The neural processing of familiar and unfamiliar faces: A review and synopsis

Vaidehi Natu and Alice J. OTooleThe neural processing of familiar and unfamiliar faces: A review and synopsis

The neural processing of familiar and unfamiliar faces: A review and synopsisNeural regions implicated in unfamiliar face perceptionNeural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar facesPETfMRI

1. Neural regions implicated in unfamiliar face perception

fusiform face area (FFA) in the middle of the fusiform gyrus (FG)face selective areaoccipital face area (OFA)inferior occipital gyrus face selective areasuperior temporal gyrus (STS)specific to dynamic stimuli?Quelle: Wikipedia

1. Neural regions implicated in unfamiliar face perception

Quelle: Wikipedia1. Neural regions implicated in unfamiliar face perception1. Neural regions implicated in unfamiliar face perceptionInferior occipital gyriEarly perception of facial featuresSuperior temporal sulcusChangeable aspects of faces (perception of eye gaze, expression and lip movement)Lateral fusiform gyrusInvariant aspects of faces perception of unique identityAuditory cortexPrelexical speech perceptionAmygdala, Insula, limbic systemEmotionAnterior temporalPersonal identity, name and biographical informationIntraparietal sulcusSpatially directed attentionCore SystemExtended SystemHaxby et al. (2000)2. Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar facesfamous familiar faces

visual component and semantic long-term memory component

personally familiar faces

visual componentrepresentations of the persons mental state, personality, and the emotions an observer experiences on seeing the face modulated by relationship

visually familiar faces

learned facesvisual component

2.1 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (PET)famous familiar faces

categorization tasks (e.g. identity, gender etc.), famous vs. non-famous familiarity: FG, anterior and middle temporal cortexother: right lingual gyrus, parahippo-campal areas

personally familiar faces

priming effects for personally familiar faces vs. unfamiliar facesfamiliarity: amygdala and medial frontal cortexother: bilateral anterior temporal cortices

visually familiar faces

categorization task & face-recognition taskunfamiliarity: OFA, FFA and amygdala(?) larger activation2.2 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (fMRI)Famous faces: subtraction studiessimple conditions: famous vs. unfamiliar faces: bilateral middle temporal, right superior temporal, right hippocampus bilateral superior, and left medial frontal cortex , no activation in FGvisual perception: responses in inferior occipital gyri, FG, STS, and the amygdalamore complex conditions:incidental task vs. intentional task incidental task revealed stronger activation in the perirhinal cortex and right parahippocampus (medial temporal lobe) for famous faces2.2 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (fMRI)Famous faces: adaptation studies

Are famous and unfamiliar face representations view-(in)dependent?recognition of unfamiliar faces is disrupted with viewpoint change, whereas recognition of familiar faces is notthe FFA adapts to repeated presentations of the same unfamiliar identity, but recovers when the viewpoint of the face is changedFFA is involved in the view-dependent processing of faces, regardless of familiarity ( image-independent face representations are maybe anterior to image-dependent representations along the FG)view-invariant famous face representations: temporal and frontal cortex

2.2 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (fMRI)Personally familiar faces

Faces: areas in the bilateral fusiform, FFAFamiliarity, regardless of modality (face or voice): paracingulate gyrus including the retrosplineal cortex suggest this region as a multimodal familiarity-checking processorsemantic and emotional networks (autistic vs. non-autistic participants): posterior cingulate, medial frontal lobe and amygdalapersonal knowledge and traits (famous vs. personally familiar faces): anterior paracingulate cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, and the precuneusunfamiliar faces: right amygdala and left fusiform responded more to unfamiliar faces increased vigilance

2.2 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (fMRI)Visually familiar faces

new learned faces: greater activation of left medial frontal, left inferior parietal, and left precuneuslarger neural activation in the right amygdala and right middle occipital gyrus for unfamiliar faces relative to visually familiar faces decreased (but not in right middle occipital gyrus) responds differentially as a function of the amount of visual familiarity with facesrepeated presentation of unfamiliar faces: response in the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex increased whereas the amygdala and left medial FG response decreasedrelative to the highly repeated faces, learned faces showed stronger activation of the precuneus (posterior cingulate) and less activity in the FG and intra-parietal sulcus

2.2 Neural systems for processing familiar vs. unfamiliar faces (fMRI)

Gobbini & Haxby (2007)