title: Function and structure of human left fusiform cortex are closely associated with perceptual learning of faces.
abstract: Training can lead to long-lasting improvement in our perceptual ability, which is referred to as perceptual learning. Unraveling its neural mechanisms has proved difficult. With functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we addressed this issue by searching for the neural correlates of perceptual learning of face views over a long time course. Human subjects were trained to perform a face view discrimination task. Their behavioral performance and MRI signals were measured before, immediately after, and 1 month after training. We found that, across individual subjects, their behavioral learning effects correlated with the stability improvement of spatial activity pattern in the left fusiform cortex immediately after and 1 month after training. We also found that the thickness of the left fusiform cortex before training could predict subjects' behavioral learning effects. These findings, for the first time, not only suggest that, remarkably, the improved pattern stability contributes to the long-term mechanisms of perceptual learning, but also provide strong and converging evidence for the pivotal role of the left fusiform cortex in adaptive face processing.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Taiyong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Tiangang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: ffang@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time