Dominance of the left oblique view in activating the cortical network for face recognition.
Faces in portraits are often depicted from the left 3/4 view (an oblique view of the face that is intermediate between the frontal view and left profile). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that, compared with photographs of right 3/4 views of familiar faces, photographs of left 3/4 views of the same faces elicited stronger neural responses in the right middle occipital/inferior parietal cortex, and right inferior frontal gyrus; which are known to be involved in face recognition. By contrast, there was no differential activation in the temporal cortex including the superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus, which are thought to process face-related visual stimuli at a stage that precedes recognition. We suggest that the preference for the left 3/4 view of faces was produced at a later stage of facial information processing that involves attention or memory retrieval.
Kowatari
Yasuyuki
Y
Systems Neuroscience, Neuroscience Research Institute, AIST, Tsukuba Central 2, Umesono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan. mo04f391@md.tsukuba.ac.jp
Yamamoto
Miyuki
M
Takahashi
Toshimitsu
T
Kansaku
Kenji
K
Kitazawa
Shigeru
S
Ueno
Shoogo
S
Yamane
Shigeru
S
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology