title: The fusiform response to faces: explicit versus implicit processing of emotion.
abstract: Regions of the fusiform gyrus (FG) respond preferentially to faces over other classes of visual stimuli. It remains unclear whether emotional face information modulates FG activity. In the present study, whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) was obtained from fifteen healthy adults who viewed emotionally expressive faces and made button responses based upon emotion (explicit condition) or age (implicit condition). Dipole source modeling produced source waveforms for left and right primary visual and left and right fusiform areas. Stronger left FG activity (M170) to fearful than happy or neutral faces was observed only in the explicit task, suggesting that directed attention to the emotional content of faces facilitates observation of M170 valence modulation. A strong association between M170 FG activity and reaction times in the explicit task provided additional evidence for a role of the fusiform gyrus in processing emotional information.
authors.affiliation: Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Justin F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Monroe
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinkham
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loughead
authors.forename: Ruben C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gur
authors.forename: Timothy P L
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christopher Edgar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult