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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software
Published on: October 30, 2018
fMRI evidence for the neural representation of faces
Gunter Loffler1, Grigori Yourganov, Frances Wilkinson
1Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, Scotland, UK. gloe@gcal.ac.uk
Abstract:
fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) studies on humans have shown a cortical area, the fusiform face area, that is specialized for face processing. An important question is how faces are represented within this area. This study provides direct evidence for a representation in which individual faces are encoded by their direction (facial identity) and distance (distinctiveness) from a prototypical (mean) face. When facial geometry (head shape, hair line, internal feature size and placement) was varied, the fMRI signal increased with increasing distance from the mean face. Furthermore, adaptation of the fMRI signal showed that the same neural population responds to faces falling along single identity axes within this space.
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