Abstract
IntroductionThe right fusiform face area (FFA) is important for face recognition, whereas the left visual word fusiform area (VWFA) is critical for word processing. Nevertheless, the early stages of unconscious and conscious face and word processing have not been studied systematically.Materials and MethodsTo explore hemispheric differences for face and word recognition, we manipulated the visual field (left vs. right) and stimulus duration (subliminal [17 ms] versus supraliminal [300 ms]). We recorded P100 and N170 peaks with high‐density ERPs in response to faces/objects or Japanese words/scrambled words in 18 healthy young subjects.ResultsContralateral P100 was larger than ipsilateral P100 for all stimulus types in the supraliminal, but not subliminal condition. The face‐ and word‐N170s were not evoked in the subliminal condition. The N170 amplitude for the supraliminal face stimuli was significantly larger than that for the objects, and right hemispheric specialization was found for face recognition, irrespective of stimulus visual hemifield. Conversely, the supraliminal word‐N170 amplitude was not significantly modulated by stimulus type, visual field, or hemisphere.ConclusionsThese results suggest that visual awareness is crucial for face and word recognition. Our study using hemifield stimulus presentation further demonstrates the robust right FFA for face recognition but not the left VWFA for word recognition in the Japanese brain.
Highlights
The right fusiform face area (FFA) is important for face recognition, whereas the left visual word fusiform area (VWFA) is critical for word processing
We found that visual stimuli presented for 20 ms were unrecognizable but that the P100 amplitude was augmented for faces but not objects
Was not significantly affected by the stimulus type, stimulus visual field, or hemisphere. These findings suggest that both P100 and N170 were differentially affected by the nature of the visual stimuli, depending on the stimulus visual field and presentation duration
Summary
The right fusiform face area (FFA) is important for face recognition, whereas the left visual word fusiform area (VWFA) is critical for word processing. The N170 amplitude for the supraliminal face stimuli was significantly larger than that for the objects, and right hemispheric specialization was found for face recognition, irrespective of stimulus visual hemifield. The most notable examples of this specialization are for face and word recognition: The former is lateralized to the right hemisphere (RH; Davies-Thompson, Johnston, Tashakkor, Pancaroglu, & Barton, 2016; Kanwisher, McDermott, & Chun, 1997), whereas the latter is preferentially processed in the left hemisphere The key issue addressed by this study is the profile of lateralization for face and word recognition using high-density ERPs. we focused on the early stages of unconsciousness or conscious face and word processing when visual stimuli were presented in each hemifield
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