Spatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to the configural processing of faces

Valentinos Zachariou, Christine V. Nikas, Zaid N. Safiullah, Stephen J. Gotts, Leslie G. Ungerleider

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human face recognition is often attributed to configural processing; namely, processing the spatial relationships among the features of a face. If configural processing depends on fine-grained spatial information, do visuospatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to this process? We explored this question in human adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a same-different face detection task. Within localized, spatial-processing regions of the posterior parietal cortex, configural face differences led to significantly stronger activation compared to featural face differences, and the magnitude of this activation correlated with behavioral performance. In addition, detection of configural relative to featural face differences led to significantly stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and the spatial processing regions of the dorsal stream, whereas detection of featural relative to configural face differences led to stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and left FFA. Critically, TMS centered on these parietal regions impaired performance on configural but not featural face difference detections. We conclude that spatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to the configural processing of facial features and, more broadly, that the dorsal stream may contribute to the veridical perception of faces.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4124-4138
Number of pages15
JournalCerebral Cortex
Volume27
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Mental HealthZIAMH002918

    Keywords

    • Face perception
    • Spatial perception
    • TMS
    • fMRI

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Cognitive Neuroscience
    • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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