Beyond the core face-processing network: intracerebral stimulation of a face-selective area in the right anterior fusiform gyrus elicits transient prosopagnosia

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Beyond the core face-processing network: intracerebral stimulation of a face-selective area in the right anterior fusiform gyrus elicits transient prosopagnosia Jacques Jonas1* and Bruno Rossion1 1 Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium According to neuropsychological evidence, a distributed network of face-selective regions of the ventral visual pathway supports face recognition. However, fMRI studies have generally confined to the posterior face-selective areas, i.e., the occipital face area (OFA) and the fusiform face area (FFA). There is recent evidence that intracranial electrical stimulation of the OFA and FFA elicits face recognition impairments. Here we were able to test for face recognition in a patient implanted with depth electrodes in the anterior temporal cortex. Electrically stimulating the right anterior fusiform gyrus, in a region located anteriorly to the FFA, induced a transient inability to recognize familiar faces (Fig. 1, stimulation of electrodes F3, F4, F4 and F6; movies available). This region was shown face-selective as revealed by intracerebral face-selective event-related potentials and gamma band activity recorded at these critical electrodes. However, no fMRI face-selective responses were found in this region due to severe BOLD signal drop-out caused by the ear canal artifacts (see raw EPI slices, Fig. 2). These results point to a causal role in face recognition of the right anterior fusiform gyrus and more generally of face-selective areas located beyond the “core” face processing network in the ventral temporal cortex. It also illustrates the diagnostic value of intracerebral recordings and stimulation in understanding the neural basis of face recognition and visual recognition in general. Figure 1 Figure 2 Keywords: Intracerebral recordings, electrical brain stimulation, face perception, anterior fusiform gyrus, Fusiform face area Conference: 11th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience, Mons, Belgium, 22 May - 22 May, 2015. Presentation Type: Oral or Poster presentation Topic: Neuroscience Citation: Jonas J and Rossion B (2015). Beyond the core face-processing network: intracerebral stimulation of a face-selective area in the right anterior fusiform gyrus elicits transient prosopagnosia. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 11th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2015.89.00087 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 08 May 2015; Published Online: 14 May 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Jacques Jonas, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Please Select, 1348, Belgium, jac.jonas@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jacques Jonas Bruno Rossion Google Jacques Jonas Bruno Rossion Google Scholar Jacques Jonas Bruno Rossion PubMed Jacques Jonas Bruno Rossion Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.