Facial recognition reactivates the primary visual cortex: an functional magnetic resonance imaging study in humans

Abstract

In order to investigate how the brain represents sensory-specific information during memory retrieval, we examined functional magnetic resonance imaging's during a face-recognition task. When compared with activation associated with viewing of novel faces, recognition of faces presented 5 min before scanning activated the primary visual cortex, consistent with the hypothesis that retrieved facial information is coded by the reactivation of the brain regions engaged during sensory perception. This reactivation was not observed 14 weeks following initial presentation of the faces despite no significant difference in recognition rate between the two intervals. This suggests that accessing of visual information during memory retrieval is associated with the primary visual cortex, and that its activation is time-dependent – probably related to the memory transformation or consolidation.