Lateralization of face processing in the human brain
Are visual face processing mechanisms the same in the left and right cerebral hemispheres? The possibility of such ‘duplicated processing’ seems puzzling in terms of neural resource usage, and we currently lack a precise characterization of the lateral differences in face processing. To address this...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Cambridge University Press
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70066 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8259-7079 |
| _version_ | 1826195995403223040 |
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| author | Meng, Ming Cherian, Tharian Singal, Gaurav Sinha, Pawan |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Meng, Ming Cherian, Tharian Singal, Gaurav Sinha, Pawan |
| author_sort | Meng, Ming |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Are visual face processing mechanisms the same in the left and right cerebral hemispheres? The possibility of such ‘duplicated processing’ seems puzzling in terms of neural resource usage, and we currently lack a precise characterization of the lateral differences in face processing. To address this need, we have undertaken a three-pronged approach. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed cortical sensitivity to facial semblance, the modulatory effects of context and temporal response dynamics. Results on all three fronts revealed systematic hemispheric differences. We found that: (i) activation patterns in the left fusiform gyrus correlate with image-level face-semblance, while those in the right correlate with categorical face/non-face judgements. (ii) Context exerts significant excitatory/inhibitory influence in the left, but has limited effect on the right. (iii) Face-selectivity persists in the right even after activity on the left has returned to baseline. These results provide important clues regarding the functional architecture of face processing, suggesting that the left hemisphere is involved in processing ‘low-level’ face semblance, and perhaps is a precursor to categorical ‘deep’ analyses on the right. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:18:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/70066 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:18:50Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/700662022-09-26T17:10:26Z Lateralization of face processing in the human brain Meng, Ming Cherian, Tharian Singal, Gaurav Sinha, Pawan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Sinha, Pawan Sinha, Pawan Are visual face processing mechanisms the same in the left and right cerebral hemispheres? The possibility of such ‘duplicated processing’ seems puzzling in terms of neural resource usage, and we currently lack a precise characterization of the lateral differences in face processing. To address this need, we have undertaken a three-pronged approach. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed cortical sensitivity to facial semblance, the modulatory effects of context and temporal response dynamics. Results on all three fronts revealed systematic hemispheric differences. We found that: (i) activation patterns in the left fusiform gyrus correlate with image-level face-semblance, while those in the right correlate with categorical face/non-face judgements. (ii) Context exerts significant excitatory/inhibitory influence in the left, but has limited effect on the right. (iii) Face-selectivity persists in the right even after activity on the left has returned to baseline. These results provide important clues regarding the functional architecture of face processing, suggesting that the left hemisphere is involved in processing ‘low-level’ face semblance, and perhaps is a precursor to categorical ‘deep’ analyses on the right. John Merck Fund Simons Foundation James S. McDonnell Foundation National Eye Institute (NIH, grant number R21-EY015521) 2012-04-19T18:24:06Z 2012-04-19T18:24:06Z 2012-01 2011-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0269-7270 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70066 Meng, M. et al. “Lateralization of Face Processing in the Human Brain.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279.1735 (2012): 2052–2061. Web. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8259-7079 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.1784 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section B Biological Sciences Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Cambridge University Press PubMed Central |
| spellingShingle | Meng, Ming Cherian, Tharian Singal, Gaurav Sinha, Pawan Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title | Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title_full | Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title_fullStr | Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title_short | Lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| title_sort | lateralization of face processing in the human brain |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70066 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8259-7079 |
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