Causal Influences in the Human Brain During Face Discrimination: A Short-Window Directed Transfer Function Approach

Abstract

In this letter, we considered the application of parametric spectral analysis, namely a short-window directed transfer function (DTF) approach, to multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) data during a face discrimination task. We identified causal influences between occipitoparietal and centrofrontal electrode sites, the timing of which corresponded to previously reported EEG face-selective components. More importantly we present evidence that there are both feedforward and feedback influences, a finding that is in direct contrast to current computational models of perceptual discrimination and decision making which tend to favor a purely feedforward processing scheme.