title: Individual differences in cortical face selectivity predict behavioral performance in face recognition.
abstract: In functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, object selectivity is defined as a higher neural response to an object category than other object categories. Importantly, object selectivity is widely considered as a neural signature of a functionally-specialized area in processing its preferred object category in the human brain. However, the behavioral significance of the object selectivity remains unclear. In the present study, we used the individual differences approach to correlate participants' face selectivity in the face-selective regions with their behavioral performance in face recognition measured outside the scanner in a large sample of healthy adults. Face selectivity was defined as the z score of activation with the contrast of faces vs. non-face objects, and the face recognition ability was indexed as the normalized residual of the accuracy in recognizing previously-learned faces after regressing out that for non-face objects in an old/new memory task. We found that the participants with higher face selectivity in the fusiform face area (FFA) and the occipital face area (OFA), but not in the posterior part of the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), possessed higher face recognition ability. Importantly, the association of face selectivity in the FFA and face recognition ability cannot be accounted for by FFA response to objects or behavioral performance in object recognition, suggesting that the association is domain-specific. Finally, the association is reliable, confirmed by the replication from another independent participant group. In sum, our finding provides empirical evidence on the validity of using object selectivity as a neural signature in defining object-selective regions in the human brain.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Lijie
authors: L
authors: Huang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Yiying
authors: Y
authors: Song
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Jingguang
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Zonglei
authors: Z
authors: Zhen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Zetian
authors: Z
authors: Yang
authors: Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors: Jia
authors: J
authors: Liu
keywords: face recognition; functional magnetic resonance imaging; fusiform face area; individual differences; object selectivity