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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
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Published on: May 12, 2014
Separate face and body selectivity on the fusiform gyrus
Rebecca F Schwarzlose1, Chris I Baker, Nancy Kanwisher
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. beccafs@mit.edu
Summary
The fusiform face area (FFA) is highly selective for faces, while a distinct adjacent region, the fusiform body area (FBA), is selective for bodies. High-resolution fMRI confirmed these distinct visual processing areas.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Recent studies suggest the fusiform face area (FFA) responds to body stimuli, challenging its exclusive face selectivity.
- This challenges the established understanding of specialized visual processing regions in the human brain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the selectivity of the fusiform face area (FFA) and the newly identified fusiform body area (FBA) for faces and bodies.
- To clarify the distinct roles of these adjacent regions in visual perception using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Main Methods:
- An fMRI experiment was conducted using both standard and high-resolution imaging.
- Regions of interest (ROIs), including the FFA and FBA, were defined using localizer runs.
- Independent data from an event-related experiment measured responses to various stimuli within these ROIs.
Main Results:
- High-resolution scans revealed stronger selectivity for faces in the FFA and bodies in the FBA.
- After excluding overlapping voxels, the refined FFA* showed no response to bodies, and the FBA* showed no response to faces.
- These distinct, adjacent regions in the fusiform gyrus exhibit specialized processing for faces and bodies, respectively.
Conclusions:
- The fusiform gyrus contains distinct, albeit adjacent, regions specialized for processing faces (FFA*) and bodies (FBA*).
- High-resolution fMRI effectively reduces partial volume effects, enabling clearer differentiation of specialized visual areas.
- These findings reinforce the concept of functional specialization within the human visual cortex.
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