Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software
Published on: October 30, 2018
Subcortical face processing
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck University of London, 32 Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL, UK. mark.johnson@bbk.ac.uk
Abstract:
Recent functional imaging, neuropsychological and electrophysiological studies on adults have provided evidence for a fast, low-spatial-frequency, subcortical face-detection pathway that modulates the responses of certain cortical areas to faces and other social stimuli. These findings shed light on an older literature on the face-detection abilities of newborn infants, and the hypothesis that these newborn looking preferences are generated by a subcortical route. Converging lines of evidence indicate that the subcortical face route provides a developmental foundation for what later becomes the adult cortical 'social brain' network, and that disturbances to this pathway might contribute to certain developmental disorders.
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