Abstract
Despite severe face recognition deficits, the neural basis of developmental prosopagnosia (DP) remains a matter of debate. As the majority of studies have sought to characterize abnormalities within the face network, the interface between the face network and broader brain areas is often overlooked. Such pathways are of particular interest given recent evidence that, during face recognition, recollection processes needed to access contextual and person-related information are especially compromised in DP. Using resting-state fMRI, we first compared functional connectivity (FC) within the functionally localized face-selective network, including bilateral OFA, FFA, pSTS, and ATL. DPs (N=35) showed reduced FC throughout the network compared to controls (N=24). We also found that several connections within this network predicted face memory among controls (measured using the Cambridge Face Memory Task, CFMT), confirming that mechanisms associated with face recognition deficits are also related to normal variation in this ability. Next, we examined the brain-wide FC to each face region. Broad group differences were found, with controls showing increased FC between the face regions and other areas of the brain, relative to DPs. We then examined whether these connections predicted individual differences in face memory across controls. This revealed that FC between the ATL and several brain areas including anterior and middle STS, left insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus predicted CFMT. These regions, especially those identified in the left hemisphere, have been implicated in voice and speech processing, social processing, and episodic memory. These results shed new light on the neural basis of DP, and indicate that face memory deficits arise in the context of reduced connectivity both within the face network and to broader brain regions involved in memory and social processing.