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Is right hemisphere specialization for face discrimination specific to humans?
K D Broad1, M L Mimmack, K M Kendrick
1Laboratory of Cognitive and Developmental Neuroscience, The Babraham Institute, Babraham, Cambridge, CB2 4AT, UK.
The European Journal of Neuroscience
|March 11, 2000
Summary
Sheep brain activity during face recognition shows the right temporal cortex is key for upright faces. Recognizing familiar faces also involves the amygdala and hippocampus, similar to humans.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Cognition
- Comparative Psychology
Background:
- Face recognition is a complex cognitive function with distinct neural underpinnings.
- Understanding neural activation patterns in non-human animals provides insights into conserved and divergent mechanisms of cognition.
- Sheep offer a valuable model for studying social cognition due to their complex social structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural activation patterns associated with face recognition in sheep.
- To determine if upright face discrimination preferentially activates specific brain regions.
- To examine the neural correlates of active choice-making between faces.
Main Methods:
- Quantification of c-fos mRNA expression as a marker of neural activation.
- Comparison of neural activity in response to upright versus inverted sheep and human faces.
- Analysis of brain regions including the temporal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus.
Main Results:
- Exposure to upright faces significantly increased c-fos expression in the right inferior temporal cortex compared to the left.
- Active choice between upright faces led to increased bilateral activation in the basal amygdala and hippocampus (CA1-4).
- Inverted faces did not enhance activation in these regions but increased expression in the diagonal band of Broca, parietal, and cingulate cortices.
Conclusions:
- Discrimination of upright faces in sheep preferentially engages the right temporal cortex, mirroring findings in humans.
- The basal amygdala and hippocampus are involved in active face discrimination tasks in sheep.
- Neural activation patterns differ significantly between upright and inverted face processing, highlighting the specificity of face recognition circuits.