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A Cortical Region Consisting Entirely of Face-Selective Cells

2006; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 311; Issue: 5761 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1119983

1095-9203

Doris Y. Tsao, Winrich A. Freiwald, Roger B. H. Tootell, Margaret S. Livingstone,

Neural dynamics and brain function

Face perception is a skill crucial to primates. In both humans and macaque monkeys, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a system of cortical regions that show increased blood flow when the subject views images of faces, compared with images of objects. However, the stimulus selectivity of single neurons within these fMRI-identified regions has not been studied. We used fMRI to identify and target the largest face-selective region in two macaques for single-unit recording. Almost all (97%) of the visually responsive neurons in this region were strongly face selective, indicating that a dedicated cortical area exists to support face processing in the macaque.