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Fast temporal dynamics and causal relevance of face processing in the human temporal cortex.

ABSTRACT: We measured the fast temporal dynamics of face processing simultaneously across the human temporal cortex (TC) using intracranial recordings in eight participants. We found sites with selective responses to faces clustered in the ventral TC, which responded increasingly strongly to marine animal, bird, mammal, and human faces. Both face-selective and face-active but non-selective sites showed a posterior to anterior gradient in response time and selectivity. A sparse model focusing on information from the human face-selective sites performed as well as, or better than, anatomically distributed models when discriminating faces from non-faces stimuli. Additionally, we identified the posterior fusiform site (pFUS) as causally the most relevant node for inducing distortion of conscious face processing by direct electrical stimulation. These findings support anatomically discrete but temporally distributed response profiles in the human brain and provide a new common ground for unifying the seemingly contradictory modular and distributed modes of face processing.

SUBMITTER: Schrouff J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6994602 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fast temporal dynamics and causal relevance of face processing in the human temporal cortex.

Schrouff Jessica J Raccah Omri O Baek Sori S Rangarajan Vinitha V Salehi Sina S Mourão-Miranda Janaina J Helili Zeinab Z Daitch Amy L AL Parvizi Josef J

Nature communications 20200131 1

We measured the fast temporal dynamics of face processing simultaneously across the human temporal cortex (TC) using intracranial recordings in eight participants. We found sites with selective responses to faces clustered in the ventral TC, which responded increasingly strongly to marine animal, bird, mammal, and human faces. Both face-selective and face-active but non-selective sites showed a posterior to anterior gradient in response time and selectivity. A sparse model focusing on informatio ...[more]

PMID: 32005819

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Project description:The map of category-selectivity in human ventral temporal cortex (VTC) provides organizational constraints to models of object recognition. One important principle is lateral-medial response biases to stimuli that are typically viewed in the center or periphery of the visual field. However, little is known about the relative temporal dynamics and location of regions that respond preferentially to stimulus classes that are centrally viewed, like the face- and word-processing networks. Here, word- and face-selective regions within VTC were mapped using intracranial recordings from 36 patients. Partially overlapping, but also anatomically dissociable patches of face- and word-selectivity were found in VTC. In addition to canonical word-selective regions along the left posterior occipitotemporal sulcus, selectivity was also located medial and anterior to face-selective regions on the fusiform gyrus at the group level and within individual male and female subjects. These regions were replicated using 7 Tesla fMRI in healthy subjects. Left hemisphere word-selective regions preceded right hemisphere responses by 125 ms, potentially reflecting the left hemisphere bias for language; with no hemispheric difference in face-selective response latency. Word-selective regions along the posterior fusiform responded first, then spread medially and laterally, then anteriorally. Face-selective responses were first seen in posterior fusiform regions bilaterally, then proceeded anteriorally from there. For both words and faces, the relative delay between regions was longer than would be predicted by purely feedforward models of visual processing. The distinct time-courses of responses across these regions, and between hemispheres, suggest a complex and dynamic functional circuit supports face and word perception.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Representations of visual objects in the human brain have been shown to be organized by several principles, including whether those objects tend to be viewed centrally or peripherally in the visual field. However, it remains unclear how regions that process objects that are viewed centrally, like words and faces, are organized relative to one another. Here, invasive and non-invasive neuroimaging suggests there is a mosaic of regions in ventral temporal cortex that respond selectively to either words or faces. These regions display differences in the strength and timing of their responses, both within and between brain hemispheres, suggesting they play different roles in perception. These results illuminate extended, bilateral, and dynamic brain pathways that support face perception and reading.

Dataset Information

Fast temporal dynamics and causal relevance of face processing in the human temporal cortex.

Publications

Fast temporal dynamics and causal relevance of face processing in the human temporal cortex.

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