Abstract
There is now compelling evidence for a region in the human fusiform gyrus that is activated by the visual presentation of human face stimuli. However, there are several different accounts of why such an area should exist in the first place. One suggestion has been that the profound biological significance of faces for human behaviour has led to the differentiation of a distinct ‘module’, dedicated to face processing to the exclusion of any other class of stimuli. On this account, the specialization shown by the fusiform face area (FFA) reflects the specific visual properties faces. An alternative hypothesis, however, suggests that the FFA is specialized for expertise in subordinate-level classification of visual stimuli. The sensitivity and specificity for faces shown by this area may therefore reflect the fact that faces are stimuli for which we have a particular expertise, because of the frequency with which we encounter them. This account predicts that expertise with any arbitrary object category should lead to increased activation of the FFA.Gauthier and colleagues now report evidence from functional imaging in humans that provides further support for this expertise argument1xExpertise for cars and birds recruits brain areas involved in face recognition. Gauthier, I. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 2000; 3: 191–197Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (717)See all
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