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FMRI response to automatic and purposeful familiar-face processing in perceptual and nonperceptual cortical regions.

ABSTRACT: Viewing the faces of familiar people selectively activates a distributed network of brain regions implicated in both the perceptual and nonperceptual processing of conspecifics. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigate the influence of depth of famous-face processing on this network, comparing a passive incidental face processing to a task that required the extraction of identity and biographic information. We observed that the precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior temporal face patch (ATFP), and the amygdala exhibit a selective response even during incidental face processing. At the same time, face selectivity was enhanced in the lateral anterior temporal lobe (latATL) and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) when identity and information extraction was required. In addition, goal-directed identity and information extraction was associated with a recruitment of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), whereas this region was deactivated during passive viewing. Collectively, these results show that: 1) in addition to active information extraction, the extended system is recruited by the passive retrieval of person-related knowledge and 2) active access to such knowledge modulates activity in latATL and pSTS, potentially mediated via control circuits in the IFG.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Information is extracted from familiar faces in both automatic and active modes. Using functional MRI, we show: 1) that automatic access results in the selective activation of nonperceptual brain regions, the precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and the anterior face patch and amygdala, demonstrating the automaticity of access to information in these regions; 2) selective increases in the activation of the lateral anterior temporal lobe and posterior superior temporal gyrus when biographic information is actively extracted.

SUBMITTER: Ubaldi S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7611704 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies frequently use emotional face processing tasks to probe neural circuitry related to psychiatric disorders and treatments with an emphasis on regions within the salience network (e.g., amygdala). Findings across previous test-retest reliability studies of emotional face processing have shown high variability, potentially due to differences in data analytic approaches. The present study comprehensively examined the test-retest reliability of an emotional faces task utilizing multiple approaches to region of interest (ROI) analysis and by examining voxel-wise reliability across the entire brain for both neural activation and functional connectivity. Analyses included 42 healthy adult participants who completed an fMRI scan concurrent with an emotional faces task on two separate days with an average of 25.52 days between scans. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for the 'FACES-SHAPES' and 'FACES' (compared to implicit baseline) contrasts across the following: anatomical ROIs identified from a publicly available brain atlas (i.e., Brainnetome), functional ROIs consisting of 5-mm spheres centered on peak voxels from a publicly available meta-analytic database (i.e., Neurosynth), and whole-brain, voxel-wise analysis. Whole-brain, voxel-wise analyses of functional connectivity were also conducted using both anatomical and functional seed ROIs. While group-averaged neural activation maps were consistent across time, only one anatomical ROI and two functional ROIs showed good or excellent individual-level reliability for neural activation. The anatomical ROI was the right medioventral fusiform gyrus for the FACES contrast (ICC = 0.60). The functional ROIs were the left and the right fusiform face area (FFA) for both FACES-SHAPES and FACES (Left FFA ICCs = 0.69 & 0.79; Right FFA ICCs = 0.68 & 0.66). Poor reliability (ICCs < 0.4) was identified for almost all other anatomical and functional ROIs, with some exceptions showing fair reliability (ICCs = 0.4-0.59). Whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of neural activation identified voxels with good (ICCs = 0.6-0.74) to excellent reliability (ICCs > 0.75) that were primarily located in visual cortex, with several clusters in bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Whole-brain voxel-wise analyses of functional connectivity for amygdala and fusiform gyrus identified very few voxels with good to excellent reliability using both anatomical and functional seed ROIs. Exceptions included clusters in right cerebellum and right DLPFC that showed reliable connectivity with left amygdala (ICCs > 0.6). In conclusion, results indicate that visual cortical regions demonstrate good reliability at the individual level for neural activation, but reliability is generally poor for salience regions often focused on within psychiatric research (e.g., amygdala). Given these findings, future clinical neuroimaging studies using emotional faces tasks to examine individual differences might instead focus on visual regions and their role in psychiatric disorders.

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FMRI response to automatic and purposeful familiar-face processing in perceptual and nonperceptual cortical regions.

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