Open AccessDistinct response properties between the FFA to faces and the PPA to houses
Author(s) -
Li Mengjin,
Huang Hong,
Guo Bingbing,
Meng Ming
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.2706
Subject(s) - temporal cortex , visual cortex , fusiform face area , neuroimaging , contrast (vision) , cognitive neuroscience of visual object recognition , neuroscience , psychology , invariant (physics) , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , communication , pattern recognition (psychology) , object (grammar) , biology , computer science , mathematics , face perception , perception , mathematical physics
The object recognition system involves both selectivity to specific object category and invariance to changes in low‐level visual features. Mounting neuroimaging evidence supports that brain areas in the ventral temporal cortex, such as the FFA and PPA, respond preferentially to faces and houses, respectively. However, how regions in human ventral temporal cortex partitioned and functionally organized to selectively and invariantly respond to different object categories remains unclear. What are the changes of response properties at the intersection of adjacent but distinctively‐selective regions? Method Here, we conducted an fMRI study and three‐pronged analyses to compare the brain mapping relationships between the FFA to faces and the PPA to houses. Specifically, we examined: 1) the response properties of object selectivity to the preferred category; 2) the response properties of invariance to contrast and a concurrently presented non‐preferred category; 3) whether there are asymmetrical changes of response properties across the boundary from the FFA to PPA versus from the PPA to FFA. Results We found that the response properties of FFA are highly selective and reliably invariant, whereas the responses of PPA vary with the image contrast and concurrently presented face. Moreover, the response properties across the boundary between the FFA and PPA are asymmetrical from face‐selective to house‐selective relative to from house‐selective to face‐selective. Conclusions These results convergently revealed distinct response properties between the FFA to faces and the PPA to houses, implying a combination of spatially discrete domain‐specific and relatively distributed domain‐general organization mapping in human ventral temporal cortex.