A cortical region consisting entirely of face-selective cells

DY Tsao, WA Freiwald, RBH Tootell, MS Livingstone - Science, 2006 - science.org
DY Tsao, WA Freiwald, RBH Tootell, MS Livingstone
Science, 2006science.org
Face perception is a skill crucial to primates. In both humans and macaque monkeys,
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a system of cortical regions that show
increased blood flow when the subject views images of faces, compared with images of
objects. However, the stimulus selectivity of single neurons within these fMRI-identified
regions has not been studied. We used fMRI to identify and target the largest face-selective
region in two macaques for single-unit recording. Almost all (97%) of the visually responsive …
Face perception is a skill crucial to primates. In both humans and macaque monkeys, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a system of cortical regions that show increased blood flow when the subject views images of faces, compared with images of objects. However, the stimulus selectivity of single neurons within these fMRI-identified regions has not been studied. We used fMRI to identify and target the largest face-selective region in two macaques for single-unit recording. Almost all (97%) of the visually responsive neurons in this region were strongly face selective, indicating that a dedicated cortical area exists to support face processing in the macaque.
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