Dissociated face- and word-selective intracerebral responses in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex.

in Brain Structure & Function (2021), 226(9), 3031-49

The extent to which faces and written words share neural circuitry in the human brain is actively debated. Here, we compare face-selective and word-selective responses in a large group of patients (N = 37 ... [more ▼]

The extent to which faces and written words share neural circuitry in the human brain is actively debated. Here, we compare face-selective and word-selective responses in a large group of patients (N = 37) implanted with intracerebral electrodes in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC). Both face-selective (i.e., significantly different responses to faces vs. non-face visual objects) and word-selective (i.e., significantly different responses to words vs. pseudofonts) neural activity is isolated with frequency-tagging. Critically, this sensitive approach allows to objectively quantify category-selective neural responses and disentangle them from general visual responses. About 70% of significant electrode contacts show either face-selectivity or word-selectivity only, with the expected right and left hemispheric dominance, respectively. Spatial dissociations are also found within core regions of face and word processing, with a medio-lateral dissociation in the fusiform gyrus (FG) and surrounding sulci, respectively. In the 30% of overlapping face- and word-selective contacts across the VOTC or in the FG and surrounding sulci, between-category-selective amplitudes (faces vs. words) show no-to-weak correlations, despite strong correlations in both the within-category-selective amplitudes (face–face, word–word) and the general visual responses to words and faces. Overall, these observations support the view that category-selective circuitry for faces and written words is largely dissociated in the human adult VOTC.Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00429-021-02350-4. [less ▲]

Selective visual representation of letters and words in the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex with intracerebral recordings.

in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2018), 115(32), 7595-7604

We report a comprehensive cartography of selective responses to visual letters and words in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) with direct neural recordings, clarifying key aspects of the ... [more ▼]

We report a comprehensive cartography of selective responses to visual letters and words in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) with direct neural recordings, clarifying key aspects of the neural basis of reading. Intracerebral recordings were performed in a large group of patients (n = 37) presented with visual words inserted periodically in rapid sequences of pseudofonts, nonwords, or pseudowords, enabling classification of responses at three levels of word processing: letter, prelexical, and lexical. While letter-selective responses are found in much of the VOTC, with a higher proportion in left posterior regions, prelexical/lexical responses are confined to the middle and anterior sections of the left fusiform gyrus. This region overlaps with and extends more anteriorly than the visual word form area typically identified with functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this region, prelexical responses provide evidence for populations of neurons sensitive to the statistical regularity of letter combinations independently of lexical responses to familiar words. Despite extensive sampling in anterior ventral temporal regions, there is no hierarchical organization between prelexical and lexical responses in the left fusiform gyrus. Overall, distinct word processing levels depend on neural populations that are spatially intermingled rather than organized according to a strict postero-anterior hierarchy in the left VOTC. [less ▲]

Scrambling horizontal face structure: behavioral and electrophysiogical evidence for a tuning of visual face processing to horizontal information

Poster (2011, August)

Filtering faces to remove all but the horizontal information largely preserves behavioral signatures of face-specific processing, including the face inversion effect (FIE). Conversely, preserving only ... [more ▼]

Filtering faces to remove all but the horizontal information largely preserves behavioral signatures of face-specific processing, including the face inversion effect (FIE). Conversely, preserving only vertical information abolishes this effect. In contrast to previous studies which used filtering, the present studies manipulated orientation content of face images by randomizing Fourier phase spectrum in a narrow horizontal orientation band (H-randomization) or vertical orientation band (V-randomization). Phase-randomization was performed on face images in which spatial frequency amplitude spectrum (SF-AS) was either left unaltered or equalized across all SF orientations. We further investigated the time course of horizontal tuning using event-related potentials (ERP). We observed that (i) upright faces were best discriminated when the horizontal structure was preserved (ie V-randomization) compared to H-randomization; (ii) this phase-randomization effect was eliminated by inversion, resulting in (iii) a smaller FIE for H-randomized than V-randomized faces. This pattern was still present but was less consistent when SF-AS was equalized across SF orientations, suggesting that SF-AS in horizontal orientation contributes to the horizontal tuning of face perception. ERP evidence of horizontal tuning for upright face processing was observed in the N170 time-window, a well-known face-sensitive electrophysiological component. The N170 was delayed for H-randomized compared to V-randomized faces. Additionally, and in line with behavioural data, face inversion increased N170 latency to a smaller extent for H-randomized compared to V-randomized. Altogether, our findings indicate that horizontal tuning is a robust property of face perception that arises early in high-level visual cortex. [less ▲]

The spatio-temporal correlates of holistic face perception

Poster (2007, May)

It is well known that faces are perceived holistically: their parts are integrated into a global or so-called holistic individual representation. Here we clarify where and how early in time individual ... [more ▼]

It is well known that faces are perceived holistically: their parts are integrated into a global or so-called holistic individual representation. Here we clarify where and how early in time individual holistic representations are extracted from the visual stimulus, by means of an event-related identity adaptation paradigm in fMRI (study 1; 10 subjects) and ERPs (study 2; 16 subjects). During blocks, subjects were presented with trials made of two sequentially presented faces and performed a same/different judgement on the top parts of each pair of faces. Face parts were presented either aligned or misaligned. For each face pair, the identity of top and bottom parts could be (a) both identical, (b) both different, (c) different only for the bottom part. The latter manipulation resulted in a strong face composite illusion behaviourally, i.e. the perception of identical top parts as being different, only in the aligned format. In the face-sensitive area of the middle fusiform gyrus (‘fusiform face area’) we observed a stronger response to the top part perceived as being different (release from adaptation), but only when the top and the bottom parts were aligned. It is consistent with the illusion of viewing different top parts of faces, and this release from fMR-adaptation is similar to the one observed in the ‘different’ condition for both aligned and misaligned parts. The same observations were made in ERPs as early as 150 ms, the amplitude of the electrophysiological response at occipito-temporal sites to the second face stimulus being reduced for identical relative to different top face parts, and to identical top parts perceived as different (aligned - bottom different). With both methods, the effects were stronger in the right hemisphere. Altogether, these observations indicate that individual faces are perceived holistically as early as 150 ms in the occipito-temporal cortex. [less ▲]