The Cognitive and Neural Components of Face Processing

描述（由申请人提供）：面部识别是我们进行的最重要的视觉任务之一，当这种能力因“面孔失认症”的神经系统综合症而丧失时，对人们的生活造成的破坏性影响是显而易见的。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，以及它们各自的确切作用是什么？先前的研究使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）、事件相关电位（ERPs）和脑电图（MEG）已经确定了几个皮层区域和电磁反应似乎专门参与面部处理。然而，令人惊讶的是，我们对大脑皮层的面部选择区域的功能，以及这些皮层区域与erp和MEG测量的面部选择反应之间的对应关系知之甚少。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相关性来确定与人脸处理相关的三个皮层区域的功能；2)确定人脸处理相关的ERP和MEG的解剖学来源。对面部处理系统的理解将阐明人类认知的基本神经结构的主要组成部分，也将填补人类大脑功能图的关键部分，这是神经学家和神经外科医生所需要的。

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.