Linking person perception and person knowledge in the human brain

Neuroscience research has examined separately how we detect human agents on the basis of their face and body (person perception) and how we reason about their thoughts, traits or intentions (person knowledge). Neuroanatomically distinct networks have been associated with person perception and person knowledge, but it remains unknown how multiple features of a person (e.g. thin and kind) are linked to form a holistic identity representation. In this fMRI experiment, we investigated the hypothesis that when encountering another person specialised person perception circuits would be functionally coupled with circuits involved in person knowledge. In a factorial design, we paired bodies or names with trait-based or neutral statements, and independent localiser scans identified body-selective and mentalising networks. When observing a body paired with a trait-implying statement, functional connectivity analyses demonstrated that body-selective patches in bilateral fusiformgyri were functionally coupled with nodes of the mentalising network. We demonstrate that when forming a representation of a person circuits for representing another person�s physical appearance are linked to circuits that are engaged when reasoning about trait-based character. These data support the view that a �who� system for social cognition involves communication between perceptual and inferential mechanisms when forming a representation of another�s identit

Brain Correlates of Experience-Dependent Changes in Stimulus Discrimination Based on the Amount and Schedule of Exposure

No grant i

National Alliance of Clean Energy Incubator Activities - Final Technical Report

Summary of activity related to development of the Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators and incubation services provided to the clean energy sector by the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology

Division of labor between lateral and ventral extrastriate representations of faces, bodies, and objects

The occipito-temporal cortex is strongly implicated in carrying out the high-level computations associated with vision. In human neuroimaging studies, focal regions are consistently found within this broad region that respond strongly and selectively to faces, bodies, or objects. A notable feature of these selective regions is that they are found in pairs. In the posterior-lateral occipito-temporal cortex, focal selectivity is found for faces (occipital face area), bodies (extrastriate body area), and objects (lateral occipital). These three areas are found bilaterally and at close quarters to each other. Likewise, in the ventro-medial occipito-temporal cortex, three similar category-selective regions are found, also in proximity to each other: for faces (fusiform face area), bodies (fusiform body area), and objects (posterior fusiform). Here we review some of the extensive evidence on the functional properties of these areas with two aims. First, we seek to identify principles that distinguish the posterior-lateral and ventro-medial clusters of selective regions but that apply generally within each cluster across the three stimulus kinds. Our review identifies and elaborates several principles by which these relationships hold. In brief, the posterior-lateral representations are more primitive, local, and stimulus-driven relative to the ventro-medial representations, which in contrast are more invariant to visual features, global, and linked to the subjective percept. Second, because the evidence base of studies that compare both posterior-lateral and ventro-medial representations of faces, bodies, and objects is still relatively small, we seek to provoke more cross-talk among the research strands that are traditionally separate. We identify several promising approaches for such future work