Subcortical face processing.
Recent functional imaging, neuropsychological and electrophysiological studies on adults have provided evidence for a fast, low-spatial-frequency, subcortical face-detection pathway that modulates the responses of certain cortical areas to faces and other social stimuli. These findings shed light on an older literature on the face-detection abilities of newborn infants, and the hypothesis that these newborn looking preferences are generated by a subcortical route. Converging lines of evidence indicate that the subcortical face route provides a developmental foundation for what later becomes the adult cortical 'social brain' network, and that disturbances to this pathway might contribute to certain developmental disorders.
Johnson
Mark H
MH
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck University of London, 32 Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL, UK. mark.johnson@bbk.ac.uk
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*