The Cognitive and Neural Components of Face Processing

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Face recognition is one of the most important visual tasks that we conduct, a fact that is evident from the devastating effect on people's lives that occurs when this ability is lost in the neurological syndrome of "prosopagnosia." The long-term goal of this research is to understand the complex neural system we use in perceiving and recognizing faces: what are its main components, where are they located in the brain, and what exactly does each one do? Prior research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), event related potentials (ERPs), and megnetoencephalography (MEG) have identified several cortical regions and electromagnetic responses that appear to be specifically involved in face processing. Yet surprisingly little is known about the functions of the face-selective regions of cortex, and the correspondence between these cortical regions and the face-selective responses measured with ERPs and MEG. The specific aims in this research are: 1) to identify the function of each of the three cortical regions associated with face processing by measuring trial-by-trial correlations between fMRI responses and behavioral performance, and 2) to determine the anatomical source of the ERP and MEG correlates of face processing. An understanding of the face processing system will illuminate a major component of the basic neural architecture of human cognition, and will also fill in a crucial part of the functional map of the human brain, needed by neurologists and neurosurgeons.