Neuronal Representation of Faces in the Inferior Temporal Cortex of Monkeys

为了探讨面孔识别的神经元基础，分析了猕猴在面孔识别任务执行过程中，其颞前上沟(STS)和颞前下回(ITG)面孔神经元的活动。基于多维尺度(MDS)方法，人脸空间由人脸神经元在人脸识别任务中的活动组成，由前STS神经元组成的人脸空间代表人脸视角，而由前ITG神经元组成的人脸空间代表人脸认同。动物的行为反应时间与面孔相关神经元反应潜伏期之间的时间相关性也被分析。ITG前部部分面神经元的反应潜伏期与行为反应时显著相关，而STS前部部分面神经元的反应潜伏期与行为反应时无明显相关性。ITG前部面孔相关神经元反应潜伏期与行为反应时之间的相关性未发现与反应潜伏期和神经元反应幅度之间的相关性。本研究结果提示，猕猴的前部ITG与面孔同一性判断密切相关，前部STS与对传入知觉信息的分析密切相关；猕猴的面孔识别可能涉及两个区域之间的交互作用。

To investigate the neuronal basis underlying face identification, the activity of face neurons in the anterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) and the anterior inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) of macaque monkeys was analyzed during their performance of a face-identification task. The face space was composed by the activities of face neurons during the face-identification task, based on a multidimensional scaling (MDS) method ; the face space composed by the anterior STS neurons represented facial views, whereas that composed by the anterior ITG neurons represented facial identity. The temporal correlation between the behavioral reaction time of the animal and the latency of face-related neuronal responses was also analyzed. The response latency of some of the face neurons in the anterior ITG exhibited a significant correlation with the behavioral reaction time, whereas this correlation was not significant in the anterior STS. The correlation of the latency of face-related neuronal responses in the anterior ITG with the behavioral reaction time was not found to be attributed to the correlation between the response latency and the magnitude of the neuronal responses. The present results suggest that the anterior ITG is closely related to judgments of facial identity, and that the anterior STS is closely related to analyses of incoming perceptual information ; face identification in monkeys might involve interactions between the two areas.