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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings
Published on: August 1, 2018
Disparate substrates for head gaze following and face perception in the monkey superior temporal sulcus
Karolina Marciniak1, Artin Atabaki1, Peter W Dicke1
1Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Primates use gaze cues to follow peer gaze to an object of joint attention. Gaze following of monkeys is largely determined by head or face orientation. We used fMRI in rhesus monkeys to identify brain regions underlying head gaze following and to assess their relationship to the 'face patch' system, the latter being the likely source of information on face orientation. We trained monkeys to locate targets by either following head gaze or using a learned association of face identity with the same targets. Head gaze following activated a distinct region in the posterior STS, close to-albeit not overlapping with-the medial face patch delineated by passive viewing of faces. This 'gaze following patch' may be the substrate of the geometrical calculations needed to translate information on head orientation from the face patches into precise shifts of attention, taking the spatial relationship of the two interacting agents into account.
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