The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition: implications for the pathobiology of autism
The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition: implications for the pathobiology of autism
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DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2002.1208
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发表时间：
2003-02-28
影响因子：
6.3
通讯作者：
Skudlarski, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Schultz, RT;Grelotti, DJ;Skudlarski, P
梭状回（FG）侧面的一个区域比任何其他类别的图像更容易被人脸所吸引。它被称为“梭状面区”（FFA）。这种专业化的起源和程度目前是一个非常有趣和争论的话题。这与自闭症特别相关，因为最近的研究表明，在这种疾病中，FFA对面孔的反应迟钝。在对健康年轻人进行的两项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，我们发现FFA参与了一项社会归因任务（SAT），该任务涉及对三个简单几何形状之间类似人类互动的感知。杏仁核、颞极、内侧前额叶皮层、下外侧前额叶皮层和颞上沟也明显受累。在没有面孔的任务中激活FFA挑战了FFA的活动仅限于面孔感知的观点。我们推测，与面孔相关的抽象语义信息在FG区域被编码，并被检索用于社会计算。从这个角度来看，关于自闭症患者FFA失活的文献可以被解释为自闭症背后的核心社会认知机制的反映。
A region in the lateral aspect of the fusiform gyrus (FG) is more engaged by human faces than any other category of image. It has come to be known as the 'fusiform face area' (FFA). The origin and extent of this specialization is currently a topic of great interest and debate. This is of special relevance to autism, because recent studies have shown that the FFA is hypoactive to faces in this disorder. In two linked functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of healthy young adults, we show here that the FFA is engaged by a social attribution task (SAT) involving perception of human-like interactions among three simple geometric shapes. The amygdala, temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex, inferolateral frontal cortex and superior temporal sulci were also significantly engaged. Activation of the FFA to a task without faces challenges the received view that the FFA is restricted in its activities to the perception of faces. We speculate that abstract semantic information associated with faces is encoded in the FG region and retrieved for social computations. From this perspective, the literature on hypoactivation of the FFA in autism may be interpreted as a reflection of a core social cognitive mechanism underlying the disorder.