title: Spontaneous perceptual facial distortions correlate with ventral occipitotemporal activity.
abstract: Prosopometamorphopsia is a disorder of face perception in which faces appear distorted to the perceiver. The neural basis of prosopometamorphopsia is unclear, but may involve abnormal activity in face-selective areas in the ventral occipito-temporal pathway. Here we present the case of AS, a 44-year-old woman who reports persistent perceptual distortions of faces with no known cause. AS was presented with facial images and rated the magnitude of her distortions while activity in her core face areas and other areas in the ventral visual pathway was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The magnitude of her distortions was positively correlated with signal changes in the right occipital face area (OFA) and right fusiform face area (FFA), as well as right V1-V3, and right lateral occipital cortex (LOC). There was also a trend for a significant correlation with signal in the left OFA and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), but not in the right or left superior temporal sulcus (STS). These results suggest that AS' prosopometamorphopsia reflects anomalous activity in face-processing network, particularly in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK. Electronic address: kad@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Kirsten A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dalrymple
authors.affiliation: Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davies-Thompson
authors.affiliation: Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Ipek
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oruc
authors.affiliation: Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Todd C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Handy
authors.affiliation: Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Jason J S
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Brad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duchaine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010469:Perceptual Distortion / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D020238:Prosopagnosia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: FMRI; Face perception; Prosopometamorphopsia; Visual distortions