Comparing face patch systems in macaques and humans.

Tsao DY, Moeller S, Freiwald WA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 9;105(49):19514-9
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/49/19514.long

Face recognition is of central importance for primate social behavior. In both humans and macaques, the visual analysis of faces is supported by a set of specialized face areas. The precise organization of these areas and the correspondence between individual macaque and human face-selective areas are debated. Here, we examined the organization of face-selective regions across the temporal lobe in a large number of macaque and human subjects. Macaques showed 6 regions of face-selective cortex arranged in a stereotypical pattern along the temporal lobe. Human subjects showed, in addition to 3 reported face areas (the occipital, fusiform, and superior temporal sulcus face areas), a face-selective area located anterior to the fusiform face area, in the anterior collateral sulcus. These results suggest a closer anatomical correspondence between macaque and human face-processing systems than previously realized.

PMID: 19033466