title: Neural basis of identity information extraction from noisy face images.
abstract: Previous research has made significant progress in identifying the neural basis of the remarkably efficient and seemingly effortless face perception in humans. However, the neural processes that enable the extraction of facial information under challenging conditions when face images are noisy and deteriorated remains poorly understood. Here we investigated the neural processes underlying the extraction of identity information from noisy face images using fMRI. For each participant, we measured (1) face-identity discrimination performance outside the scanner, (2) visual cortical fMRI responses for intact and phase-randomized face stimuli, and (3) intrinsic functional connectivity using resting-state fMRI. Our whole-brain analysis showed that the presence of noise led to reduced and increased fMRI responses in the mid-fusiform gyrus and the lateral occipital cortex, respectively. Furthermore, the noise-induced modulation of the fMRI responses in the right face-selective fusiform face area (FFA) was closely associated with individual differences in the identity discrimination performance of noisy faces: smaller decrease of the fMRI responses was accompanied by better identity discrimination. The results also revealed that the strength of the intrinsic functional connectivity within the visual cortical network composed of bilateral FFA and bilateral object-selective lateral occipital cortex (LOC) predicted the participants' ability to discriminate the identity of noisy face images. These results imply that perception of facial identity in the case of noisy face images is subserved by neural computations within the right FFA as well as a re-entrant processing loop involving bilateral FFA and LOC.
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1117, Hungary, Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest H-1083, Hungary, vidnyanszky.zoltan@ttk.mta.hu hermann.petra@ttk.mta.hu.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1117, Hungary.
authors.forename: Éva M
authors.initials: ÉM
authors.lastname: Bankó
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1117, Hungary, MR Research Center, Szentágothai J. Knowledge Center-Semmelweis University, Budapest H-1083, Hungary, and.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gál
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1117, Hungary, Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest H-1111, Hungary vidnyanszky.zoltan@ttk.mta.hu hermann.petra@ttk.mta.hu.
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vidnyánszky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: fusiform face area; lateral occipital cortex; resting-state fMRI