Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area
It is widely assumed that the fusiform face area (FFA), a brain region specialised for face perception, is not involved in processing emotional expressions. This assumption is based on the proposition that the FFA is involved in face identification and only processes features that are invariant acro...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00692/full |
| _version_ | 1818191077139546112 |
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| author | Bronson Blake Harry Mark eWilliams Chris eDavis Jeesun eKim |
| author_facet | Bronson Blake Harry Mark eWilliams Chris eDavis Jeesun eKim |
| author_sort | Bronson Blake Harry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is widely assumed that the fusiform face area (FFA), a brain region specialised for face perception, is not involved in processing emotional expressions. This assumption is based on the proposition that the FFA is involved in face identification and only processes features that are invariant across changes due to head movements, speaking and expressing emotions. The present study tested this proposition by examining whether the response in the human FFA varies across emotional expressions with functional magnetic resonance imaging and brain decoding analysis techniques (n = 11). A one versus all classification analysis showed that most emotional expressions that participants perceived could be reliably predicted from the neural pattern of activity in left and the right FFA, suggesting that the perception of different emotional expressions recruit partially non-overlaping neural mechanisms. In addition, emotional expressions could also be decoded from the pattern of activity in the early visual cortex (EVC), indicating that retinotopic cortex also shows a differential response to emotional expressions. These results cast doubt on the idea that the FFA is involved in expression invariant face processing, and instead indicate that emotional expressions evoke partially de-correlated signals throughout occipital and posterior temporal cortex. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T00:08:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa9bda81f97f4cebb9b4707d9c21c9ec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T00:08:52Z |
| publishDate | 2013-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa9bda81f97f4cebb9b4707d9c21c9ec2022-12-22T00:45:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612013-10-01710.3389/fnhum.2013.0069238453Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face areaBronson Blake Harry0Mark eWilliams1Chris eDavis2Jeesun eKim3Bangor UniversityMacquarie UniversityUniversity of Western SydneyUniversity of Western SydneyIt is widely assumed that the fusiform face area (FFA), a brain region specialised for face perception, is not involved in processing emotional expressions. This assumption is based on the proposition that the FFA is involved in face identification and only processes features that are invariant across changes due to head movements, speaking and expressing emotions. The present study tested this proposition by examining whether the response in the human FFA varies across emotional expressions with functional magnetic resonance imaging and brain decoding analysis techniques (n = 11). A one versus all classification analysis showed that most emotional expressions that participants perceived could be reliably predicted from the neural pattern of activity in left and the right FFA, suggesting that the perception of different emotional expressions recruit partially non-overlaping neural mechanisms. In addition, emotional expressions could also be decoded from the pattern of activity in the early visual cortex (EVC), indicating that retinotopic cortex also shows a differential response to emotional expressions. These results cast doubt on the idea that the FFA is involved in expression invariant face processing, and instead indicate that emotional expressions evoke partially de-correlated signals throughout occipital and posterior temporal cortex.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00692/fullEmotionsfMRIFusiform face areaface processingmultivariate pattern analysis |
| spellingShingle | Bronson Blake Harry Mark eWilliams Chris eDavis Jeesun eKim Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Emotions fMRI Fusiform face area face processing multivariate pattern analysis |
| title | Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| title_full | Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| title_fullStr | Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| title_short | Emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| title_sort | emotional expressions evoke a differential response in the fusiform face area |
| topic | Emotions fMRI Fusiform face area face processing multivariate pattern analysis |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00692/full |
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