Representational geometry of incomplete faces in macaque face patches

Abstract

The neural code of faces has been intensively studied in the macaque face patch system. Although the majority of previous studies used complete faces as stimuli, faces are often seen partially in daily life. Here, we investigated how face-selective cells represent two types of incomplete faces: face fragments and occluded faces, with the location of the fragment/occluder and the facial features systematically varied. Contrary to popular belief, we found that the preferred face regions identified with two stimulus types are dissociated in many face cells. This dissociation can be explained by the nonlinear integration of information from different face parts and is closely related to a curved representation of face completeness in the state space, which allows a clear discrimination between different stimulus types. Furthermore, identity-related facial features are represented in a subspace orthogonal to the nonlinear dimension of face completeness, supporting a condition-general code of facial identity.