The Cognitive and Neural Components of Face Processing

描述(申请人提供)：人脸识别是我们进行的最重要的视觉任务之一，这一事实从当这种能力在神经失认症中丧失时对人们生活的破坏性影响中可见一斑。这项研究的长期目标是了解我们在感知和识别面孔时使用的复杂神经系统：它的主要组成部分是什么，它们在大脑中的位置，以及每个组成部分到底做了什么？先前使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)、事件相关电位(ERPs)和脑磁图(MEG)的研究已经确定了几个皮质区和电磁反应，这些区域和电磁反应似乎特别涉及面部加工。然而，令人惊讶的是，关于大脑皮质面部选择区域的功能，以及这些皮质区域与ERPs和MEG测量的面部选择反应之间的对应关系，人们知之甚少。本研究的具体目的是：1)通过测量fMRI反应与行为表现之间的逐次试验相关性，确定与面孔加工相关的三个皮质区域中每个区域的功能；2)确定面孔加工的事件相关电位和脑磁图相关的解剖来源。对人脸处理系统的了解将阐明人类认知的基本神经架构的一个主要组成部分，也将填补神经学家和神经外科医生所需的人脑功能图的关键部分。

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.