The fusiform face area is tuned for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrasted elements in the upper part Export

@article{citeulike:1137211, abstract = {The ability to identify conspecifics from the face is of primary interest for human social behavior. Newborns' visual preference for schematic face-like stimuli has been recently related to a sensitivity for visual patterns with a greater number of elements in the upper compared to the lower part. At the adult level, neuroimaging studies have identified a network of cortical areas devoted to the detection and identification of faces. However, whether and how low-level structural properties of face stimuli contribute to the preferential response to faces in these areas remain to be clarified. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), here we investigated whether the adults' face-sensitive cortical areas show a preference for top-heavy patterns, similarly to newborns' preference. Twelve participants were presented with head-shaped and square patterns with either more elements in the upper or the lower vertical part. In the right fusiform gyrus (`fusiform face area', FFA), an area showing a preference for faces over other visual object categories, there was a larger activation for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrast elements in the upper part, even though these patterns were not perceived as face stimuli. These findings provide direct evidence that the FFA is tuned for geometrical properties fitting best with the structure of faces, a computational mechanism that might drive the automatic detection of faces in the visual world.}, author = {Caldara, Roberto and Seghier, Mohamed L. and Rossion, Bruno and Lazeyras, Francois and Michel, Christoph and Hauert, Claude-Alain}, citeulike-article-id = {1137211}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.011}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WNP-4J6WP61-4/2/b91bbb46655dc1670e9f7059b4595d0f}, day = {15}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.011}, journal = {NeuroImage}, keywords = {08-012, face, fmri}, month = {May}, number = {1}, pages = {313--319}, posted-at = {2008-02-16 06:10:45}, priority = {2}, title = {The fusiform face area is tuned for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrasted elements in the upper part}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.011}, volume = {31}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1137211 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1137211 N2 - The ability to identify conspecifics from the face is of primary interest for human social behavior. Newborns' visual preference for schematic face-like stimuli has been recently related to a sensitivity for visual patterns with a greater number of elements in the upper compared to the lower part. At the adult level, neuroimaging studies have identified a network of cortical areas devoted to the detection and identification of faces. However, whether and how low-level structural properties of face stimuli contribute to the preferential response to faces in these areas remain to be clarified. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), here we investigated whether the adults' face-sensitive cortical areas show a preference for top-heavy patterns, similarly to newborns' preference. Twelve participants were presented with head-shaped and square patterns with either more elements in the upper or the lower vertical part. In the right fusiform gyrus (`fusiform face area', FFA), an area showing a preference for faces over other visual object categories, there was a larger activation for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrast elements in the upper part, even though these patterns were not perceived as face stimuli. These findings provide direct evidence that the FFA is tuned for geometrical properties fitting best with the structure of faces, a computational mechanism that might drive the automatic detection of faces in the visual world. IS - 1 JF - NeuroImage EP - 319 TI - The fusiform face area is tuned for curvilinear patterns with more high-contrasted elements in the upper part VL - 31 SP - 313 KW - 08-012 KW - face KW - fmri AU - Caldara, Roberto AU - Seghier, Mohamed AU - Rossion, Bruno AU - Lazeyras, Francois AU - Michel, Christoph AU - Hauert, Claude-Alain PY - 2006/05/15/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.011 ER -