Benuzzi Francesca, Pugnaghi Matteo, Meletti Stefano, Lui Fausta, Serafini Marco, Baraldi Patrizia, Nichelli Paolo
Dipartimento Integrato di Neuroscienze, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41100, Baggiovara (Modena), Italy.
Brain Res Bull. 2007 Oct 19;74(5):344-56. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2007.07.010. Epub 2007 Jul 27.
Faces are processed by a distributed neural system in the visual as well as in the non-visual cortex [the "core" and the "extended" systems, J.V. Haxby, E.A. Hoffman, M.I. Gobbini, The distributed human neural system for face perception, Trends Cogn. Sci. 4 (2000) 223-233]. Yet, the functions of the different brain regions included in the face processing system are far from clear. On the basis of the case study of a patient unable to recognize fearful faces, Adolphs et al. [R. Adolphs, F. Gosselin, T.W. Buchanan, D. Tranel, P. Schyns, A.R. Damasio, A mechanism for impaired fear recognition after amygdala damage, Nature 433 (2005) 68-72] suggested that the amygdala might play a role in orienting attention towards the eyes, i.e. towards the region of face conveying most information about fear. In a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) study comparing patterns of activation during observation of whole faces and parts of faces displaying neutral expressions, we evaluated the neural systems for face processing when only partial information is provided, as well as those involved in processing two socially relevant facial areas (the eyes and the mouth). Twenty-four subjects were asked to perform a gender decision task on pictures showing whole faces, upper faces (eyes and eyebrows), and lower faces (mouth). Our results showed that the amygdala was activated more in response to the whole faces than to parts of faces, indicating that the amygdala is involved in orienting attention toward eye and mouth. Processing of parts of faces in isolation was found to activate other regions within both the "core" and the "extended" systems, as well as structures outside this network, thus suggesting that these structures are involved in building up the representation of the whole face from its parts.
面孔由视觉皮层以及非视觉皮层中的分布式神经系统进行处理（即“核心”和“扩展”系统，J.V. 哈克斯比、E.A. 霍夫曼、M.I. 戈比尼，《用于面孔感知的分布式人类神经系统》，《认知科学趋势》4 (2000) 223 - 233）。然而，面孔处理系统中不同脑区的功能仍远未明确。基于对一名无法识别恐惧面孔患者的案例研究，阿道夫斯等人（R. 阿道夫斯、F. 戈斯林、T.W. 布坎南、D. 特拉内尔、P. 施因斯、A.R. 达马西奥，《杏仁核损伤后恐惧识别受损的机制》，《自然》433 (2005) 68 - 72）提出，杏仁核可能在将注意力导向眼睛方面发挥作用，即导向面孔中传达关于恐惧的大部分信息的区域。在一项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，我们比较了观察显示中性表情的整幅面孔和部分面孔时的激活模式，评估了仅提供部分信息时用于面孔处理的神经系统，以及涉及处理两个与社交相关的面部区域（眼睛和嘴巴）的神经系统。24名受试者被要求对展示整幅面孔、上半部分面孔（眼睛和眉毛）以及下半部分面孔（嘴巴）的图片进行性别判断任务。我们的结果表明，与部分面孔相比，杏仁核对整幅面孔的反应更强烈，这表明杏仁核参与将注意力导向眼睛和嘴巴。研究发现，孤立地处理部分面孔会激活“核心”和“扩展”系统内的其他区域以及该网络之外的结构，从而表明这些结构参与从部分面孔构建整幅面孔的表征。
