Selective attention to face identity and color studied with f MRI

Abstract

Cortical areas associated with selective attention to the color and identity of faces were located using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Six subjects performed tasks which required selective attention to face identity or color similarity using the same color-washed face stimuli. Performance of the color attention task but not the face attention task was associated with a region of activity in the collateral sulcus and nearby regions of the lingual and fusiform gyri. Performance of both tasks was associated with a region of activity in ventral occipitotemporal cortex that was lateral to the color responsive area and had a greater spatial extent. These fMRI results converge with results obtained from PET and ERP studies to demonstrate similar anatomical locations of functional areas for face and color processing across studies.