title: Spatiotemporal analyses of the N170 for human faces, animal faces and objects in natural scenes.
abstract: We assessed the specificity to human faces of the N170 ERP component in the context of natural scenes. Subjects categorized photographs containing human faces, animal faces and various objects. Spatiotemporal topography analyses were performed on the individual ERP data. ERPs elicited by animal faces were similar to human faces ERPs but with a delayed face activity. In the N170 time window, ERPs to human and animal faces had a different topography compared with object ERPs. Such data suggest that N170 generators might process various stimuli with a coarse facial organization and show the care that must be taken in comparing scalp signal to faces and other objects as they are probably generated, at least partially, by different cortical sources.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS-UPS UMR 5549, Faculté de Médecine de Rangueil, 133 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France. rousseg@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Guillaume A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Rousselet
authors.forename: Marc J-M
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Macé
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabre-Thorpe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors