TY - JOUR

T1 - The involvement of the "fusiform face area" in processing facial expression

AU - Ganel, Tzvi

AU - Valyear, Kenneth F

AU - Goshen-Gottstein, Yonatan

AU - Goodale, Melvyn A

PY - 2005/2/25

Y1 - 2005/2/25

N2 - We conducted an fMRI investigation to test the widely accepted notion that the fusiform face area (FFA) mediates the processing of facial identity but not expression. Participants attended either to the identity or to the expression of the same set of faces. If the processing of identity is neuroanatomically dissociable from that of expression, then one might expect the FFA to show higher activation when processing identity as opposed to expression. Contrary to this prediction, the FFA showed higher activation for judgments of expression. Furthermore, the FFA was sensitive to variations in expression even when attention was directed to identity. Finally, an independent observation showed higher activation in the FFA for passive viewing of faces when expression was varied as compared to when it remained constant. These findings suggest an interactive network for the processing of expression and identity, in which information about expression is computed from the unique structure of individual faces.

AB - We conducted an fMRI investigation to test the widely accepted notion that the fusiform face area (FFA) mediates the processing of facial identity but not expression. Participants attended either to the identity or to the expression of the same set of faces. If the processing of identity is neuroanatomically dissociable from that of expression, then one might expect the FFA to show higher activation when processing identity as opposed to expression. Contrary to this prediction, the FFA showed higher activation for judgments of expression. Furthermore, the FFA was sensitive to variations in expression even when attention was directed to identity. Finally, an independent observation showed higher activation in the FFA for passive viewing of faces when expression was varied as compared to when it remained constant. These findings suggest an interactive network for the processing of expression and identity, in which information about expression is computed from the unique structure of individual faces.

KW - Analysis of Variance

KW - Attention

KW - Brain

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Face

KW - Facial Expression

KW - Humans

KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Oxygen

KW - Pattern Recognition, Visual

KW - Photic Stimulation

KW - Recognition (Psychology)

KW - Statistics as Topic

KW - Comparative Study

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.01.012

DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.01.012

M3 - Article

C2 - 16009246

VL - 43

SP - 1645

EP - 1654

JO - Neuropsychologia

JF - Neuropsychologia

SN - 0028-3932

IS - 11

ER -