Discriminable spatial patterns of activation for faces and bodies in the fusiform gyrus

Functional neuroimaging studies consistently report that the visual perception of faces and bodies strongly activates regions within ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOTC) and, in particular, within the mid-lateral fusiform gyrus. One unresolved issue is the degree to which faces and bodies activate discrete or overlapping cortical regions within this region. Here, we examined VOTC activity to faces and bodies at high spatial resolution, using univariate and multivariate analysis approaches sensitive to differences in both the strength and spatial pattern of activation. Faces and bodies evoked substantially overlapping activations in the fusiform gyrus when each was compared to the control category of houses. No discrete regions of activation for faces and bodies in the fusiform gyrus survived a direct statistical comparison using standard univariate statistics. However, multi-voxel pattern analysis differentiated faces and bodies in regions where univariate analysis found no significant difference in the strength of activation. Using a whole-brain multivariate searchlight approach, we also found that extensive regions in VOTC beyond those defined as fusiform face and body areas using standard criteria where the spatial pattern of activation discriminated faces and bodies. These findings provide insights into the spatial distribution of face- and body-specific activations in VOTC and the identification of functionally specialized regions.