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Neural Systems for Face Perception Infants would rather look in the mirror or at the faces of their caregivers than at any other object available. And why not? The human face is full of intriguing changes that give clues for socialization or even danger signals. Face perception, in fact, may be the most highly developed visual skill in humans. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Princeton researchers and others have made strides in mapping the area of the brain responsible for face perception. In their review, “Human Neural Systems for Face Recognition and Social Communication,” published in Biological Psychiatry in 2002 (Vol. 51), Princeton Professor of Psychology James Haxby and colleagues discuss the complex neural system that mediates face perception. Based on fMRI data, the researchers created a model showing a branching neural system for face perception. Organized functionally, the core system for the visual analysis of a face is found in three regions of the cortex. In this core system, separate regions are responsible for facial aspects having to do with recognition and facial aspects that change such as gaze, expression, and lip movement. These latter traits facilitate the perception of information in social communication. The researchers note that the system is also organized hierarchically, with extended systems that act in conjunction with these core regions so that a person can extract meanings from faces. Interestingly, they identified a region in the extended system that has a central role in processing social information from faces, especially when that information signals danger. Co-authors of the Biological Psychiatry
paper are Elizabeth Hoffman of Georgetown University, and M. Ida
Gobbini of Princeton University.
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