Anatomical connections underlying personally-familiar face processing

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 9; p. e0222087
• Main Authors: Góngora, Daylín, Castro-Laguardia, Ana Maria, Pérez, Johanna, Valdés-Sosa, Pedro, Bobes, Maria A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 11.09.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Biometry; Brain mapping; Brain Mapping - methods; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Emotions; Face recognition; Face recognition (Psychology); Facial Recognition - physiology; Familiarity; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Information processing; Information systems; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Neurosciences; Pattern recognition; Physiological aspects; Recognition, Psychology - physiology; Research and Analysis Methods; Social aspects; Social Sciences; Studies; Substantia alba; Superior temporal sulcus; Temporal Lobe - physiology; White Matter - physiology; Young Adult; Cuba; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222087

Familiar face processing involves face specific regions (the core face system) as well as other non-specific areas related to processing of person-related information (the extended face system). The connections between core and extended face system areas must be critical for face recognition. Some studies have explored the connectivity pattern of unfamiliar face responding area, but none have explored those areas related to face familiarity processing in the extended system. To study these connections, diffusion weighted imaging with probabilistic tractography was used to estimate the white-matter pathways between core and extended system regions, which were defined from functional magnetic resonance imaging responses to personally-familiar faces. Strong white matter connections were found between occipitotemporal face areas (OFA/FFA) with superior temporal sulcus and insula suggesting the possible existence of direct anatomical connections from face-specific areas to frontal nodes that could underlay the processing of emotional information associated to familiar faces.