Processing of configural and componential information in face-selective cortical areas

Mintao Zhao, Sing-Hang Cheung, Alan C-N Wong, Gillian Rhodes, Erich K S Chan, Winnie W L Chan, William G Hayward

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigated how face-selective cortical areas process configural and componential face information and how race of faces may influence these processes. Participants saw blurred (preserving configural information), scrambled (preserving componential information), and whole faces during fMRI scan, and performed a post-scan face recognition task using blurred or scrambled faces. The fusiform face area (FFA) showed stronger activation to blurred than to scrambled faces, and equivalent responses to blurred and whole faces. The occipital face area (OFA) showed stronger activation to whole than to blurred faces, which elicited similar responses to scrambled faces. Therefore, the FFA may be more tuned to process configural than componential information, whereas the OFA similarly participates in perception of both. Differences in recognizing own- and other-race blurred faces were correlated with differences in FFA activation to those faces, suggesting that configural processing within the FFA may underlie the other-race effect in face recognition.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)160-167
Number of pages8
JournalCognitive Neuroscience
Volume5
Issue number3-4
Early online date2 May 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Face perception
  • FFA
  • OFA
  • Configural processing
  • Other-race effect

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