Detailseite
Projekt Druckansicht

Functional anatomy and neural mechanisms of face recognition in macaque monkeys using fMRI, electrophysiology, and microstimulation.

Antragsteller Professor Dr. Manfred Fahle, seit 3/2009
Fachliche Zuordnung Kognitive, systemische und Verhaltensneurobiologie
Förderung Förderung von 2007 bis 2010
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 41734599
 
The project goal is to explore the neural mechanisms of face detection and recognition in alert macaques. Two findings motivate the current proposal. First, using fMRI in alert macaques, we previously identified 3 brain regions that show increased blood flow to faces compared to non-face objects. These regions likely constitute a hierarchy for face processing, since they are arranged along a caudal-rostral axis in the temporal lobe. Second, our fMRI-guided single-unit recordings revealed that in the largest of these regions, an astonishing 97% of the neurons are face selective. These two discoveries make possible unprecedented access to several homogeneous populations of face cells, and open a gold mine of new experiments to understand the detailed sequence of steps by which the brain detects and recognizes faces. We propose to systematically characterize the visual transformations occurring along this face patch hierarchy. Our three specific aims are to: 1) characterize the visual tuning properties of neurons in each of the three fMRI-identified face patches, 2) determine how and where invariance to position, size, orientation, illumination, and view angle are generated within the face-processing hierarchy, and 3) map the anatomical inputs and outputs to each of the face patches.
DFG-Verfahren Sachbeihilfen
Großgeräte Data acquisition system
Gerätegruppe 7500 Mittelwertrechner und Vielkanalanalysatoren (außer Strahlungsmeßgeräte 026)
Beteiligte Person Doris Y. Tsao, Ph.D.
Ehemaliger Antragsteller Professor Dr. Winrich Freiwald, bis 3/2009
 
 

Zusatzinformationen

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung