From Parts to Identity: Invariance and Sensitivity of Face Representations to Different Face Halves

Recognizing the identity of a face is computationally challenging, because it requires distinguishing between similar images depicting different people, while recognizing even very different images depicting a same person. Previous human fMRI studies investigated representations of face identity in the presence of changes in viewpoint and in expression. Despite the importance of holistic processing for face recognition, an investigation of representations of face identity across different face parts is missing. To fill this gap, we investigated representations of face identity and their invariance across different face halves. Information about face identity with invariance across changes in the face half was individuated in the right anterior temporal lobe, indicating this region as the most plausible candidate brain area for the representation of face identity. In a complementary analysis, information distinguishing between different face halves was found to decline along the posterior to anterior axis in the ventral stream.