Faculty Collaboration Database

Common neural systems associated with the recognition of famous faces and names: an event-related fMRI study. Brain Cogn 2010 Apr;72(3):491-8

Date

02/20/2010

Pubmed ID

20167415

Pubmed Central ID

PMC2935638

DOI

10.1016/j.bandc.2010.01.006

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77349107356 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   31 Citations

Abstract

Person recognition can be accomplished through several modalities (face, name, voice). Lesion, neurophysiology and neuroimaging studies have been conducted in an attempt to determine the similarities and differences in the neural networks associated with person identity via different modality inputs. The current study used event-related functional-MRI in 17 healthy participants to directly compare activation in response to randomly presented famous and non-famous names and faces (25 stimuli in each of the four categories). Findings indicated distinct areas of activation that differed for faces and names in regions typically associated with pre-semantic perceptual processes. In contrast, overlapping brain regions were activated in areas associated with the retrieval of biographical knowledge and associated social affective features. Specifically, activation for famous faces was primarily right lateralized and famous names were left-lateralized. However, for both stimuli, similar areas of bilateral activity were observed in the early phases of perceptual processing. Activation for fame, irrespective of stimulus modality, activated an extensive left hemisphere network, with bilateral activity observed in the hippocampi, posterior cingulate, and middle temporal gyri. Findings are discussed within the framework of recent proposals concerning the neural network of person identification.

Author List

Nielson KA, Seidenberg M, Woodard JL, Durgerian S, Zhang Q, Gross WL, Gander A, Guidotti LM, Antuono P, Rao SM

Authors

Piero G. Antuono MD Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
William Gross MD, PhD Assistant Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Kristy Nielson PhD Professor in the Psychology department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Analysis of Variance
Brain Mapping
Face
Famous Persons
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Names
Neural Pathways
Reference Values
Young Adult