Rossion Bruno, Jacques Corentin, Jonas Jacques
CNRS, CRAN, Université de Lorraine, F-54000 Nancy, France.
Service de Neurologie, Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, F-54000 Nancy, France.
Brain Sci. 2023 Feb 18;13(2):354. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13020354.
Understanding how the human brain recognizes faces is a primary scientific goal in cognitive neuroscience. Given the limitations of the monkey model of human face recognition, a key approach in this endeavor is the recording of electrophysiological activity with electrodes implanted inside the brain of human epileptic patients. However, this approach faces a number of challenges that must be overcome for meaningful scientific knowledge to emerge. Here we synthesize a 10 year research program combining the recording of intracerebral activity (StereoElectroEncephaloGraphy, SEEG) in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) of large samples of participants and fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS), to objectively define, quantify, and characterize the neural basis of human face recognition. These large-scale studies reconcile the wide distribution of neural face recognition activity with its (right) hemispheric and regional specialization and extend face-selectivity to anterior regions of the VOTC, including the ventral anterior temporal lobe (VATL) typically affected by magnetic susceptibility artifacts in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Clear spatial dissociations in category-selectivity between faces and other meaningful stimuli such as landmarks (houses, medial VOTC regions) or written words (left lateralized VOTC) are found, confirming and extending neuroimaging observations while supporting the validity of the clinical population tested to inform about normal brain function. The recognition of face identity - arguably the ultimate form of recognition for the human brain - beyond mere differences in physical features is essentially supported by selective populations of neurons in the right inferior occipital gyrus and the lateral portion of the middle and anterior fusiform gyrus. In addition, low-frequency and high-frequency broadband iEEG signals of face recognition appear to be largely concordant in the human association cortex. We conclude by outlining the challenges of this research program to understand the neural basis of human face recognition in the next 10 years.
了解人类大脑如何识别面孔是认知神经科学的一个主要科学目标。鉴于人类面部识别的猴子模型存在局限性,这一研究领域的一个关键方法是通过植入人类癫痫患者大脑内部的电极来记录电生理活动。然而,这种方法面临着一些挑战,必须克服这些挑战才能产生有意义的科学知识。在这里,我们综合了一个为期10年的研究项目,该项目结合了对大量参与者腹侧枕颞叶皮层(VOTC)的脑内活动记录(立体脑电图,SEEG)和快速周期性视觉刺激(FPVS),以客观地定义、量化和描述人类面部识别的神经基础。这些大规模研究调和了神经面部识别活动的广泛分布与其(右)半球和区域特化之间的关系,并将面部选择性扩展到VOTC的前部区域,包括通常在功能磁共振成像(fMRI)中受磁化率伪影影响的腹侧前颞叶(VATL)。我们发现,面孔与其他有意义刺激(如地标[房屋、VOTC内侧区域]或书面文字[VOTC左侧化区域])之间在类别选择性上存在明显的空间分离,这证实并扩展了神经影像学观察结果,同时支持了所测试临床人群的有效性,以便了解正常脑功能。对面孔身份的识别——可以说是人类大脑识别的最终形式——超越了仅仅是物理特征上的差异,基本上由右侧枕下回以及中梭状回和前梭状回外侧部分的选择性神经元群体支持。此外,在人类联合皮层中,面部识别的低频和高频宽带iEEG信号似乎在很大程度上是一致的。我们通过概述该研究项目在未来10年理解人类面部识别神经基础所面临的挑战来得出结论。