Stimulus Dependent Dynamic Reorganization of the Human Face Processing Network.
Using the "face inversion effect", a hallmark of face perception, we examined network mechanisms supporting face representation by tracking functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) stimulus-dependent dynamic functional connectivity within and between brain networks associated with the processing of upright and inverted faces. We developed a novel approach adapting the general linear model (GLM) framework classically used for univariate fMRI analysis to capture stimulus-dependent fMRI dynamic connectivity of the face network. We show that under the face inversion manipulation, the face and non-face networks have complementary roles that are evident in their stimulus-dependent dynamic connectivity patterns as assessed by network decomposition into components or communities. Moreover, we show that connectivity patterns are associated with the behavioral face inversion effect. Thus, we establish "a network-level signature" of the face inversion effect and demonstrate how a simple physical transformation of the face stimulus induces a dramatic functional reorganization across related brain networks. Finally, we suggest that the dynamic GLM network analysis approach, developed here for the face network, provides a general framework for modeling the dynamics of blocked stimulus-dependent connectivity experimental designs and hence can be applied to a host of neuroimaging studies.
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.|The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Gideon
G
Rosenthal
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Olaf
O
Sporns
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.|The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.|Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva  8410501, Israel.
Galia
G
Avidan
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods
dynamic connectivity; fMRI; face processing; functional connectivity; network analysis