Human Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8205, USA.
J Neurosci. 2010 Jun 30;30(26):8780-6. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1575-10.2010.
EEG studies from subdural electrodes have demonstrated a face-specific event-related potential (face-N200) recorded from human ventral occipitotemporal cortex. The insensitivity of face-N200 to task manipulations has supported the proposal that face-N200 reflects an initial obligatory response to faces. This result stands in striking contrast to results of neuroimaging studies that have demonstrated strong task sensitivity of the fusiform hemodynamic response evoked by faces, and thus has created a paradox in the face perception literature. We recorded field potentials directly from the cortical surface of 16 patients while they selectively attended to faces or houses. Here we report that face-specific gamma activity recorded at face-N200 sites is strongly modulated by selective attention, while face-N200 is not. Our results reconcile prior electrophysiological and hemodynamic studies of face perception, and suggest that attentional modulation of the face response follows an initial phase that is largely insensitive to attention.
硬膜下电极的脑电图研究表明，人类腹侧枕颞叶皮层记录到了一种特定于面部的事件相关电位（面部 N200）。面部 N200 对面部任务操作的不敏感性支持了这样的观点，即面部 N200 反映了对人脸的初始强制性反应。这一结果与神经影像学研究的结果形成了鲜明的对比，神经影像学研究表明，面部诱发的梭状回血流反应具有很强的任务敏感性，因此在面部知觉文献中产生了一个悖论。我们在 16 名患者选择性地注意面孔或房屋时，直接从大脑皮层表面记录了场电位。在这里，我们报告说，在面部 N200 部位记录到的特定于面部的伽马活动受到选择性注意的强烈调制，而面部 N200 则不受调制。我们的研究结果协调了先前关于面孔感知的电生理学和血流动力学研究，并表明对面孔反应的注意力调节遵循一个初始阶段，这个阶段在很大程度上不受注意力的影响。
