1
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Taubert J, Wardle SG, Patterson A, Baker CI. Beyond faces: the contribution of the amygdala to visual processing in the macaque brain. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae245. [PMID: 38864574 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 05/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is present in a diverse range of vertebrate species, such as lizards, rodents, and primates; however, its structure and connectivity differs across species. The increased connections to visual sensory areas in primate species suggests that understanding the visual selectivity of the amygdala in detail is critical to revealing the principles underlying its function in primate cognition. Therefore, we designed a high-resolution, contrast-agent enhanced, event-related fMRI experiment, and scanned 3 adult rhesus macaques, while they viewed 96 naturalistic stimuli. Half of these stimuli were social (defined by the presence of a conspecific), the other half were nonsocial. We also nested manipulations of emotional valence (positive, neutral, and negative) and visual category (faces, nonfaces, animate, and inanimate) within the stimulus set. The results reveal widespread effects of emotional valence, with the amygdala responding more on average to inanimate objects and animals than faces, bodies, or social agents in this experimental context. These findings suggest that the amygdala makes a contribution to primate vision that goes beyond an auxiliary role in face or social perception. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of stimulus selection and experimental design when probing the function of the amygdala and other visually responsive brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
- School of Psychology, Level 3, McElwain Building (24A), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Susan G Wardle
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Amanda Patterson
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Chris I Baker
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
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2
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Quian Quiroga R, Boscaglia M, Jonas J, Rey HG, Yan X, Maillard L, Colnat-Coulbois S, Koessler L, Rossion B. Single neuron responses underlying face recognition in the human midfusiform face-selective cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5661. [PMID: 37704636 PMCID: PMC10499913 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41323-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces are critical for social interactions and their recognition constitutes one of the most important and challenging functions of the human brain. While neurons responding selectively to faces have been recorded for decades in the monkey brain, face-selective neural activations have been reported with neuroimaging primarily in the human midfusiform gyrus. Yet, the cellular mechanisms producing selective responses to faces in this hominoid neuroanatomical structure remain unknown. Here we report single neuron recordings performed in 5 human subjects (1 male, 4 females) implanted with intracerebral microelectrodes in the face-selective midfusiform gyrus, while they viewed pictures of familiar and unknown faces and places. We observed similar responses to faces and places at the single cell level, but a significantly higher number of neurons responding to faces, thus offering a mechanistic account for the face-selective activations observed in this region. Although individual neurons did not respond preferentially to familiar faces, a population level analysis could consistently determine whether or not the faces (but not the places) were familiar, only about 50 ms after the initial recognition of the stimuli as faces. These results provide insights into the neural mechanisms of face processing in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Quian Quiroga
- Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain.
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
- Ruijin hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong university school of medicine, Shanghai, China.
| | - Marta Boscaglia
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Jacques Jonas
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Hernan G Rey
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Xiaoqian Yan
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Louis Maillard
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Sophie Colnat-Coulbois
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurochirurgie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Laurent Koessler
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France.
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France.
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3
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Laurent MA, Audurier P, De Castro V, Gao X, Durand JB, Jonas J, Rossion B, Cottereau BR. Towards an optimization of functional localizers in non-human primate neuroimaging with (fMRI) frequency-tagging. Neuroimage 2023; 270:119959. [PMID: 36822249 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Non-human primate (NHP) neuroimaging can provide essential insights into the neural basis of human cognitive functions. While functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localizers can play an essential role in reaching this objective (Russ et al., 2021), they often differ substantially across species in terms of paradigms, measured signals, and data analysis, biasing the comparisons. Here we introduce a functional frequency-tagging face localizer for NHP imaging, successfully developed in humans and outperforming standard face localizers (Gao et al., 2018). FMRI recordings were performed in two awake macaques. Within a rapid 6 Hz stream of natural non-face objects images, human or monkey face stimuli were presented in bursts every 9 s. We also included control conditions with phase-scrambled versions of all images. As in humans, face-selective activity was objectively identified and quantified at the peak of the face-stimulation frequency (0.111 Hz) and its second harmonic (0.222 Hz) in the Fourier domain. Focal activations with a high signal-to-noise ratio were observed in regions previously described as face-selective, mainly in the STS (clusters PL, ML, MF; also, AL, AF), both for human and monkey faces. Robust face-selective activations were also found in the prefrontal cortex of one monkey (PVL and PO clusters). Face-selective neural activity was highly reliable and excluded all contributions from low-level visual cues contained in the amplitude spectrum of the stimuli. These observations indicate that fMRI frequency-tagging provides a highly valuable approach to objectively compare human and monkey visual recognition systems within the same framework.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Pauline Audurier
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31052 Toulouse, France
| | - Vanessa De Castro
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31052 Toulouse, France
| | - Xiaoqing Gao
- Center for Psychological Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou City, China
| | - Jean-Baptiste Durand
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31052 Toulouse, France
| | - Jacques Jonas
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000 Nancy, France; Universite de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de neurologie, F-54000, France
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000 Nancy, France
| | - Benoit R Cottereau
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31052 Toulouse, France.
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4
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Bognár A, Raman R, Taubert N, Zafirova Y, Li B, Giese M, De Gelder B, Vogels R. The contribution of dynamics to macaque body and face patch responses. Neuroimage 2023; 269:119907. [PMID: 36717042 PMCID: PMC9986793 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous functional imaging studies demonstrated body-selective patches in the primate visual temporal cortex, comparing activations to static bodies and static images of other categories. However, the use of static instead of dynamic displays of moving bodies may have underestimated the extent of the body patch network. Indeed, body dynamics provide information about action and emotion and may be processed in patches not activated by static images. Thus, to map with fMRI the full extent of the macaque body patch system in the visual temporal cortex, we employed dynamic displays of natural-acting monkey bodies, dynamic monkey faces, objects, and scrambled versions of these videos, all presented during fixation. We found nine body patches in the visual temporal cortex, starting posteriorly in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and ending anteriorly in the temporal pole. Unlike for static images, body patches were present consistently in both the lower and upper banks of the STS. Overall, body patches showed a higher activation by dynamic displays than by matched static images, which, for identical stimulus displays, was less the case for the neighboring face patches. These data provide the groundwork for future single-unit recording studies to reveal the spatiotemporal features the neurons of these body patches encode. These fMRI findings suggest that dynamics have a stronger contribution to population responses in body than face patches.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Bognár
- Deparment of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - R Raman
- Deparment of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - N Taubert
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Y Zafirova
- Deparment of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - B Li
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - M Giese
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - B De Gelder
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - R Vogels
- Deparment of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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5
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Russ BE, Koyano KW, Day-Cooney J, Perwez N, Leopold DA. Temporal continuity shapes visual responses of macaque face patch neurons. Neuron 2023; 111:903-914.e3. [PMID: 36630962 PMCID: PMC10023462 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.12.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Macaque inferior temporal cortex neurons respond selectively to complex visual images, with recent work showing that they are also entrained reliably by the evolving content of natural movies. To what extent does temporal continuity itself shape the responses of high-level visual neurons? We addressed this question by measuring how cells in face-selective regions of the macaque visual cortex were affected by the manipulation of a movie's temporal structure. Sampling a 5-min movie at 1 s intervals, we measured neural responses to randomized, brief stimuli of different lengths, ranging from 800 ms dynamic movie snippets to 100 ms static frames. We found that the disruption of temporal continuity strongly altered neural response profiles, particularly in the early response period after stimulus onset. The results suggest that models of visual system function based on discrete and randomized visual presentations may not translate well to the brain's natural modes of operation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian E Russ
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA; Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; Department of Psychiatry, New York University at Langone, New York City, NY 10016, USA.
| | - Kenji W Koyano
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Julian Day-Cooney
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Neda Perwez
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - David A Leopold
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
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6
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Intracerebral Electrophysiological Recordings to Understand the Neural Basis of Human Face Recognition. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020354. [PMID: 36831897 PMCID: PMC9954066 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding how the human brain recognizes faces is a primary scientific goal in cognitive neuroscience. Given the limitations of the monkey model of human face recognition, a key approach in this endeavor is the recording of electrophysiological activity with electrodes implanted inside the brain of human epileptic patients. However, this approach faces a number of challenges that must be overcome for meaningful scientific knowledge to emerge. Here we synthesize a 10 year research program combining the recording of intracerebral activity (StereoElectroEncephaloGraphy, SEEG) in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) of large samples of participants and fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS), to objectively define, quantify, and characterize the neural basis of human face recognition. These large-scale studies reconcile the wide distribution of neural face recognition activity with its (right) hemispheric and regional specialization and extend face-selectivity to anterior regions of the VOTC, including the ventral anterior temporal lobe (VATL) typically affected by magnetic susceptibility artifacts in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Clear spatial dissociations in category-selectivity between faces and other meaningful stimuli such as landmarks (houses, medial VOTC regions) or written words (left lateralized VOTC) are found, confirming and extending neuroimaging observations while supporting the validity of the clinical population tested to inform about normal brain function. The recognition of face identity - arguably the ultimate form of recognition for the human brain - beyond mere differences in physical features is essentially supported by selective populations of neurons in the right inferior occipital gyrus and the lateral portion of the middle and anterior fusiform gyrus. In addition, low-frequency and high-frequency broadband iEEG signals of face recognition appear to be largely concordant in the human association cortex. We conclude by outlining the challenges of this research program to understand the neural basis of human face recognition in the next 10 years.
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7
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Chen X, Liu X, Parker BJ, Zhen Z, Weiner KS. Functionally and structurally distinct fusiform face area(s) in over 1000 participants. Neuroimage 2023. [PMID: 36427753 DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.08.487562v1.full.pdf] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The fusiform face area (FFA) is a widely studied region causally involved in face perception. Even though cognitive neuroscientists have been studying the FFA for over two decades, answers to foundational questions regarding the function, architecture, and connectivity of the FFA from a large (N>1000) group of participants are still lacking. To fill this gap in knowledge, we quantified these multimodal features of fusiform face-selective regions in 1053 participants in the Human Connectome Project. After manually defining over 4,000 fusiform face-selective regions, we report five main findings. First, 68.76% of hemispheres have two cortically separate regions (pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2). Second, in 26.69% of hemispheres, pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2 are spatially contiguous, yet are distinct based on functional, architectural, and connectivity metrics. Third, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is more face-selective than mFus-faces/FFA-2, and the two regions have distinct functional connectivity fingerprints. Fourth, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is cortically thinner and more heavily myelinated than mFus-faces/FFA-2. Fifth, face-selective patterns and functional connectivity fingerprints of each region are more similar in monozygotic than dizygotic twins and more so than architectural gradients. As we share our areal definitions with the field, future studies can explore how structural and functional features of these regions will inform theories regarding how visual categories are represented in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiayu Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xingyu Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Benjamin J Parker
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Zonglei Zhen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Kevin S Weiner
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
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8
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Cui D, Sypré L, Vissers M, Sharma S, Vogels R, Nelissen K. Categorization learning induced changes in action representations in the macaque STS. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119780. [PMID: 36464097 PMCID: PMC9878441 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging and single cell recordings have demonstrated the presence of STS body category-selective regions (body patches) containing neurons responding to presentation of static bodies and body parts. To date, it remains unclear if these body patches and additional STS regions respond during observation of different categories of dynamic actions and to what extent categorization learning influences representations of observed actions in the STS. In the present study, we trained monkeys to discriminate videos depicting three different actions categories (grasping, touching and reaching) with a forced-choice action categorization task. Before and after categorization training, we performed fMRI recordings while monkeys passively observed the same action videos. At the behavioral level, after categorization training, monkeys generalized to untrained action exemplars, in particular for grasping actions. Before training, uni- and/or multivariate fMRI analyses suggest a broad representation of dynamic action categories in particular in posterior and middle STS. Univariate analysis further suggested action category specific training effects in middle and anterior body patches, face patch ML and posterior STS region MT and FST. Overall, our fMRI experiments suggest a widespread representation of observed dynamic bodily actions in the STS that can be modulated by visual learning, supporting its proposed role in action recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ding Cui
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, O&N2 Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 1021, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lotte Sypré
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, O&N2 Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 1021, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mathias Vissers
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, O&N2 Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 1021, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Saloni Sharma
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, MA 02115, United States of America
| | - Rufin Vogels
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, O&N2 Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 1021, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Koen Nelissen
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, O&N2 Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 1021, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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9
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Chen X, Liu X, Parker BJ, Zhen Z, Weiner KS. Functionally and structurally distinct fusiform face area(s) in over 1000 participants. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119765. [PMID: 36427753 PMCID: PMC9889174 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Revised: 11/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The fusiform face area (FFA) is a widely studied region causally involved in face perception. Even though cognitive neuroscientists have been studying the FFA for over two decades, answers to foundational questions regarding the function, architecture, and connectivity of the FFA from a large (N>1000) group of participants are still lacking. To fill this gap in knowledge, we quantified these multimodal features of fusiform face-selective regions in 1053 participants in the Human Connectome Project. After manually defining over 4,000 fusiform face-selective regions, we report five main findings. First, 68.76% of hemispheres have two cortically separate regions (pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2). Second, in 26.69% of hemispheres, pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2 are spatially contiguous, yet are distinct based on functional, architectural, and connectivity metrics. Third, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is more face-selective than mFus-faces/FFA-2, and the two regions have distinct functional connectivity fingerprints. Fourth, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is cortically thinner and more heavily myelinated than mFus-faces/FFA-2. Fifth, face-selective patterns and functional connectivity fingerprints of each region are more similar in monozygotic than dizygotic twins and more so than architectural gradients. As we share our areal definitions with the field, future studies can explore how structural and functional features of these regions will inform theories regarding how visual categories are represented in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiayu Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xingyu Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Benjamin J Parker
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Zonglei Zhen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Kevin S Weiner
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
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10
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Taubert J, Wardle SG, Tardiff CT, Patterson A, Yu D, Baker CI. Clutter Substantially Reduces Selectivity for Peripheral Faces in the Macaque Brain. J Neurosci 2022; 42:6739-6750. [PMID: 35868861 PMCID: PMC9436017 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0232-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
According to a prominent view in neuroscience, visual stimuli are coded by discrete cortical networks that respond preferentially to specific categories, such as faces or objects. However, it remains unclear how these category-selective networks respond when viewing conditions are cluttered, i.e., when there is more than one stimulus in the visual field. Here, we asked three questions: (1) Does clutter reduce the response and selectivity for faces as a function of retinal location? (2) Is the preferential response to faces uniform across the visual field? And (3) Does the ventral visual pathway encode information about the location of cluttered faces? We used fMRI to measure the response of the face-selective network in awake, fixating macaques (two female, five male). Across a series of four experiments, we manipulated the presence and absence of clutter, as well as the location of the faces relative to the fovea. We found that clutter reduces the response to peripheral faces. When presented in isolation, without clutter, the selectivity for faces is fairly uniform across the visual field, but, when clutter is present, there is a marked decrease in the selectivity for peripheral faces. We also found no evidence of a contralateral visual field bias when faces were presented in clutter. Nonetheless, multivariate analyses revealed that the location of cluttered faces could be decoded from the multivoxel response of the face-selective network. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that clutter blunts the selectivity of the face-selective network to peripheral faces, although information about their retinal location is retained.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Numerous studies that have measured brain activity in macaques have found visual regions that respond preferentially to faces. Although these regions are thought to be essential for social behavior, their responses have typically been measured while faces were presented in isolation, a situation atypical of the real world. How do these regions respond when faces are presented with other stimuli? We report that, when clutter is present, the preferential response to foveated faces is spared but preferential response to peripheral faces is reduced. Our results indicate that the presence of clutter changes the response of the face-selective network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Susan G Wardle
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
| | - Clarissa T Tardiff
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
| | - Amanda Patterson
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
| | - David Yu
- Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
| | - Chris I Baker
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
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11
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Abstract
Visual representations of bodies, in addition to those of faces, contribute to the recognition of con- and heterospecifics, to action recognition, and to nonverbal communication. Despite its importance, the neural basis of the visual analysis of bodies has been less studied than that of faces. In this article, I review what is known about the neural processing of bodies, focusing on the macaque temporal visual cortex. Early single-unit recording work suggested that the temporal visual cortex contains representations of body parts and bodies, with the dorsal bank of the superior temporal sulcus representing bodily actions. Subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in both humans and monkeys showed several temporal cortical regions that are strongly activated by bodies. Single-unit recordings in the macaque body patches suggest that these represent mainly body shape features. More anterior patches show a greater viewpoint-tolerant selectivity for body features, which may reflect a processing principle shared with other object categories, including faces. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 8 is September 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rufin Vogels
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Belgium; .,Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium
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12
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Taubert J, Wardle SG, Tardiff CT, Koele EA, Kumar S, Messinger A, Ungerleider LG. The cortical and subcortical correlates of face pareidolia in the macaque brain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:965-976. [PMID: 35445247 PMCID: PMC9629476 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Face detection is a foundational social skill for primates. This vital function is thought to be supported by specialized neural mechanisms; however, although several face-selective regions have been identified in both humans and nonhuman primates, there is no consensus about which region(s) are involved in face detection. Here, we used naturally occurring errors of face detection (i.e. objects with illusory facial features referred to as examples of 'face pareidolia') to identify regions of the macaque brain implicated in face detection. Using whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to test awake rhesus macaques, we discovered that a subset of face-selective patches in the inferior temporal cortex, on the lower lateral edge of the superior temporal sulcus, and the amygdala respond more to objects with illusory facial features than matched non-face objects. Multivariate analyses of the data revealed differences in the representation of illusory faces across the functionally defined regions of interest. These differences suggest that the cortical and subcortical face-selective regions contribute uniquely to the detection of facial features. We conclude that face detection is supported by a multiplexed system in the primate brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Correspondence should be addressed to Jessica Taubert, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Building 24A, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia. E-mail:
| | - Susan G Wardle
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Clarissa T Tardiff
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Elissa A Koele
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Susheel Kumar
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Adam Messinger
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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13
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Park SH, Koyano KW, Russ BE, Waidmann EN, McMahon DBT, Leopold DA. Parallel functional subnetworks embedded in the macaque face patch system. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm2054. [PMID: 35263138 PMCID: PMC8906740 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm2054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
During normal vision, our eyes provide the brain with a continuous stream of useful information about the world. How visually specialized areas of the cortex, such as face-selective patches, operate under natural modes of behavior is poorly understood. Here we report that, during the free viewing of movies, cohorts of face-selective neurons in the macaque cortex fractionate into distributed and parallel subnetworks that carry distinct information. We classified neurons into functional groups on the basis of their movie-driven coupling with functional magnetic resonance imaging time courses across the brain. Neurons from each group were distributed across multiple face patches but intermixed locally with other groups at each recording site. These findings challenge prevailing views about functional segregation in the cortex and underscore the importance of naturalistic paradigms for cognitive neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soo Hyun Park
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Kenji W. Koyano
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Brian E. Russ
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Elena N. Waidmann
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - David B. T. McMahon
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - David A. Leopold
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
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14
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Sliwa J, Mallet M, Christiaens M, Takahashi DY. Neural basis of multi-sensory communication in primates. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.2024266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Sliwa
- Paris Brain Institute–Institut du Cerveau, Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Marion Mallet
- Paris Brain Institute–Institut du Cerveau, Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Maëlle Christiaens
- Paris Brain Institute–Institut du Cerveau, Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
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15
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Neurons in the pigeon visual network discriminate between faces, scrambled faces, and sine grating images. Sci Rep 2022; 12:589. [PMID: 35022466 PMCID: PMC8755821 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04559-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Discriminating between object categories (e.g., conspecifics, food, potential predators) is a critical function of the primate and bird visual systems. We examined whether a similar hierarchical organization in the ventral stream that operates for processing faces in monkeys also exists in the avian visual system. We performed electrophysiological recordings from the pigeon Wulst of the thalamofugal pathway, in addition to the entopallium (ENTO) and mesopallium ventrolaterale (MVL) of the tectofugal pathway, while pigeons viewed images of faces, scrambled controls, and sine gratings. A greater proportion of MVL neurons fired to the stimuli, and linear discriminant analysis revealed that the population response of MVL neurons distinguished between the stimuli with greater capacity than ENTO and Wulst neurons. While MVL neurons displayed the greatest response selectivity, in contrast to the primate system no neurons were strongly face-selective and some responded best to the scrambled images. These findings suggest that MVL is primarily involved in processing the local features of images, much like the early visual cortex.
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16
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Yokoyama C, Autio JA, Ikeda T, Sallet J, Mars RB, Van Essen DC, Glasser MF, Sadato N, Hayashi T. Comparative connectomics of the primate social brain. Neuroimage 2021; 245:118693. [PMID: 34732327 PMCID: PMC9159291 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Social interaction is thought to provide a selection pressure for human intelligence, yet little is known about its neurobiological basis and evolution throughout the primate lineage. Recent advances in neuroimaging have enabled whole brain investigation of brain structure, function, and connectivity in humans and non-human primates (NHPs), leading to a nascent field of comparative connectomics. However, linking social behavior to brain organization across the primates remains challenging. Here, we review the current understanding of the macroscale neural mechanisms of social behaviors from the viewpoint of system neuroscience. We first demonstrate an association between the number of cortical neurons and the size of social groups across primates, suggesting a link between neural information-processing capacity and social capabilities. Moreover, by capitalizing on recent advances in species-harmonized functional MRI, we demonstrate that portions of the mirror neuron system and default-mode networks, which are thought to be important for representation of the other's actions and sense of self, respectively, exhibit similarities in functional organization in macaque monkeys and humans, suggesting possible homologies. With respect to these two networks, we describe recent developments in the neurobiology of social perception, joint attention, personality and social complexity. Together, the Human Connectome Project (HCP)-style comparative neuroimaging, hyperscanning, behavioral, and other multi-modal investigations are expected to yield important insights into the evolutionary foundations of human social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chihiro Yokoyama
- Laboratory for Brain Connectomics Imaging, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan.
| | - Joonas A Autio
- Laboratory for Brain Connectomics Imaging, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan
| | - Takuro Ikeda
- Laboratory for Brain Connectomics Imaging, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan
| | - Jérôme Sallet
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom; University of Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Rogier B Mars
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - David C Van Essen
- Departments of Neuroscience, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Matthew F Glasser
- Departments of Neuroscience, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, United States of America; Department of Radiology, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Norihiro Sadato
- National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan; The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Takuya Hayashi
- Laboratory for Brain Connectomics Imaging, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan; School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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17
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Caffarra S, Karipidis II, Yablonski M, Yeatman JD. Anatomy and physiology of word-selective visual cortex: from visual features to lexical processing. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:3051-3065. [PMID: 34636985 PMCID: PMC8639194 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02384-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Over the past 2 decades, researchers have tried to uncover how the human brain can extract linguistic information from a sequence of visual symbols. The description of how the brain's visual system processes words and enables reading has improved with the progressive refinement of experimental methodologies and neuroimaging techniques. This review provides a brief overview of this research journey. We start by describing classical models of object recognition in non-human primates, which represent the foundation for many of the early models of visual word recognition in humans. We then review functional neuroimaging studies investigating the word-selective regions in visual cortex. This research led to the differentiation of highly specialized areas, which are involved in the analysis of different aspects of written language. We then consider the corresponding anatomical measurements and provide a description of the main white matter pathways carrying neural signals crucial to word recognition. Finally, in an attempt to integrate structural, functional, and electrophysiological findings, we propose a view of visual word recognition, accounting for spatial and temporal facets of word-selective neural processes. This multi-modal perspective on the neural circuitry of literacy highlights the relevance of a posterior-anterior differentiation in ventral occipitotemporal cortex for visual processing of written language and lexical features. It also highlights unanswered questions that can guide us towards future research directions. Bridging measures of brain structure and function will help us reach a more precise understanding of the transformation from vision to language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sendy Caffarra
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Li Ka Shing Building, Stanford, CA, 94305-5101, USA
- Stanford University Graduate School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Mikeletegi 69, 20009, San Sebastian, Spain
- University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 41125, Modena, Italy
| | - Iliana I Karipidis
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305-5717, USA.
| | - Maya Yablonski
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Li Ka Shing Building, Stanford, CA, 94305-5101, USA
- Stanford University Graduate School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Jason D Yeatman
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Li Ka Shing Building, Stanford, CA, 94305-5101, USA
- Stanford University Graduate School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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18
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One object, two networks? Assessing the relationship between the face and body-selective regions in the primate visual system. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:1423-1438. [PMID: 34792643 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02420-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Faces and bodies are often treated as distinct categories that are processed separately by face- and body-selective brain regions in the primate visual system. These regions occupy distinct regions of visual cortex and are often thought to constitute independent functional networks. Yet faces and bodies are part of the same object and their presence inevitably covary in naturalistic settings. Here, we re-evaluate both the evidence supporting the independent processing of faces and bodies and the organizational principles that have been invoked to explain this distinction. We outline four hypotheses ranging from completely separate networks to a single network supporting the perception of whole people or animals. The current evidence, especially in humans, is compatible with all of these hypotheses, making it presently unclear how the representation of faces and bodies is organized in the cortex.
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19
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Decramer T, Premereur E, Zhu Q, Van Paesschen W, van Loon J, Vanduffel W, Taubert J, Janssen P, Theys T. Single-Unit Recordings Reveal the Selectivity of a Human Face Area. J Neurosci 2021; 41:9340-9349. [PMID: 34732521 PMCID: PMC8580152 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0349-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The exquisite capacity of primates to detect and recognize faces is crucial for social interactions. Although disentangling the neural basis of human face recognition remains a key goal in neuroscience, direct evidence at the single-neuron level is limited. We recorded from face-selective neurons in human visual cortex in a region characterized by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activations for faces compared with objects. The majority of visually responsive neurons in this fMRI activation showed strong selectivity at short latencies for faces compared with objects. Feature-scrambled faces and face-like objects could also drive these neurons, suggesting that this region is not tightly tuned to the visual attributes that typically define whole human faces. These single-cell recordings within the human face processing system provide vital experimental evidence linking previous imaging studies in humans and invasive studies in animal models.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We present the first recordings of face-selective neurons in or near an fMRI-defined patch in human visual cortex. Our unbiased multielectrode array recordings (i.e., no selection of neurons based on a search strategy) confirmed the validity of the BOLD contrast (faces-objects) in humans, a finding with implications for all human imaging studies. By presenting faces, feature-scrambled faces, and face-pareidolia (perceiving faces in inanimate objects) stimuli, we demonstrate that neurons at this level of the visual hierarchy are broadly tuned to the features of a face, independent of spatial configuration and low-level visual attributes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Decramer
- Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Departments of Neurosurgery and
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Elsie Premereur
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Qi Zhu
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Wim Van Paesschen
- Neurology, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Laboratory for Epilepsy Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Johannes van Loon
- Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Departments of Neurosurgery and
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jessica Taubert
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Peter Janssen
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tom Theys
- Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Departments of Neurosurgery and
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20
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Arcaro MJ, Livingstone MS. On the relationship between maps and domains in inferotemporal cortex. Nat Rev Neurosci 2021; 22:573-583. [PMID: 34345018 PMCID: PMC8865285 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-021-00490-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
How does the brain encode information about the environment? Decades of research have led to the pervasive notion that the object-processing pathway in primate cortex consists of multiple areas that are each specialized to process different object categories (such as faces, bodies, hands, non-face objects and scenes). The anatomical consistency and modularity of these regions have been interpreted as evidence that these regions are innately specialized. Here, we propose that ventral-stream modules do not represent clusters of circuits that each evolved to process some specific object category particularly important for survival, but instead reflect the effects of experience on a domain-general architecture that evolved to be able to adapt, within a lifetime, to its particular environment. Furthermore, we propose that the mechanisms underlying the development of domains are both evolutionarily old and universal across cortex. Topographic maps are fundamental, governing the development of specializations across systems, providing a framework for brain organization.
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21
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Russ BE, Petkov CI, Kwok SC, Zhu Q, Belin P, Vanduffel W, Hamed SB. Common functional localizers to enhance NHP & cross-species neuroscience imaging research. Neuroimage 2021; 237:118203. [PMID: 34048898 PMCID: PMC8529529 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Revised: 05/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional localizers are invaluable as they can help define regions of interest, provide cross-study comparisons, and most importantly, allow for the aggregation and meta-analyses of data across studies and laboratories. To achieve these goals within the non-human primate (NHP) imaging community, there is a pressing need for the use of standardized and validated localizers that can be readily implemented across different groups. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the value of localizer protocols to imaging research and we describe a number of commonly used or novel localizers within NHPs, and keys to implement them across studies. As has been shown with the aggregation of resting-state imaging data in the original PRIME-DE submissions, we believe that the field is ready to apply the same initiative for task-based functional localizers in NHP imaging. By coming together to collect large datasets across research group, implementing the same functional localizers, and sharing the localizers and data via PRIME-DE, it is now possible to fully test their robustness, selectivity and specificity. To do this, we reviewed a number of common localizers and we created a repository of well-established localizer that are easily accessible and implemented through the PRIME-RE platform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian E Russ
- Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, United States; Department of Psychiatry, New York University at Langone, New York City, NY, United States.
| | - Christopher I Petkov
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Sze Chai Kwok
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China; NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi Zhu
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191 Gif/Yvette, France; Laboratory for Neuro-and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven Medical School, Leuven, 3000, Belgium
| | - Pascal Belin
- Institut de Neurosciences de La Timone, Aix-Marseille Université et CNRS, Marseille, 13005, France
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratory for Neuro-and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven Medical School, Leuven, 3000, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, United States.
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, Université de Lyon - CNRS, France.
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22
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Ainsworth M, Sallet J, Joly O, Kyriazis D, Kriegeskorte N, Duncan J, Schüffelgen U, Rushworth MFS, Bell AH. Viewing Ambiguous Social Interactions Increases Functional Connectivity between Frontal and Temporal Nodes of the Social Brain. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6070-6086. [PMID: 34099508 PMCID: PMC8276745 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0870-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Social behavior is coordinated by a network of brain regions, including those involved in the perception of social stimuli and those involved in complex functions, such as inferring perceptual and mental states and controlling social interactions. The properties and function of many of these regions in isolation are relatively well understood, but less is known about how these regions interact while processing dynamic social interactions. To investigate whether the functional connectivity between brain regions is modulated by social context, we collected fMRI data from male monkeys (Macaca mulatta) viewing videos of social interactions labeled as "affiliative," "aggressive," or "ambiguous." We show activation related to the perception of social interactions along both banks of the superior temporal sulcus, parietal cortex, medial and lateral frontal cortex, and the caudate nucleus. Within this network, we show that fronto-temporal functional connectivity is significantly modulated by social context. Crucially, we link the observation of specific behaviors to changes in functional connectivity within our network. Viewing aggressive behavior was associated with a limited increase in temporo-temporal and a weak increase in cingulate-temporal connectivity. By contrast, viewing interactions where the outcome was uncertain was associated with a pronounced increase in temporo-temporal, and cingulate-temporal functional connectivity. We hypothesize that this widespread network synchronization occurs when cingulate and temporal areas coordinate their activity when more difficult social inferences are being made.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Processing social information from our environment requires the activation of several brain regions, which are concentrated within the frontal and temporal lobes. However, little is known about how these areas interact to facilitate the processing of different social interactions. Here we show that functional connectivity within and between the frontal and temporal lobes is modulated by social context. Specifically, we demonstrate that viewing social interactions where the outcome was unclear is associated with increased synchrony within and between the cingulate cortex and temporal cortices. These findings suggest that the coordination between the cingulate and temporal cortices is enhanced when more difficult social inferences are being made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Ainsworth
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
| | - Jérôme Sallet
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
- Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Université Lyon 1, 69500 Bron, France
| | - Olivier Joly
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
| | - Diana Kyriazis
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
| | - Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York, NY 10027
| | - John Duncan
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
| | - Urs Schüffelgen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
| | - Andrew H Bell
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
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23
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Popescu M, Popescu EA, DeGraba TJ, Hughes JD. Post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with alterations in evoked cortical activation during visual recognition of scenes. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2021; 31:102752. [PMID: 34284337 PMCID: PMC8313740 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
PTSD is associated with impaired performance in the recognition of scene images. PTSD is associated with lower activity in frontal, parietal and lateral temporal cortex. Difficulties with elaboration on visual cues may lead to impaired recognition in PTSD.
We recorded magnetoencephalography data during a visual recognition task in participants with combat exposure (n = 40, age: 41.2 ± 7.2 years) to investigate the relationship between the evoked brain activity, behavioral performance, and the severity of their post-traumatic stress symptoms assessed using the PTSD Check List for DSM V version (PCL-5). In an initial study session, participants were presented with a series of images of outdoor scenes and were instructed to study the images for an upcoming recognition test. In a subsequent session, the original images were shown intermixed with novel images while participants performed the recognition task. PCL-5 scores were negatively correlated with discrimination performance and with the recognition accuracy for original images. During the recognition session, higher PCL-5 scores were associated with reduced relative power of the evoked response to original images from 100 ms to 300 ms following the image onset over a distributed brain network including the bilateral inferior frontal gyri, left middle frontal gyrus, left supramarginal gyrus, right precuneus and the bilateral superior temporal gyri. These findings indicate that the lower recognition performance in participants with higher PTSD symptom severity is associated with altered cortical activity in brain regions that are known to play a role in the elaboration on visual cues that supports recollection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mihai Popescu
- National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Elena-Anda Popescu
- National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Thomas J DeGraba
- National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - John D Hughes
- National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA; Behavioral Biology Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
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Khandhadia AP, Murphy AP, Romanski LM, Bizley JK, Leopold DA. Audiovisual integration in macaque face patch neurons. Curr Biol 2021; 31:1826-1835.e3. [PMID: 33636119 PMCID: PMC8521527 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2020] [Revised: 12/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Primate social communication depends on the perceptual integration of visual and auditory cues, reflected in the multimodal mixing of sensory signals in certain cortical areas. The macaque cortical face patch network, identified through visual, face-selective responses measured with fMRI, is assumed to contribute to visual social interactions. However, whether face patch neurons are also influenced by acoustic information, such as the auditory component of a natural vocalization, remains unknown. Here, we recorded single-unit activity in the anterior fundus (AF) face patch, in the superior temporal sulcus, and anterior medial (AM) face patch, on the undersurface of the temporal lobe, in macaques presented with audiovisual, visual-only, and auditory-only renditions of natural movies of macaques vocalizing. The results revealed that 76% of neurons in face patch AF were significantly influenced by the auditory component of the movie, most often through enhancement of visual responses but sometimes in response to the auditory stimulus alone. By contrast, few neurons in face patch AM exhibited significant auditory responses or modulation. Control experiments in AF used an animated macaque avatar to demonstrate, first, that the structural elements of the face were often essential for audiovisual modulation and, second, that the temporal modulation of the acoustic stimulus was more important than its frequency spectrum. Together, these results identify a striking contrast between two face patches and specifically identify AF as playing a potential role in the integration of audiovisual cues during natural modes of social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit P Khandhadia
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK.
| | - Aidan P Murphy
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Lizabeth M Romanski
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Jennifer K Bizley
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
| | - David A Leopold
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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25
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Liu N, Zhang H, Zhang X, Yang J, Weng X, Chen L. In Memory of Leslie G. Ungerleider. Neurosci Bull 2021; 37:592-595. [PMID: 33675525 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-021-00648-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ning Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Hui Zhang
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, School of Medicine and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China
| | - Xilin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, Guangdong, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, Guangdong, China
| | - Jiongjiong Yang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xuchu Weng
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, Guangdong, China
- Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, Guangdong, China
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
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26
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Pitcher D, Ungerleider LG. Evidence for a Third Visual Pathway Specialized for Social Perception. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:100-110. [PMID: 33334693 PMCID: PMC7811363 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 164] [Impact Index Per Article: 54.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2020] [Revised: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Existing models propose that primate visual cortex is divided into two functionally distinct pathways. The ventral pathway computes the identity of an object; the dorsal pathway computes the location of an object, and the actions related to that object. Despite remaining influential, the two visual pathways model requires revision. Both human and non-human primate studies reveal the existence of a third visual pathway on the lateral brain surface. This third pathway projects from early visual cortex, via motion-selective areas, into the superior temporal sulcus (STS). Studies demonstrating that the STS computes the actions of moving faces and bodies (e.g., expressions, eye-gaze, audio-visual integration, intention, and mood) show that the third visual pathway is specialized for the dynamic aspects of social perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Pitcher
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
| | - Leslie G Ungerleider
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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Salehi S, A Dehaqani MR, Noudoost B, Esteky H. Distinct mechanisms of face representation by enhancive and suppressive neurons of the inferior temporal cortex. J Neurophysiol 2020; 124:1216-1228. [PMID: 32902342 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00203.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Face-selective neurons in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex respond to faces by either increasing (ENH) or decreasing (SUP) their spiking activities compared with their baseline. Although nearly half of IT face neurons are selectively suppressed by face stimulation, their role in face representation is not clear. To address this issue, we recorded the spiking activities and local field potential (LFP) from IT cortex of three monkeys while they viewed a large set of visual stimuli. LFP high-gamma (HG-LFP) power indicated the presence of both ENH and SUP face-selective neural clusters in IT cortex. The magnitude of HG-LFP power of the recording sites was correlated with the magnitude of change in the evoked spiking activities of its constituent neurons for both ENH and SUP face clusters. Spatial distribution of the ENH and SUP face clusters suggests the presence of a complex and heterogeneous face hypercluster organization in IT cortex. Importantly, ENH neurons conveyed more face category and SUP neurons conveyed more face identity information at both the single-unit and neuronal population levels. Onset and peak of suppressive single-unit, neuronal population, and HG-LFP power activities lagged those of the ENH ones. These results demonstrate that IT neuronal code for face representation is optimized by increasing sparseness through selective suppression of a subset of face neurons. We suggest that IT cortex contains spatial clusters of both ENH and SUP face neurons with distinct specialized functional role in face representation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Electrophysiological and imaging studies have suggested that face information is encoded by a network of clusters of enhancive face-selective neurons in the visual cortex of man and monkey. We show that nearly half of face-selective neurons are suppressed by face stimulation. The suppressive neurons form spatial clusters and convey more face identity information than the enhancive face neurons. Our results suggest the presence of two neuronal subsystems for coarse and fine face information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sina Salehi
- Shiraz Neuroscience Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza A Dehaqani
- Cognitive Systems Laboratory, Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Behrad Noudoost
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
| | - Hossein Esteky
- Research Group for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Arcaro MJ, Ponce C, Livingstone M. The neurons that mistook a hat for a face. eLife 2020; 9:53798. [PMID: 32519949 PMCID: PMC7286692 DOI: 10.7554/elife.53798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite evidence that context promotes the visual recognition of objects, decades of research have led to the pervasive notion that the object processing pathway in primate cortex consists of multiple areas that each process the intrinsic features of a few particular categories (e.g. faces, bodies, hands, objects, and scenes). Here we report that such category-selective neurons do not in fact code individual categories in isolation but are also sensitive to object relationships that reflect statistical regularities of the experienced environment. We show by direct neuronal recording that face-selective neurons respond not just to an image of a face, but also to parts of an image where contextual cues—for example a body—indicate a face ought to be, even if what is there is not a face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Arcaro
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Carlos Ponce
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, United States
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Miyakawa N, Majima K, Sawahata H, Kawasaki K, Matsuo T, Kotake N, Suzuki T, Kamitani Y, Hasegawa I. Heterogeneous Redistribution of Facial Subcategory Information Within and Outside the Face-Selective Domain in Primate Inferior Temporal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:1416-1431. [PMID: 29329375 PMCID: PMC6093347 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The inferior temporal cortex (ITC) contains neurons selective to multiple levels of visual categories. However, the mechanisms by which these neurons collectively construct hierarchical category percepts remain unclear. By comparing decoding accuracy with simultaneously acquired electrocorticogram (ECoG), local field potentials (LFPs), and multi-unit activity in the macaque ITC, we show that low-frequency LFPs/ECoG in the early evoked visual response phase contain sufficient coarse category (e.g., face) information, which is homogeneous and enhanced by spatial summation of up to several millimeters. Late-induced high-frequency LFPs additionally carry spike-coupled finer category (e.g., species, view, and identity of the face) information, which is heterogeneous and reduced by spatial summation. Face-encoding neural activity forms a cluster in similar cortical locations regardless of whether it is defined by early evoked low-frequency signals or late-induced high-gamma signals. By contrast, facial subcategory-encoding activity is distributed, not confined to the face cluster, and dynamically increases its heterogeneity from the early evoked to late-induced phases. These findings support a view that, in contrast to the homogeneous and static coarse category-encoding neural cluster, finer category-encoding clusters are heterogeneously distributed even outside their parent category cluster and dynamically increase heterogeneity along with the local cortical processing in the ITC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naohisa Miyakawa
- Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8501, Japan.,Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8501, Japan.,Department of Functional Brain Imaging Research, National Institutes of Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Chiba 263-8555, Japan
| | - Kei Majima
- Department of Intelligence Science and Technology, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Hirohito Sawahata
- Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8501, Japan
| | - Keisuke Kawasaki
- Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8501, Japan
| | - Takeshi Matsuo
- Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8501, Japan.,Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku 113-0033, Japan
| | - Naoki Kotake
- Department of Fisheries Distribution and Management, National Fisheries University, Shimonoseki 759-6595, Japan
| | - Takafumi Suzuki
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan
| | - Yukiyasu Kamitani
- Department of Intelligence Science and Technology, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.,Department of Neuroinformatics, ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Keihanna Science City 619-0288, Japan
| | - Isao Hasegawa
- Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8501, Japan.,Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8501, Japan
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30
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Sliwa J, Takahashi D, Shepherd S. Mécanismes neuronaux pour la communication chez les primates. REVUE DE PRIMATOLOGIE 2018. [DOI: 10.4000/primatologie.2950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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31
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Abstract
Perceiving social and emotional information from faces is a critical primate skill. For this purpose, primates evolved dedicated cortical architecture, especially in occipitotemporal areas, utilizing face-selective cells. Less understood face-selective neurons are present in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and are our object of study. We examined 179 face-selective cells in the lateral sulcus of the OFC by characterizing their responses to a rich set of photographs of conspecific faces varying in age, gender, and facial expression. Principal component analysis and unsupervised cluster analysis of stimulus space both revealed that face cells encode face dimensions for social categories and emotions. Categories represented strongly were facial expressions (grin and threat versus lip smack), juvenile, and female monkeys. Cluster analyses of a control population of nearby cells lacking face selectivity did not categorize face stimuli in a meaningful way, suggesting that only face-selective cells directly support face categorization in OFC. Time course analyses of face cell activity from stimulus onset showed that faces were discriminated from nonfaces early, followed by within-face categorization for social and emotion content (i.e., young and facial expression). Face cells revealed no response to acoustic stimuli such as vocalizations and were poorly modulated by vocalizations added to faces. Neuronal responses remained stable when paired with positive or negative reinforcement, implying that face cells encode social information but not learned reward value associated to faces. Overall, our results shed light on a substantial role of the OFC in the characterizations of facial information bearing on social and emotional behavior.
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Grill-Spector K, Weiner KS, Gomez J, Stigliani A, Natu VS. The functional neuroanatomy of face perception: from brain measurements to deep neural networks. Interface Focus 2018; 8:20180013. [PMID: 29951193 PMCID: PMC6015811 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2018.0013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
A central goal in neuroscience is to understand how processing within the ventral visual stream enables rapid and robust perception and recognition. Recent neuroscientific discoveries have significantly advanced understanding of the function, structure and computations along the ventral visual stream that serve as the infrastructure supporting this behaviour. In parallel, significant advances in computational models, such as hierarchical deep neural networks (DNNs), have brought machine performance to a level that is commensurate with human performance. Here, we propose a new framework using the ventral face network as a model system to illustrate how increasing the neural accuracy of present DNNs may allow researchers to test the computational benefits of the functional architecture of the human brain. Thus, the review (i) considers specific neural implementational features of the ventral face network, (ii) describes similarities and differences between the functional architecture of the brain and DNNs, and (iii) provides a hypothesis for the computational value of implementational features within the brain that may improve DNN performance. Importantly, this new framework promotes the incorporation of neuroscientific findings into DNNs in order to test the computational benefits of fundamental organizational features of the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kalanit Grill-Spector
- Department of Psychology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Stanford Neurosciences Institute, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kevin S. Weiner
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jesse Gomez
- Stanford Neurosciences Program, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Anthony Stigliani
- Department of Psychology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Vaidehi S. Natu
- Department of Psychology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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33
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Taubert J, Van Belle G, Vogels R, Rossion B. The impact of stimulus size and orientation on individual face coding in monkey face-selective cortex. Sci Rep 2018; 8:10339. [PMID: 29985387 PMCID: PMC6037706 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-28144-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2017] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Face-selective neurons in the monkey temporal cortex discharge at different rates in response to pictures of different individual faces. Here we tested whether this pattern of response across single neurons in the face-selective area ML (located in the middle Superior Temporal Sulcus) tolerates two affine transformations; picture-plane inversion, known to decrease the average response of face-selective neurons and the other, stimulus size. We recorded the response of 57 ML neurons in two awake and fixating monkeys. Face stimuli were presented at two sizes (10 and 5 degrees of visual angle) and two orientations (upright and inverted). Different faces elicited distinct patterns of activity across ML neurons that were reliable (i.e., predictable with a classifier) within a specific size and orientation condition. Despite observing a reduction in the average response magnitude of face-selective neurons to inverted faces, compared to upright faces, classifier performance was above chance for both upright and inverted faces. While decoding was largely preserved across changes in stimulus size, a classifier trained with one orientation condition and tested on the other did not lead to performance above chance level. We conclude that different individual faces can be decoded from patterns of responses in the monkey area ML regardless of orientation or size, but with qualitatively different patterns of responses for upright and inverted faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Neuroscience Institute, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1348, Belgium.
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
| | - Goedele Van Belle
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Neuroscience Institute, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1348, Belgium
| | - Rufin Vogels
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Neuroscience Institute, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1348, Belgium
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, Nancy, F-5400, France
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34
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Takeda M. Brain mechanisms of visual long-term memory retrieval in primates. Neurosci Res 2018; 142:7-15. [PMID: 29964078 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2018.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2018] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 06/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Memorizing events or objects and retrieving them from memory are essential for daily life. Historically, memory processing was studied in neuropsychology, in which patients provided us with insights into the brain mechanisms underlying memory. Psychological hypotheses about memory processing have been further investigated using neuroscience techniques, such as functional imaging and electrophysiology. In this article, I briefly summarize recent findings on multi-scale neural circuitry for memory at the scale of single neurons and cortical layers as well as inter-area and whole-brain interactions. The key idea which connects multi-scale neural circuits is how neuronal assemblies utilize the frequency of communication between neurons, cortical layers, and brain areas. Using findings and ideas from other cognitive function studies, I discuss the plausible communication between neurons involved in memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masaki Takeda
- Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan; Department of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Research Center for Brain Communication, Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kami-city, Kochi 782-8502, Japan.
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35
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Abstract
Activity in a network of areas spanning the superior temporal sulcus, dorsomedial frontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex is concerned with how nonhuman primates negotiate the social worlds in which they live. Central aspects of these circuits are retained in humans. Activity in these areas codes for primates' interactions with one another, their attempts to find out about one another, and their attempts to prevent others from finding out too much about themselves. Moreover, important features of the social world, such as dominance status, cooperation, and competition, modulate activity in these areas. We consider the degree to which activity in these regions is simply encoding an individual's own actions and choices or whether this activity is especially and specifically concerned with social cognition. Recent advances in comparative anatomy and computational modeling may help us to gain deeper insights into the nature and boundaries of primate social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco K Wittmann
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom; , , .,Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Patricia L Lockwood
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom; , , .,Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom; , , .,Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom
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36
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Deep Residual Network Predicts Cortical Representation and Organization of Visual Features for Rapid Categorization. Sci Rep 2018; 8:3752. [PMID: 29491405 PMCID: PMC5830584 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-22160-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain represents visual objects with topographic cortical patterns. To address how distributed visual representations enable object categorization, we established predictive encoding models based on a deep residual network, and trained them to predict cortical responses to natural movies. Using this predictive model, we mapped human cortical representations to 64,000 visual objects from 80 categories with high throughput and accuracy. Such representations covered both the ventral and dorsal pathways, reflected multiple levels of object features, and preserved semantic relationships between categories. In the entire visual cortex, object representations were organized into three clusters of categories: biological objects, non-biological objects, and background scenes. In a finer scale specific to each cluster, object representations revealed sub-clusters for further categorization. Such hierarchical clustering of category representations was mostly contributed by cortical representations of object features from middle to high levels. In summary, this study demonstrates a useful computational strategy to characterize the cortical organization and representations of visual features for rapid categorization.
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37
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End-Stopping Predicts Curvature Tuning along the Ventral Stream. J Neurosci 2017; 37:648-659. [PMID: 28100746 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2507-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Revised: 11/13/2016] [Accepted: 11/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons in primate inferotemporal cortex (IT) are clustered into patches of shared image preferences. Functional imaging has shown that these patches are activated by natural categories (e.g., faces, body parts, and places), artificial categories (numerals, words) and geometric features (curvature and real-world size). These domains develop in the same cortical locations across monkeys and humans, which raises the possibility of common innate mechanisms. Although these commonalities could be high-level template-based categories, it is alternatively possible that the domain locations are constrained by low-level properties such as end-stopping, eccentricity, and the shape of the preferred images. To explore this, we looked for correlations among curvature preference, receptive field (RF) end-stopping, and RF eccentricity in the ventral stream. We recorded from sites in V1, V4, and posterior IT (PIT) from six monkeys using microelectrode arrays. Across all visual areas, we found a tendency for end-stopped sites to prefer curved over straight contours. Further, we found a progression in population curvature preferences along the visual hierarchy, where, on average, V1 sites preferred straight Gabors, V4 sites preferred curved stimuli, and many PIT sites showed a preference for curvature that was concave relative to fixation. Our results provide evidence that high-level functional domains may be mapped according to early rudimentary properties of the visual system. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The macaque occipitotemporal cortex contains clusters of neurons with preferences for categories such as faces, body parts, and places. One common question is how these clusters (or "domains") acquire their cortical position along the ventral stream. We and other investigators previously established an fMRI-level correlation among these category domains, retinotopy, and curvature preferences: for example, in inferotemporal cortex, face- and curvature-preferring domains show a central visual field bias whereas place- and rectilinear-preferring domains show a more peripheral visual field bias. Here, we have found an electrophysiological-level explanation for the correlation among domain preference, curvature, and retinotopy based on neuronal preference for short over long contours, also called end-stopping.
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38
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Ko LW, Komarov O, Hairston WD, Jung TP, Lin CT. Sustained Attention in Real Classroom Settings: An EEG Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:388. [PMID: 28824396 PMCID: PMC5534477 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sustained attention is a process that enables the maintenance of response persistence and continuous effort over extended periods of time. Performing attention-related tasks in real life involves the need to ignore a variety of distractions and inhibit attention shifts to irrelevant activities. This study investigates electroencephalography (EEG) spectral changes during a sustained attention task within a real classroom environment. Eighteen healthy students were instructed to recognize as fast as possible special visual targets that were displayed during regular university lectures. Sorting their EEG spectra with respect to response times, which indicated the level of visual alertness to randomly introduced visual stimuli, revealed significant changes in the brain oscillation patterns. The results of power-frequency analysis demonstrated a relationship between variations in the EEG spectral dynamics and impaired performance in the sustained attention task. Across subjects and sessions, prolongation of the response time was preceded by an increase in the delta and theta EEG powers over the occipital region, and decrease in the beta power over the occipital and temporal regions. Meanwhile, implementation of the complex attention task paradigm into a real-world classroom setting makes it possible to investigate specific mutual links between brain activities and factors that cause impaired behavioral performance, such as development and manifestation of classroom mental fatigue. The findings of the study set a basis for developing a system capable of estimating the level of visual attention during real classroom activities by monitoring changes in the EEG spectra.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Wei Ko
- Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineeing, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Brain Research Center, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San DiegoCA, United States
| | - Oleksii Komarov
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineeing, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Brain Research Center, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan
| | - W David Hairston
- Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Army Research Lab, AberdeenWA, United States
| | - Tzyy-Ping Jung
- Brain Research Center, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San DiegoCA, United States
| | - Chin-Teng Lin
- Brain Research Center, National Chiao Tung UniversityHsinchu, Taiwan.,Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, SydneyNSW, Australia
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39
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Park SH, Russ BE, McMahon DBT, Koyano KW, Berman RA, Leopold DA. Functional Subpopulations of Neurons in a Macaque Face Patch Revealed by Single-Unit fMRI Mapping. Neuron 2017; 95:971-981.e5. [PMID: 28757306 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2016] [Revised: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 07/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Neurons within fMRI-defined face patches of the macaque brain exhibit shared categorical responses to flashed images but diverge in their responses under more natural viewing conditions. Here we investigate functional diversity among neurons in the anterior fundus (AF) face patch, combining whole-brain fMRI with longitudinal single-unit recordings in a local population (<1 mm3). For each cell, we computed a whole-brain correlation map based on its shared time course with voxels throughout the brain during naturalistic movie viewing. Based on this mapping, neighboring neurons showed markedly different affiliation with distant visually responsive areas and fell coarsely into subpopulations. Of these, only one subpopulation (∼16% of neurons) yielded similar correlation maps to the local fMRI signal. The results employ the readout of large-scale fMRI networks and, by indicating multiple functional domains within a single voxel, present a new view of functional diversity within a local neural population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soo Hyun Park
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
| | - Brian E Russ
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - David B T McMahon
- Neuronal Networks Section, National Eye Institute, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Kenji W Koyano
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Rebecca A Berman
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - David A Leopold
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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40
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Perrachione TK, Del Tufo SN, Winter R, Murtagh J, Cyr A, Chang P, Halverson K, Ghosh SS, Christodoulou JA, Gabrieli JDE. Dysfunction of Rapid Neural Adaptation in Dyslexia. Neuron 2017; 92:1383-1397. [PMID: 28009278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.11.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Revised: 08/16/2016] [Accepted: 10/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficulty (dyslexia) has remained elusive. In addition to impaired reading development, individuals with dyslexia frequently exhibit behavioral deficits in perceptual adaptation. Here, we assessed neurophysiological adaptation to stimulus repetition in adults and children with dyslexia for a wide variety of stimuli, spoken words, written words, visual objects, and faces. For every stimulus type, individuals with dyslexia exhibited significantly diminished neural adaptation compared to controls in stimulus-specific cortical areas. Better reading skills in adults and children with dyslexia were associated with greater repetition-induced neural adaptation. These results highlight a dysfunction of rapid neural adaptation as a core neurophysiological difference in dyslexia that may underlie impaired reading development. Reduced neurophysiological adaptation may relate to prior reports of reduced behavioral adaptation in dyslexia and may reveal a difference in brain functions that ultimately results in a specific reading impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler K Perrachione
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Stephanie N Del Tufo
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Rebecca Winter
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jack Murtagh
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Abigail Cyr
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Patricia Chang
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kelly Halverson
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Satrajit S Ghosh
- Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Joanna A Christodoulou
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John D E Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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41
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Impact of Visual Corticostriatal Loop Disruption on Neural Processing within the Parahippocampal Place Area. J Neurosci 2017; 36:10456-10471. [PMID: 27707978 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0741-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2016] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The caudate nucleus is a part of the visual corticostriatal loop (VCSL), receiving input from different visual areas and projecting back to the same cortical areas via globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and thalamus. Despite perceptual and navigation impairments in patients with VCSL disruption due to caudate atrophy (e.g., Huntington's disease, HD), the relevance of the caudate nucleus and VCSL on cortical visual processing is not fully understood. In a series of fMRI experiments, we found that the caudate showed a stronger functional connection to parahippocampal place area (PPA) compared with adjacent regions (e.g., fusiform face area, FFA) within the temporal visual cortex. Consistent with this functional link, the caudate showed a higher response to scenes compared with faces, similar to the PPA. Testing the impact of VCSL disruption on neural processes within PPA, HD patients showed reduced scene-selective activity within PPA compared with healthy matched controls. In contrast, the level of selective activity in adjacent cortical and subcortical face-selective areas (i.e., FFA and amygdala) remained intact. These results show some of the first evidence for the direct impact and potential clinical significance of VCSL on the generation of "selective" activity within PPA. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual perception is often considered the product of a multistage feedforward neural processing between visual cortical areas, ignoring the likely impact of corticosubcortical loops on this process. Here, we provide evidence for the contribution of visual corticostriatal loop and the caudate nucleus on generating selective response within parahippocampal place area (PPA). Our results show that disruption of this loop in Huntington's disease patients reduces the level of selective activity within PPA, which may lead to related perceptual impairments in these patients.
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42
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Reithler J, Peters JC, Goebel R. Characterizing object- and position-dependent response profiles to uni- and bilateral stimulus configurations in human higher visual cortex: a 7T fMRI study. Neuroimage 2017; 152:551-562. [PMID: 28336425 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2016] [Revised: 03/07/2017] [Accepted: 03/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual scenes are initially processed via segregated neural pathways dedicated to either of the two visual hemifields. Although higher-order visual areas are generally believed to utilize invariant object representations (abstracted away from features such as stimulus position), recent findings suggest they retain more spatial information than previously thought. Here, we assessed the nature of such higher-order object representations in human cortex using high-resolution fMRI at 7T, supported by corroborative 3T data. We show that multi-voxel activation patterns in both the contra- and ipsilateral hemisphere can be exploited to successfully classify the object category of unilaterally presented stimuli. Moreover, robustly identified rank order-based response profiles demonstrated a strong contralateral bias which frequently outweighed object category preferences. Finally, we contrasted different combinatorial operations to predict the responses during bilateral stimulation conditions based on responses to their constituent unilateral elements. Results favored a max operation predominantly reflecting the contralateral stimuli. The current findings extend previous work by showing that configuration-dependent modulations in higher-order visual cortex responses as observed in single unit activity have a counterpart in human neural population coding. They furthermore corroborate the emerging view that position coding is a fundamental functional characteristic of ventral visual stream processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel Reithler
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Neuroimaging and Neuromodeling, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Judith C Peters
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Neuroimaging and Neuromodeling, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rainer Goebel
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Neuroimaging and Neuromodeling, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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43
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Perrachione TK, Del Tufo SN, Winter R, Murtagh J, Cyr A, Chang P, Halverson K, Ghosh SS, Christodoulou JA, Gabrieli JDE. Dysfunction of Rapid Neural Adaptation in Dyslexia. Neuron 2016. [PMID: 28009278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.11.020"] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/30/2022]
Abstract
Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficulty (dyslexia) has remained elusive. In addition to impaired reading development, individuals with dyslexia frequently exhibit behavioral deficits in perceptual adaptation. Here, we assessed neurophysiological adaptation to stimulus repetition in adults and children with dyslexia for a wide variety of stimuli, spoken words, written words, visual objects, and faces. For every stimulus type, individuals with dyslexia exhibited significantly diminished neural adaptation compared to controls in stimulus-specific cortical areas. Better reading skills in adults and children with dyslexia were associated with greater repetition-induced neural adaptation. These results highlight a dysfunction of rapid neural adaptation as a core neurophysiological difference in dyslexia that may underlie impaired reading development. Reduced neurophysiological adaptation may relate to prior reports of reduced behavioral adaptation in dyslexia and may reveal a difference in brain functions that ultimately results in a specific reading impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler K Perrachione
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Stephanie N Del Tufo
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Rebecca Winter
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jack Murtagh
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Abigail Cyr
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Patricia Chang
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kelly Halverson
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Satrajit S Ghosh
- Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Joanna A Christodoulou
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John D E Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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44
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Premereur E, Taubert J, Janssen P, Vogels R, Vanduffel W. Effective Connectivity Reveals Largely Independent Parallel Networks of Face and Body Patches. Curr Biol 2016; 26:3269-3279. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2016] [Revised: 09/04/2016] [Accepted: 09/28/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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45
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Robust representations of individual faces in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) but not monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Anim Cogn 2016; 20:321-329. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-016-1054-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/07/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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46
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Neurophysiological Organization of the Middle Face Patch in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex. J Neurosci 2016; 36:12729-12745. [PMID: 27810930 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0237-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Revised: 10/07/2016] [Accepted: 10/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
While early cortical visual areas contain fine scale spatial organization of neuronal properties, such as orientation preference, the spatial organization of higher-level visual areas is less well understood. The fMRI demonstration of face-preferring regions in human ventral cortex and monkey inferior temporal cortex ("face patches") raises the question of how neural selectivity for faces is organized. Here, we targeted hundreds of spatially registered neural recordings to the largest fMRI-identified face-preferring region in monkeys, the middle face patch (MFP), and show that the MFP contains a graded enrichment of face-preferring neurons. At its center, as much as 93% of the sites we sampled responded twice as strongly to faces than to nonface objects. We estimate the maximum neurophysiological size of the MFP to be ∼6 mm in diameter, consistent with its previously reported size under fMRI. Importantly, face selectivity in the MFP varied strongly even between neighboring sites. Additionally, extremely face-selective sites were ∼40 times more likely to be present inside the MFP than outside. These results provide the first direct quantification of the size and neural composition of the MFP by showing that the cortical tissue localized to the fMRI defined region consists of a very high fraction of face-preferring sites near its center, and a monotonic decrease in that fraction along any radial spatial axis. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The underlying organization of neurons that give rise to the large spatial regions of activity observed with fMRI is not well understood. Neurophysiological studies that have targeted the fMRI identified face patches in monkeys have provided evidence for both large-scale clustering and a heterogeneous spatial organization. Here we used a novel x-ray imaging system to spatially map the responses of hundreds of sites in and around the middle face patch. We observed that face-selective signal localized to the middle face patch was characterized by a gradual spatial enrichment. Furthermore, strongly face-selective sites were ∼40 times more likely to be found inside the patch than outside of the patch.
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47
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Bell AH, Summerfield C, Morin EL, Malecek NJ, Ungerleider LG. Encoding of Stimulus Probability in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex. Curr Biol 2016; 26:2280-90. [PMID: 27524483 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2016] [Revised: 06/20/2016] [Accepted: 07/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Optimal perceptual decisions require sensory signals to be combined with prior information about stimulus probability. Although several theories propose that probabilistic information about stimulus occurrence is encoded in sensory cortex, evidence from neuronal recordings has not yet fully supported this view. We recorded activity from single neurons in inferior temporal cortex (IT) while monkeys performed a task that involved discriminating degraded images of faces and fruit. The relative probability of the cue being a face versus a fruit was manipulated by a latent variable that was not revealed to the monkeys and that changed unpredictably over the course of each recording session. In addition to responding to stimulus identity (face or fruit), population responses in IT encoded the long-term stimulus probability of whether a face or a fruit stimulus was more likely to occur. Face-responsive neurons showed reduced firing rates to expected faces, an effect consistent with "expectation suppression," but expected stimuli were decoded from multivariate population signals with greater accuracy. These findings support "predictive coding" theories, whereby neural signals in the mammalian visual system actively encode and update predictions about the local sensory environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew H Bell
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK; MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK.
| | - Christopher Summerfield
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK
| | - Elyse L Morin
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Nicholas J Malecek
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Leslie G Ungerleider
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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48
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Axelrod V. On the domain-specificity of the visual and non-visual face-selective regions. Eur J Neurosci 2016; 44:2049-63. [PMID: 27255921 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2015] [Revised: 05/21/2016] [Accepted: 05/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
What happens in our brains when we see a face? The neural mechanisms of face processing - namely, the face-selective regions - have been extensively explored. Research has traditionally focused on visual cortex face-regions; more recently, the role of face-regions outside the visual cortex (i.e., non-visual-cortex face-regions) has been acknowledged as well. The major quest today is to reveal the functional role of each this region in face processing. To make progress in this direction, it is essential to understand the extent to which the face-regions, and particularly the non-visual-cortex face-regions, process only faces (i.e., face-specific, domain-specific processing) or rather are involved in a more domain-general cognitive processing. In the current functional MRI study, we systematically examined the activity of the whole face-network during face-unrelated reading task (i.e., written meaningful sentences with content unrelated to faces/people and non-words). We found that the non-visual-cortex (i.e., right lateral prefrontal cortex and posterior superior temporal sulcus), but not the visual cortex face-regions, responded significantly stronger to sentences than to non-words. In general, some degree of sentence selectivity was found in all non-visual-cortex cortex. Present result highlights the possibility that the processing in the non-visual-cortex face-selective regions might not be exclusively face-specific, but rather more or even fully domain-general. In this paper, we illustrate how the knowledge about domain-general processing in face-regions can help to advance our general understanding of face processing mechanisms. Our results therefore suggest that the problem of face processing should be approached in the broader scope of cognition in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vadim Axelrod
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.,The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel
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49
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Taubert J, Goffaux V, Van Belle G, Vanduffel W, Vogels R. The impact of orientation filtering on face-selective neurons in monkey inferior temporal cortex. Sci Rep 2016; 6:21189. [PMID: 26879148 PMCID: PMC4754760 DOI: 10.1038/srep21189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2015] [Accepted: 01/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Faces convey complex social signals to primates. These signals are tolerant of some image transformations (e.g. changes in size) but not others (e.g. picture-plane rotation). By filtering face stimuli for orientation content, studies of human behavior and brain responses have shown that face processing is tuned to selective orientation ranges. In the present study, for the first time, we recorded the responses of face-selective neurons in monkey inferior temporal (IT) cortex to intact and scrambled faces that were filtered to selectively preserve horizontal or vertical information. Guided by functional maps, we recorded neurons in the lateral middle patch (ML), the lateral anterior patch (AL), and an additional region located outside of the functionally defined face-patches (CONTROL). We found that neurons in ML preferred horizontal-passed faces over their vertical-passed counterparts. Neurons in AL, however, had a preference for vertical-passed faces, while neurons in CONTROL had no systematic preference. Importantly, orientation filtering did not modulate the firing rate of neurons to phase-scrambled face stimuli in any recording region. Together these results suggest that face-selective neurons found in the face-selective patches are differentially tuned to orientation content, with horizontal tuning in area ML and vertical tuning in area AL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Valerie Goffaux
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Goedele Van Belle
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
- MGH Martinos Center, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rufin Vogels
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
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50
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Abstract
Face perception relies on computations carried out in face-selective cortical areas. These areas have been intensively investigated for two decades, and this work has been guided by an influential neural model suggested by Haxby and colleagues in 2000. Here, we review new findings about face-selective areas that suggest the need for modifications and additions to the Haxby model. We suggest a revised framework based on (a) evidence for multiple routes from early visual areas into the face-processing system, (b) information about the temporal characteristics of these areas, (c) indications that the fusiform face area contributes to the perception of changeable aspects of faces, (d) the greatly elevated responses to dynamic compared with static faces in dorsal face-selective brain areas, and (e) the identification of three new anterior face-selective areas. Together, these findings lead us to suggest that face perception depends on two separate pathways: a ventral stream that represents form information and a dorsal stream driven by motion and form information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brad Duchaine
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755;
| | - Galit Yovel
- School of Psychological Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 69987;
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