title: Contrasting specializations for facial motion within the macaque face-processing system.
abstract: Facial motion transmits rich and ethologically vital information, but how the brain interprets this complex signal is poorly understood. Facial form is analyzed by anatomically distinct face patches in the macaque brain, and facial motion activates these patches and surrounding areas. Yet, it is not known whether facial motion is processed by its own distinct and specialized neural machinery, and if so, what that machinery's organization might be. To address these questions, we used fMRI to monitor the brain activity of macaque monkeys while they viewed low- and high-level motion and form stimuli. We found that, beyond classical motion areas and the known face patch system, moving faces recruited a heretofore unrecognized face patch. Although all face patches displayed distinctive selectivity for face motion over object motion, only two face patches preferred naturally moving faces, while three others preferred randomized, rapidly varying sequences of facial form. This functional divide was anatomically specific, segregating dorsal from ventral face patches, thereby revealing a new organizational principle of the macaque face-processing system.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address: cfisher@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Clark
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address: wfreiwald@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Winrich A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Freiwald
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation