Network dynamics of human face perception

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 30;12(11):e0188834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188834. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Prevailing theories suggests that cortical regions responsible for face perception operate in a serial, feed-forward fashion. Here, we utilize invasive human electrophysiology to evaluate serial models of face-processing via measurements of cortical activation, functional connectivity, and cortico-cortical evoked potentials. We find that task-dependent changes in functional connectivity between face-selective regions in the inferior occipital (f-IOG) and fusiform gyrus (f-FG) are bidirectional, not feed-forward, and emerge following feed-forward input from early visual cortex (EVC) to both of these regions. Cortico-cortical evoked potentials similarly reveal independent signal propagations between EVC and both f-IOG and f-FG. These findings are incompatible with serial models, and support a parallel, distributed network underpinning face perception in humans.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Evoked Potentials, Visual
  • Facial Recognition*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Young Adult