Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11 Tsurukabuto, Nada-Ku, Kobe, Japan.
Eur J Neurosci. 2011 Dec;34(12):2043-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07903.x. Epub 2011 Nov 18.
When we encode faces in memory, we often do so in association with biographical information regarding the person. To examine the neural dynamics underlying such encoding processes, we devised a face recognition task and recorded cortical activity using magnetoencephalography. The task included two conditions. In the experimental condition, face stimuli were preceded by biographical information regarding the person whose face was to be memorized, whereas in the control condition, nonsense syllables were presented before face stimuli. Behavioral results indicated that the biographical information about a person facilitated the recognition memory of their face. Magnetoencephalography signals showed clear visually evoked magnetic fields mainly in the occipitotemporal cortex, in response to the face stimuli that were to be encoded. The phasic peak was observed at 100-200 ms after onset of a face stimulus, which was followed by late latency deflections (200-400 ms). Comparison of the signal between conditions revealed that the preceding semantic information does modulate the neuromagnetic responses to the face stimuli. This modulation occurred primarily at the late latency component in the sensors over the occipitotemporal cortex. In addition, the effects of conditions were also observed in the signals from more anterior sensors, which occurred earlier than the effects in the occipitotemporal cortex. These results provide insights into the neural dynamics underlying the encoding of faces in association with their biographical information.
当我们在记忆中编码人脸时，我们通常会将其与有关该人的传记信息相关联。为了研究这种编码过程背后的神经动力学，我们设计了一个面孔识别任务，并使用脑磁图记录皮质活动。该任务包括两种情况。在实验条件下，在要记忆的人脸的传记信息之前呈现人脸刺激，而在控制条件下，在人脸刺激之前呈现无意义音节。行为结果表明，有关个人的传记信息有助于其面孔的识别记忆。脑磁图信号显示出清晰的视觉诱发磁场，主要在枕颞皮层中，以响应要编码的人脸刺激。在人脸刺激开始后 100-200 毫秒观察到相位峰值，随后是潜伏期延迟（200-400 毫秒）。对条件之间的信号进行比较表明，先前的语义信息确实会调节对人脸刺激的神经磁反应。这种调制主要发生在枕颞皮层上的传感器的后期潜伏期成分中。此外，在来自更靠前的传感器的信号中也观察到了条件的影响，这些影响比在枕颞皮层中的影响更早出现。这些结果为与传记信息相关联的人脸编码背后的神经动力学提供了深入的了解。
