The overlap of neural selectivity between faces and words: evidences from the N170 adaptation effect.
Faces and words both evoke an N170, a strong electrophysiological response that is often used as a marker for the early stages of expert pattern perception. We examine the relationship of neural selectivity between faces and words by using a novel application of cross-category adaptation to the N170. We report a strong asymmetry between N170 adaptation induced by faces and by words. This is the first electrophysiological result showing that neural selectivity to faces encompasses neural selectivity to words and suggests that the N170 response to faces constitutes a neural marker for versatile representations of familiar visual patterns.
Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, 688 Yinbing Road, Jinhua, China, caoxh@zjnu.edu.cn.
Xiaohua
X
Cao
Bei
B
Jiang
Carl
C
Gaspar
Chao
C
Li
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult