Natural and manufactured objects activate the fusiform face area.

Full Abstract

Recent fMRI studies indicate that the anterior fusiform gyrus (the fusiform face area, FFA) is specialized for face recognition. However, the analyses used to determine face selectivity have not ruled out the possibility that other object categories produce significant activation in the FFA, relative to baseline. In the current fMRI study, we use a conservative hypothesis testing approach to show that FFA activation is not selective for faces. Rather, the FFA response is almost completely explained by a graded response in which faces produce more activation than either manufactured or natural objects, but those categories produce a statistically greater response than the baseline task. These findings question whether the FFA can be interpreted as a specialized module for face recognition.

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Author information

Author/s: Joseph, Jane E (JE); Gathers, Ann D (AD);

Affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, 800 Rose Street, Davis-Mills Building, Room 308, Lexington, KY 40536-0098, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Neuroreport (Neuroreport), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-May; vol 13 (issue 7) : pp 935-8

Dates: Created 2002/05/10; Completed 2002/07/16; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12004194, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Analysis of Variance
Brain Mapping - methods
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Face

Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology

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