Abstract
The neural mechanisms of face recognition have been extensively studied in both humans and macaque monkeys. Results obtained with similar technologies, chiefly functional brain imaging now allows for detailed cross-species comparisons of face-processing circuitry. A crucial node in this circuit, located at the interface of face perception and individual recognition, is located in the ventral anterior temporal lobe. In macaque monkeys, face selective cells have been found in this region through electrophysiological recordings, a face-selective patch identified with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and the unique functional properties of cells within these fMRI-identified regions characterized, suggesting a role in invariant face identification. Furthermore activity in this patch been causally linked, through combinations of electrical microstimulation and psychophysics, to different kinds of face recognition behavior. Not far away from this face selective region, experience-dependent specializations for complex object shapes and their associations have been located, and the mechanisms of these processes studied extensively. In my talk I will present this work on face processing in the ventral anterior temporal lobe of the macaque brain, its relationship to face processing in other face regions and to processes in neighboring regions, its implications for object recognition in general, and the impact of this work for understanding the mechanisms of human face recognition.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014