A study on neural mechanism of face processing based on fMRI  

作　　者：Jiangang Liu Jie Tian Kang Lee Jun Li 

机构地区：[1]School of Computer and Information Technology, Beifing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China [2]Key Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beifing [3]Life Science Research Center, Xidian University, Xi＇an 710071, China [4]Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Canada

出　　处：《Progress in Natural Science:Materials International》2008年第2期201-207,共7页自然科学进展·国际材料（英文版）

基　　金：2007 National Natural Science Foundation of China;Chinese Academy of Sciences;Chair Professors of Cheung Kong Scholars Programme,PCSIRT(Grant No.IRT0645);CAS Hundred Talents Program,the National Program on Key Basic Research Projects(Grant No.2006CB705700),;the National High-Tech R&D Program of China(Grant No.2006AA04Z216);the Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Young Scholars(Grant No.30528027);National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.30600151,30500131,60532050);Beijing Natural Science Fund(Grant Nos.4051002,4071003).

摘　　要：Recently,there were debates about the specificity of lateral middle fusiform in face processing. The debates focused on whether these areas were specialized in face processing or involved in processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level. The present study aims to investigate the neural mechanism of face processing,using Chinese characters as comparison stimuli. Chinese characters are greatly similar to faces on a variety of dimensions,among which the most significant one is that both faces and Chinese characters not only are extremely familiar to literate Chinese adults but also are processed at individual level. In the present study,faces and Chinese characters activated bilateral middle fusiform with great correlation. Greater activities were observed in the right fusiform face area (FFA) for faces than for Chinese characters. These results demonstrate that FFA is specialized in face processing per se rather than the processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level.Recently, there were debates about the specificity of lateral middle fusiform in face processing. The debates focused on whether these areas were specialized in face processing or involved in processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level. The present study aims to investigate the neural mechanism of face processing, using Chinese characters as comparison stimuli. Chinese characters are greatly similar to faces on a variety of dimensions, among which the most significant one is that both faces and Chinese characters not only are extremely familiar to literate Chinese adults but also are processed at individual level. In the present study, faces and Chinese characters activated bilateral middle fusiform with great correlation. Greater activities were observed in the right fusiform face area （FFA） for faces than for Chinese characters. These results demonstrate that FFA is specialized in face processing per se rather than the processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level.

关 键 词：Face processing Chinese characters Fusiform gyrus FMRI 

分 类 号：TP391.41[自动化与计算机技术—计算机应用技术]