In this fMRJ survey, a series of investigations examined the prevalence and
specificity of category-selective regions in the human visual cortex. Participants were scanned while viewing scenes and 19 different object categories. There were significant category preferences in the fusiform face area (FF A), parahippocampal place area (PPA), and extrastriate body area (EBA). Apart from these regions, other category-selective regions were not observed in the visual cortex. However, a face-bias activation was found in the right prefrontal cortex. This activation is consistent with the findings that face-selective cells were identified in monkeys' prefrontal cortex. Several categories produced significant activation overlapping the FF A, PPA, or EBA. However, in each of these regions, faces, scenes, or bodies remained the most-effective categories, even when tested at the individual-subject level. Further, there was a crude division of activation between animate and inanimate objects, along the lateral and medial ventral cortex. This survey represents the broadest survey to date of category selectivity in the visual cortex. The results demonstrate both the strong selectivity of a small number of regions, and the scarcity of such regions. The face-bias activation in the right prefrontal cortex was further investigated; this region was later labelled as the right inferior prefrontal junction (rIFJ). Initial results showed the response patterns of the rIFJ mirrored that of the right FFA in the non-working memory task, 1-back working memory task, and in whole/part processing of objects. Later investigation showed the rIFJ, but not the rFFA, was sensitive to the presence of pairs of eyes. It is speculated here that the rIFJ extracts object-based and behaviourally relevant information. The results suggest overlapping but distinct roles in face representation between the rIFJ and rFFA, which may reflect top-down control from the prefrontal region to the ventral cortex.