title: Dissociation between overt and unconscious face processing in fusiform face area.
abstract: The precise role of the fusiform face area (FFA) in face processing remains controversial. In this study, we investigated to what degree FFA activation reflects additional functions beyond face perception. Seven volunteers underwent rapid event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed a face-encoding and a face-recognition task. During face encoding, activity in the FFA for individual faces predicted whether the individual face was subsequently remembered or forgotten. However, during face recognition, no difference in FFA activity between consciously remembered and forgotten faces was observed, but the activity of FFA differentiated if a face had been seen previously or not. This demonstrated a dissociation between overt recognition and unconscious discrimination of stimuli, suggesting that physiological processes of face recognition can take place, even if not all of its operations are made available to consciousness.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Clinical Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatric Neurophysiology, Waldau, 3000 60, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Federspiel
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hubl
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schroth
authors.forename: Oswald
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Strik
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dierks
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology