

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Working Memory Capacity and Visual–Verbal Cognitive Load Modulate Auditory–Sensory Gating in the Brainstem: Toward a Unified View of Attention

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00275 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (11) ◽

pp. 2147-2154 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Patrik Sörqvist ◽

Stefan Stenfelt ◽

Jerker Rönnberg

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Early Stage ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Load Condition ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Central Domain ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Unified View

Two fundamental research questions have driven attention research in the past: One concerns whether selection of relevant information among competing, irrelevant, information takes place at an early or at a late processing stage; the other concerns whether the capacity of attention is limited by a central, domain-general pool of resources or by independent, modality-specific pools. In this article, we contribute to these debates by showing that the auditory-evoked brainstem response (an early stage of auditory processing) to task-irrelevant sound decreases as a function of central working memory load (manipulated with a visual–verbal version of the n-back task). Furthermore, individual differences in central/domain-general working memory capacity modulated the magnitude of the auditory-evoked brainstem response, but only in the high working memory load condition. The results support a unified view of attention whereby the capacity of a late/central mechanism (working memory) modulates early precortical sensory processing.

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