When the brain remembers, but the patient doesn’t: Converging fMRI and EEG evidence for covert recognition in a case of prosopagnosia |
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Authors: | Sté phane R. Simon,Asaid Khateb,Alexandra Darque,Franç ois Lazeyras,Eugene Mayer,Alan J. Pegna |
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Affiliation: | aLaboratory of Experimental Neuropsychology, Neurology Clinic, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;bRadiology Department, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland;cNeuropsychology Unit, Neurology Clinic, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;dThe Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities and Department of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel |
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Abstract: | The role of the occipito-temporal cortex in visual awareness remains an open question and with respect to faces in particular, it is unclear to what extent the fusiform face area (FFA) may be involved in conscious identification. An answer may be gleaned from prosopagnosia, a disorder in which familiar faces are no longer recognized. This impairment has sometimes been reported to be associated with implicit processing of facial identity, although the neural substrates responsible for unconscious processing remain unknown. In this study, we addressed these issues by investigating the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) responses to familiar and unfamiliar faces in a well-known prosopagnosic patient (P.S.). Our fMRI results show that faces known prior to the onset of prosopagnosia produce an increase in activation in the lateral fusiform gyrus encompassing the FFA, as well as the right middle frontal gyrus, when compared to unknown faces. This effect is not observed with photographs of celebrities dating after the onset of prosopagnosia. Furthermore, electrophysiological responses show that previously familiar faces differ from unfamiliar ones at around 550 msec.Since covert processing of familiarity is associated with activation in FFA, this structure does not appear to be sufficient to produce awareness of identity. Furthermore, the results support the view that FFA participates in face individuation. |
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Keywords: | FFA Functional imaging Event-related potentials Faces Awareness |
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