Faces in motion: temporal predictions from natural face sequences (A04)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454648639

To understand the actions and intentions of others, primates look at others’ faces. Facial motion allows the visual system to anticipate inputs based on predictive information inherent in movement sequences. We will determine whether face processing areas in the macaque monkey’s temporal cortex utilise motion-derived predictions to optimise neural coding of visual face information. To this end, we will manipulate the predictiveness of head motion sequences while we perform fMRI-guided electrophysiology and pharmacological inactivation. This will further our understanding of the neural basis of “seeing each other” during dynamic interactions in ecologically valid settings where agents are in motion.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1528: Cognition of Interaction
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Caspar M. Schwiedrzik