title: Disentangling the Representation of Identity from Head View Along the Human Face Processing Pathway.
abstract: Neural models of a distributed system for face perception implicate a network of regions in the ventral visual stream for recognition of identity. Here, we report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neural decoding study in humans that shows that this pathway culminates in the right inferior frontal cortex face area (rIFFA) with a representation of individual identities that has been disentangled from variable visual features in different images of the same person. At earlier stages in the pathway, processing begins in early visual cortex and the occipital face area with representations of head view that are invariant across identities, and proceeds to an intermediate level of representation in the fusiform face area in which identity is emerging but still entangled with head view. Three-dimensional, view-invariant representation of identities in the rIFFA may be the critical link to the extended system for face perception, affording activation of person knowledge and emotional responses to familiar faces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.|Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: J Swaroop
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Guntupalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.|Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Kelsey G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.|Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Specialized, Diagnostic, and Experimental Medicine (DIMES), Medical School, University of Bologna, Bologna 40127, Italy.
authors.forename: M Ida
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Gobbini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: fusiform face area; inferior frontal face area; neural decoding; occipital face area; view-invariant face identity