In particular, while the face-selective ATL was implicated in face recognition, the face-selectivity (higher response to face than to non-faces) of the clusters in the ATL that discriminated between face identities has not been tested. However, empirical evidence regarding the ATL is especially complex. To date, although no clear picture has emerged, a number of imaging studies have suggested that the FFA (but see: ) and the ATL might play a role in face recognition. Notably, whereas all these regions clearly show a higher response to faces than non-face stimuli, their role in discriminating between different face identities is still unclear. This includes face-selective areas in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. More recently, three more anterior regions have been reported to show face-selective responses. In particular, a highly established finding in neuroimaging studies is the occipito-temporal network of face-selective regions: occipital face area (OFA), the fusiform face area (FFA) and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). Over the past two decades, the underlying neural mechanisms of face processing have become gradually elucidated. Future studies are needed to further explore the role of the more recently discovered anterior face-selective areas in face recognition.įaces are recognized quickly and effortlessly. Our results corroborate the role of the fusiform face area in face recognition. We found that face-identity could be discriminated above chance level only in the fusiform face area. A special focus has been put on the face-area in the anterior temporal lobe, which was reliably localized using an optimized scanning protocol. In the current high-resolution functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study, we systematically examined the decoding of the identity of famous faces in the temporo-frontal network of face-selective and adjacent non-face-selective regions.
Furthermore, previous studies limited their analysis to occipito-temporal regions without testing identity decoding in more anterior face-selective regions, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. However, given the difficulty in localizing the face-selective area in the anterior temporal lobe, its role in face recognition is still unknown. A number of previous studies indeed reported that face identity could be discriminated based on patterns of multivoxel activity in the fusiform face area and the anterior temporal lobe. What are the neural mechanisms of face recognition? It is believed that the network of face-selective areas, which spans the occipital, temporal, and frontal cortices, is important in face recognition.