Cognitive Response Profile of the Human Fusiform Face Area as Determined by MEG

Activation in or near the fusiform gyrus was estimated to faces and control stimuli. Activation peaked at 165 ms and was strongest to digitized photographs of human faces, regardless of whether they were presented in color or grayscale, suggesting that faceand color-specific areas are functionally s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) N.Y. 1991), 2000-01, Vol.10 (1), p.69-81
Main Authors: Halgren, Eric, Raij, Tommi, Marinkovic, Ksenija, Jousmäki, Veikko, Hari, Riitta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Brain Mapping
Cognition - physiology
Electroencephalography
Emotions
Face
Female
Form Perception - physiology
Functional Laterality
fusiform gyrus
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetoencephalography
Male
Occipital Lobe - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Reaction Time - physiology
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sex Factors
Temporal Lobe - physiology
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Summary:Activation in or near the fusiform gyrus was estimated to faces and control stimuli. Activation peaked at 165 ms and was strongest to digitized photographs of human faces, regardless of whether they were presented in color or grayscale, suggesting that faceand color-specific areas are functionally separate. Schematic sketches evoked ~30% less activation than did face photographs. Scrambling the locations of facial features reduced the response by ~25% in either hemisphere, suggesting that configurational versus analytic processing is not lateralized at this latency. Animal faces evoked ~50% less activity, and common objects, animal bodies or sensory controls evoked ~80% less activity than human faces. The (small) responses evoked by meaningless control images were stronger when they included surfaces and shading, suggesting that the fusiform gyrus may use these features in constructing its face-specific response. Putative fusiform activation was not significantly related to stimulus repetition, gender or emotional expression. A midline occipital source significantly distinguished between faces and control images as early as 110 ms, but was more sensitive to sensory qualities. This source significantly distinguished happy and sad faces from those with neutral expressions. We conclude that the fusiform gyrus may selectively encode faces at 165 ms, transforming sensory input for further processing.
ISSN:1047-3211
1460-2199
1460-2199
DOI:10.1093/cercor/10.1.69