Activity In Fusiform Face Area Research Articles

Feasibility study of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in the ventral visual pathway for real-life applications.

fNIRS-based neuroenhancement depends on the feasible detection of hemodynamic responses in target brain regions. Using the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and the fusiform face area (FFA) in the ventral visual pathway as neurofeedback targets boosts performance in visual recognition. However, the feasibility of utilizing fNIRS to detect LOC and FFA activity in adults remains to be validated as the depth of these regions may exceed the detection limit of fNIRS. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of using fNIRS to measure hemodynamic responses in the ventral visual pathway, specifically in the LOC and FFA, in adults. We recorded the hemodynamic activities of the LOC and FFA regions in 35 subjects using a portable eight-channel fNIRS instrument. A standard one-back object and face recognition task was employed to elicit selective brain responses in the LOC and FFA regions. The placement of fNIRS optodes for LOC and FFA detection was guided by our group's transcranial brain atlas (TBA). Our findings revealed selective activation of the LOC target channel (CH2) in response to objects, whereas the FFA target channel (CH7) did not exhibit selective activation in response to faces. Our findings indicate that, although fNIRS detection has limitations in capturing FFA activity, the LOC region emerges as a viable target for fNIRS-based detection. Furthermore, our results advocate for the adoption of the TBA-based method for setting the LOC target channel, offering a promising solution for optrode placement. This feasibility study stands as the inaugural validation of fNIRS for detecting cortical activity in the ventral visual pathway, underscoring its ecological validity. We suggest that our findings establish a pivotal technical groundwork for prospective real-life applications of fNIRS-based research.

Sound-encoded faces activate the left fusiform face area in the early blind.

Face perception in humans and nonhuman primates is accomplished by a patchwork of specialized cortical regions. How these regions develop has remained controversial. In sighted individuals, facial information is primarily conveyed via the visual modality. Early blind individuals, on the other hand, can recognize shapes using auditory and tactile cues. Here we demonstrate that such individuals can learn to distinguish faces from houses and other shapes by using a sensory substitution device (SSD) presenting schematic faces as sound-encoded stimuli in the auditory modality. Using functional MRI, we then asked whether a face-selective brain region like the fusiform face area (FFA) shows selectivity for faces in the same subjects, and indeed, we found evidence for preferential activation of the left FFA by sound-encoded faces. These results imply that FFA development does not depend on experience with visual faces per se but may instead depend on exposure to the geometry of facial configurations.

Modeling face recognition in the predictive coding framework: A combined computational modeling and functional imaging study

The learning of new facial identities and the recognition of familiar faces are crucial processes for social interactions. Recently, a combined computational modeling and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used predictive coding as a biologically plausible framework to model face identity learning and to relate specific model parameters with brain activity (Apps and Tsakiris, Nat Commun 4, 2698, 2013). On the one hand, it was shown that behavioral responses on a two-option face recognition task could be predicted by the level of contextual and facial familiarity in a computational model derived from predictive-coding principles. On the other hand, brain activity in specific brain regions was associated with these parameters. More specifically, brain activity in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) varied with contextual familiarity, whereas activity in the fusiform face area (FFA) covaried with the prediction error parameter that updated facial familiarity.Literature combining fMRI assessments and computational modeling in humans still needs to be expanded. Furthermore, prior results are largely not replicated. The present study was, therefore, specifically set up to replicate these previous findings. Our results support the original findings in two critical aspects. First, on a group level, the behavioral responses were modeled best by the same computational model reported by the original authors. Second, we showed that estimates of these model parameters covary with brain activity in specific, face-sensitive brain regions. Our results thus provide further evidence that the functional properties of the face perception network conform to central principles of predictive coding. However, our study yielded diverging findings on specific computational model parameters reflected in brain activity. On the one hand, we did not find any evidence of a computational involvement of the STS. On the other hand, our results showed that activity in the right FFA was associated with multiple computational model parameters. Our data do not provide evidence for functional segregation between particular face-sensitive brain regions, as previously proposed.

Visual Distraction Disrupts Category-tuned Attentional Filters in Ventral Visual Cortex.

Our behavioral goals shape how we process information via attentional filters that prioritize goal-relevant information, dictating both where we attend and what we attend to. When something unexpected or salient appears in the environment, it captures our spatial attention. Extensive research has focused on the spatiotemporal aspects of attentional capture, but what happens to concurrent nonspatial filters during visual distraction? Here, we demonstrate a novel, broader consequence of distraction: widespread disruption to filters that regulate category-specific object processing. We recorded fMRI while participants viewed arrays of face/house hybrid images. On distractor-absent trials, we found robust evidence for the standard signature of category-tuned attentional filtering: greater BOLD activation in fusiform face area during attend-faces blocks and in parahippocampal place area during attend-houses blocks. However, on trials where a salient distractor (white rectangle) flashed abruptly around a nontarget location, not only was spatial attention captured, but the concurrent category-tuned attentional filter was disrupted, revealing a boost in activation for the to-be-ignored category. This disruption was robust, resulting in errant processing-and early on, prioritization-of goal-inconsistent information. These findings provide a direct test of the filter disruption theory: that in addition to disrupting spatial attention, distraction also disrupts nonspatial attentional filters tuned to goal-relevant information. Moreover, these results reveal that, under certain circumstances, the filter disruption may be so profound as to induce a full reversal of the attentional control settings, which carries novel implications for both theory and real-world perception.

Sound-Encoded Faces Activate the Left Fusiform Face Area in the Early Blind

Face perception in humans and nonhuman primates is accomplished by a patchwork of specialized cortical regions. How these regions develop has remained controversial, some studies claiming that seeing faces is necessary for face-domain formation, while others contend that visual experience is not necessary for their development. In sighted individuals, facial information is primarily conveyed via the visual modality. Blind individuals, on the other hand, can still recognize shapes using auditory and tactile cues. Here we examined whether face-selective regions like the fusiform face area (FFA) show selectivity for faces in individuals with early blindness. In particular, we asked if such individuals can learn to distinguish faces from other shapes by using a sensory substitution device (SSD) presenting faces as sound-encoded stimuli. Early blind individuals and sighted controls were trained to discriminate sound-encoded faces, houses, and abstract geometrical shapes presented via an SSD. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with an N-back task, we found new evidence for preferential activation of the left FFA by sound-encoded faces in early blind adults. The results demonstrate that face-selective cortical regions can be activated by substituting vision with audition. This implies that the development of the FFA does not necessarily depend on experience with visual faces per se, but may instead depend on sensory experience with facial configurations.

Pharmacological fMRI provides evidence for opioidergic modulation of discrimination of facial pain expressions.

The endogenous opioid system is strongly involved in the modulation of pain. However, the potential role of this system in perceiving painful facial expressions from others has not been sufficiently explored as of yet. To elucidate the contribution of the opioid system to the perception of painful facial expressions, we conducted a double‐blind, within‐subjects pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, in which 42 participants engaged in an emotion discrimination task (pain vs. disgust expressions) in two experimental sessions, receiving either the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone or an inert substance (placebo). On the behavioral level, participants less frequently judged an expression as pain under naltrexone as compared to placebo. On the neural level, parametric modulation of activation in the (putative) right fusiform face area (FFA), which was correlated with increased pain intensity, was higher under naltrexone than placebo. Regression analyses revealed that brain activity in the right FFA significantly predicted behavioral performance in disambiguating pain from disgust, both under naltrexone and placebo. These findings suggest that reducing opioid system activity decreased participants' sensitivity for facial expressions of pain, and that this was linked to possibly compensatory engagement of processes related to visual perception, rather than to higher level affective processes, and pain regulation.

Predicting Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Activity in Fusiform Face Area from the Activity in Other Visual Areas.

Neuroimaging studies have shown that discrete regions in ventral visual pathway respond selectively to specific object categories. For example, the fusiform face area (FFA) in humans is consistently more responsive to face than nonface images. However, it is not clear how other cortical regions contribute to this preferential response in FFA. To address this question, we performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on human subjects watching naturalistic movie clips from human actions. We then used correlation and multivariate regression (partial least-squares regression) analyses to estimate/predict the mean BOLD (blood oxygenation level-dependent) activity in FFA, from the mean and pattern of responses in 24 visual cortical areas. Higher tier retinotopic areas V3, hV4, and LO2, motion-selective area middle temporal, body-selective areas, and non-FFA face-selective areas had the best prediction accuracy particularly when they were located ipsilateral to FFA. All non-FFA collectively could explain up to 75% of variance in the FFA response. The regression models were also designed to predict the mean activity in one face area from the pattern of activity in another face area. The prediction power was significantly higher between the occipital face area and FFA. The multivariate regression analysis provides a new framework for investigating functional connectivity between cortical areas, and it could inform hierarchical models of visual cortex.

Neural responses to children's faces: Test-retest reliability of structural and functional MRI.

IntroductionFunctional MRI (fMRI) is commonly used to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying psychological processes and behavioral responses. However, to draw well‐founded conclusions from fMRI studies, more research on the reliability of fMRI is needed.MethodsWe invited a sample of 41 female students to participate in two identical fMRI sessions, separated by 5 weeks on average. To investigate the potential effect of left‐handedness on the stability of neural activity, we oversampled left‐handed participants (N = 20). Inside the scanner, we presented photographs of familiar and unfamiliar children's faces preceded by neutral and threatening primes to the participants. We calculated intraclass correlations (ICCs) to investigate the test–retest reliability of peak activity in areas that showed significant activity during the first session (primary visual cortex, fusiform face area, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus). In addition, we examined how many trials were needed to reliably measure the effects.ResultsAcross all participants, only fusiform face area activity in response to faces showed good test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.71). All other test–retest reliabilities were low (0.01 ≤ ICC ≤ 0.35). Reliabilities varied only slightly with increasing numbers of trials, with no consistent increase in ICCs. Test–retest reliabilities for left‐handed participants (0.28 ≤ ICC ≤0.66) were generally somewhat higher than for right‐handed participants (−0.13 ≤ ICC ≤0.75), but not statistically significant.ConclusionOur study shows good test–retest reliability for fusiform facer area activity in response to faces, but low test–retest reliability for other contrasts and areas.

P34. Working memory for faces in congenital prosopagnosia: altered neural representations in the fusiform face area

Background Face recognition is a key skill of social cognition. Congenital prosopagnosia (CP), i.e. the inability to recognize faces in the absence of any other underlying pathology, is a model system for the understanding of face processing and affects about 2% of the population. Controversy exists whether activation of the fusiform face area (FFA), a core region within the face processing network, is preserved in CP. Here we scrutinized the global activity of the FFA in a working memory paradigm and specifically probed neural representations with Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA). Methods A total of 13 CP and 12 healthy control participants were included. Diagnosis was based on a semi-structured interview (Kennerknecht et al., 2008). CP subjects showed poorer performance in the Cambridge Face Memory Test (Duchaine et al., 2006), an independent diagnostic tool for CP. A modified Sternberg working memory paradigm presented faces with three levels of difficulty: low load condition (1 face, 3 scrambled pictures), medium load condition (2 faces, 2 scrambled pictures), and high load memory condition (4 faces). After a maintenance phase, a probe picture was shown. Working memory processing in the right fusiform face area (FFA), individually determined by a functional localizer, was analyzed with a modified RSA approach (Kriegeskorte et al., 2008). RSA assesses the correlation of voxel-wise activity across trials, represented in individual correlation matrices. Mean correlation coefficients were computed for each condition across groups and a group comparison of individual correlation matrices was performed with a random walk mapping and Donsker’s theorem (Donsker, 1951). Results CP participants showed significantly lower working memory accuracy, most notably in the high load condition. For FFA activation in the encoding phase, an ANOVA yielded a significant effect of group (F = 5.82, p = 0.024), and condition (low, medium, high memory load) (F = 38.02, p 0.001 ). When comparing mean correlation coefficients of the RSA in an ANOVA, we found an effect of condition ( p 0.001 ) and a trend for the factor group (p = 0.058) with CP participants showing lower mean correlation of voxel activity as compared to control participants. Individual matrix comparison based on Donsker’s theorem allowed to confirm the group difference in all memory load conditions. Conclusion Our study on working memory processing in CP revealed both a global reduction of FFA activity and altered neural representations as assessed by representational similarity analysis. We suggest that the latter effect contributes to deficits in face recognition.

Revisiting the Role of the Fusiform Face Area in Expertise.

The fusiform face area (FFA) is considered to be a highly specialized brain module because of its central importance for face perception. However, many researchers claim that the FFA is a general visual expertise module that distinguishes between individual examples within a single category. Here, I circumvent the shortcomings of some previous studies on the FFA controversy by using chess stimuli, which do not visually resemble faces, together with more sensitive methods of analysis such as multivariate pattern analysis. I also extend the previous research by presenting chess positions, complex scenes with multiple objects, and their interrelations to chess experts and novices as well as isolated chess objects. The first experiment demonstrates that chess expertise modulated the FFA activation when chess positions were presented. In contrast, single chess objects did not produce different activation patterns among experts and novices even when the multivariate pattern analysis was used. The second experiment focused on the single chess objects and featured an explicit task of identifying the chess objects but failed to demonstrate expertise effects in the FFA. The experiments provide support for the general expertise view of the FFA function but also extend the scope of our understanding about the function of the FFA. The FFA does not merely distinguish between different exemplars within the same category of stimuli. More likely, it parses complex multiobject stimuli that contain numerous functional and spatial relations.

Dedifferentiated face processing in older adults is linked to lower resting state metabolic activity in fusiform face area

We used multimodal brain imaging to examine possible mediators of age-related neural dedifferentiation (less specific neural activation) to different categories of stimuli that had been shown in previous research. Specifically, we examined resting blood flow and brain activation in areas involved in object, place and face perception. We observed lower activation, specificity, and resting blood flow for older adults (OA) than younger adults (YA) in the fusiform face area (FFA) but not in the other regions of interest. Mediation analyses further revealed that FFA resting state blood flow mediated age differences in FFA specificity, whereas age differences in visual and cognitive function and cortical thickness did not. Whole brain analyses also revealed more activated voxels for all categories in OA, as well as more frontal activation for faces but not for the other categories in OA than YA. Less FFA specificity coupled with more frontal activation when passively viewing faces suggest that OA have more difficulty recruiting specialized face processing mechanisms, and the lower FFA metabolic activity even when faces are not being processed suggests an OA deficiency in the neural substrate underlying face processing. Our data point to a detuning of face-selective mechanisms in older adults.

FMRI neurofeedback of higher visual areas and perceptual biases

The self-regulation of brain activation via neurofeedback training offers a method to study the relationship between brain areas and perception in a more direct manner than the conventional mapping of brain responses to different types of stimuli. The current proof-of-concept study aimed to demonstrate that healthy volunteers can self-regulate activity in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) over the fusiform face area (FFA). Both areas are involved in higher order visual processing and are activated during the imagery of scenes and faces respectively. Participants (N=9) were required to upregulate PPA relative to FFA activity, and all succeeded at the task, with imagery of scenes being the most commonly reported mental strategy. A control group (N=8) underwent the same imagery and testing procedure, albeit without neurofeedback, in a mock MR scanner to account for any non-specific training effects. The upregulation of PPA activity occurred concurrently with activation of prefrontal and parietal areas, which have been associated with ideation and mental image generation. We tested whether successful upregulation of the PPA relative to FFA had consequences on perception by assessing bistable perception of faces and houses in a binocular rivalry task (before and after the scanning sessions) and categorisation of faces and scenes presented in transparent composite images (during scanning, interleaved with the self-regulation blocks). Contrary to our expectations, upregulation of the PPA did not alter the duration of face or house perception in the rivalry task and response speed and accuracy in the categorisation task. This conclusion was supported by the results of another control experiment (N=10 healthy participants) that involved intensive exposure to category-specific stimuli and did not show any behavioural or perceptual changes. We conclude that differential self-regulation of higher visual areas can be achieved, but that perceptual biases under conditions of stimulus rivalry are relatively robust against such internal modulation of localised brain activity. This study sets the basis for future investigations of perceptual and behavioural consequences of localised self-regulation of neural activity.

The Core Brain Region for Face Processing in Schizophrenia Lacks Face Selectivity.

Face perception impairment in schizophrenia has long been recognized. However, brain mechanisms underlying this socially important perceptual deficit are not well understood. Previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown that patients have altered structure in brain regions responsible for processing face information, but functional properties of these brain regions are not clearly determined. A key functional property of the face-processing system--face selectivity--has yet to be evaluated in schizophrenia. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine face selectivity of 3 core face-processing regions--fusiform face area (FFA), occipital face area (OFA), and superior temporal sulcus (STS)--in schizophrenia patients (n = 24) and healthy controls (n = 23). To disassociate face-specific processing from general perceptual processing, we compared cortical activations during performance of perceptually equated face and tree detection tasks. Activation levels of the 3 putative face-processing regions during face detection did not differ between patients and controls, being similar for FFA and OFA and absent for STS. However, face selectivity, indexed by the difference in cortical activation between face and tree detection, was significantly reduced in patients for FFA, especially for low-contrast stimuli. FFA activation and perceptual performance during face detection were associated in patients. These results show a lack of face-specific processing in the schizophrenic brain region presumably subserving face perception. This finding suggests boosting visual salience of face images as a potential therapeutic venue for improving face perception in this psychiatric disorder.

Gender-specific modulation of neural mechanisms underlying social reward processing by Autism Quotient.

Autism spectrum disorder refers to a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterized by deficits in social cognition and behavior. Subclinically, autistic features are supposed to be present in healthy humans and can be quantified using the Autism Quotient (AQ). Here, we investigated a potential relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social and monetary reward processing, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in young, healthy participants. In an incentive delay task with either monetary or social reward, reward anticipation elicited increased ventral striatal activation, which was more pronounced during monetary reward anticipation. Anticipation of social reward elicited activation in the default mode network (DMN), a network previously implicated in social processing. Social reward feedback was associated with bilateral amygdala and fusiform face area activation. The relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social reward processing varied in a gender-dependent manner. In women and, to a lesser extent in men, higher AQ was associated with increased posterior DMN activation during social reward anticipation. During feedback, we observed a negative correlation of AQ and right amygdala activation in men only. Our results suggest that social reward processing might constitute an endophenotype for autism-related traits in healthy humans that manifests in a gender-specific way.

Neural activation during anticipated peer evaluation and laboratory meal intake in overweight girls with and without loss of control eating

The interpersonal model of loss of control (LOC) eating proposes that socially distressing situations lead to anxious states that trigger excessive food consumption. Self-reports support these links, but the neurobiological underpinnings of these relationships remain unclear. We therefore examined brain regions associated with anxiety in relation to LOC eating and energy intake in the laboratory. Twenty-two overweight and obese (BMIz: 1.9±0.4) adolescent (15.8±1.6y) girls with LOC eating (LOC+, n=10) and without LOC eating (LOC−, n=12) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a simulated peer interaction chatroom paradigm. Immediately after the fMRI scan, girls consumed lunch ad libitum from a 10,934-kcal laboratory buffet meal with the instruction to “let yourself go and eat as much as you want.” Pre-specified hypotheses regarding activation of five regions of interest were tested. Analysis of fMRI data revealed a significant group by peer feedback interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), such that LOC+ had less activity following peer rejection (vs. acceptance), while LOC− had increased activity (p<.005). Moreover, functional coupling between vmPFC and striatum for peer rejection (vs. acceptance) interacted with LOC status: coupling was positive for LOC+, but negative in LOC− (p<.005). Activity of fusiform face area (FFA) during negative peer feedback from high-value peers also interacted with LOC status (p<.005). A positive association between FFA activation and intake during the meal was observed among only those with LOC eating. In conclusion, overweight and obese girls with LOC eating may be distinguished by a failure to engage regions of prefrontal cortex implicated in emotion regulation in response to social distress. The relationship between FFA activation and food intake supports the notion that heightened sensitivity to incoming interpersonal cues and perturbations in socio-emotional neural circuits may lead to overeating in order to cope with negative affect elicited by social discomfort in susceptible youth.

Is this car looking at you? How anthropomorphism predicts fusiform face area activation when seeing cars.

Anthropomorphism encompasses the attribution of human characteristics to non-living objects. In particular the human tendency to see faces in cars has long been noticed, yet its neural correlates are unknown. We set out to investigate whether the fusiform face area (FFA) is associated with seeing human features in car fronts, or whether, the higher-level theory of mind network (ToM), namely temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) show a link to anthropomorphism. Twenty participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive car-front viewing task. We extracted brain activity from FFA, TPJ and MPFC. After the fMRI session participants were asked to spontaneously list adjectives that characterize each car front. Five raters judged the degree to which each adjective can be applied as a characteristic of human beings. By means of linear mixed models we found that the implicit tendency to anthropomorphize individual car fronts predicts FFA, but not TPJ or MPFC activity. The results point to an important role of FFA in the phenomenon of ascribing human attributes to non-living objects. Interestingly, brain regions that have been associated with thinking about beliefs and mental states of others (TPJ, MPFC) do not seem to be related to anthropomorphism of car fronts.

The Faces in Radiological Images: Fusiform Face Area Supports Radiological Expertise.

The fusiform face area (FFA) has often been used as an example of a brain module that was developed through evolution to serve a specific purpose-face processing. Many believe, however, that FFA is responsible for holistic processing associated with any kind of expertise. The expertise view has been tested with various stimuli, with mixed results. One of the main stumbling blocks in the FFA controversy has been the fact that the stimuli used have been similar to faces. Here, we circumvent the problem by using radiological images, X-rays, which bear no resemblance to faces. We demonstrate that FFA can distinguish between X-rays and other stimuli by employing multivariate pattern analysis. The sensitivity to X-rays was significantly better in experienced radiologists than that in medical students with limited radiological experience. For the radiologists, it was also possible to use the patterns of FFA activations obtained on faces to differentiate X-ray stimuli from other stimuli. The overlap in the FFA activation is not based on visual similarity of faces and X-rays but rather on the processes necessary for expertise with both kinds of stimulus. Our results support the expertise view that FFA's main function is related to holistic processing.

Dynamic encoding of face information in the human fusiform gyrus.

Humans’ ability to rapidly and accurately detect, identify, and classify faces under variable conditions derives from a network of brain regions highly tuned to face information. The fusiform face area (FFA) is thought to be a computational hub for face processing, however temporal dynamics of face information processing in FFA remains unclear. Here we use multivariate pattern classification to decode the temporal dynamics of expression-invariant face information processing using electrodes placed directly upon FFA in humans. Early FFA activity (50-75 ms) contained information regarding whether participants were viewing a face. Activity between 200-500 ms contained expression-invariant information about which of 70 faces participants were viewing along with the individual differences in facial features and their configurations. Long-lasting (500+ ms) broadband gamma frequency activity predicted task performance. These results elucidate the dynamic computational role FFA plays in multiple face processing stages and indicate what information is used in performing these visual analyses.

Emotion circuits differentiate symptoms of psychosis versus mania in adolescents

The diagnostic boundary between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be unclear, particularly with early onset. We assessed if emotion brain circuits differentiate psychosis versus mania symptoms in a series of six early onset patients. Symptoms were dissociated by direction, awareness condition, and brain regions. Greater psychosis symptoms were correlated with greater prefrontal, anterior cingulate, amygdala, and fusiform face area activation during masked fear processing. By contrast, greater mania symptoms were correlated with less amygdala activation during unmasked fear and happy processing. This suggests emotion dysfunction in schizophrenia versus bipolar disorder may arise from partially distinct neural mechanisms of susceptibility.

Decoding individual natural scene representations during perception and imagery

We used a multi-voxel classification analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to determine to what extent item-specific information about complex natural scenes is represented in several category-selective areas of human extrastriate visual cortex during visual perception and visual mental imagery. Participants in the scanner either viewed or were instructed to visualize previously memorized natural scene exemplars, and the neuroimaging data were subsequently subjected to a multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. We found that item-specific information was represented in multiple scene-selective areas: the occipital place area (OPA), parahippocampal place area (PPA), retrosplenial cortex (RSC), and a scene-selective portion of the precuneus/intraparietal sulcus region (PCu/IPS). Furthermore, item-specific information from perceived scenes was re-instantiated during mental imagery of the same scenes. These results support findings from previous decoding analyses for other types of visual information and/or brain areas during imagery or working memory, and extend them to the case of visual scenes (and scene-selective cortex). Taken together, such findings support models suggesting that reflective mental processes are subserved by the re-instantiation of perceptual information in high-level visual cortex. We also examined activity in the fusiform face area (FFA) and found that it, too, contained significant item-specific scene information during perception, but not during mental imagery. This suggests that although decodable scene-relevant activity occurs in FFA during perception, FFA activity may not be a necessary (or even relevant) component of one's mental representation of visual scenes.