Similarities in neural activations of face and Chinese  character discrimination.
This study compared Chinese participants' visual discrimination of Chinese faces with that of Chinese characters, which are highly similar to faces on a variety of dimensions. Both Chinese faces and characters activated the bilateral middle fusiform with high levels of correlations. These findings suggest that although the expertise systems for faces and written symbols are known to be anatomically differentiated at the later stages of processing to serve face processing or written-symbol-specific processing purposes, they may share similar neural structures in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex at the stages of visual processing.
Liu
Jiangang
J
School of Computer and Information Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China.
Tian
Jie
J
Li
Jun
J
Gong
Qiyong
Q
Lee
Kang
K
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005145:Face / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D012919:Social Behavior; D013561:Symbolism; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult