Left hemisphere abnormalities in face-selective activation and functional connectivity in developmental prosopagnosia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize familiar faces.
• The underlying neural mechanisms of DP are not fully understood, hindering the identification of essential brain regions for normal face recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the functional activation and connectivity of face-selective brain regions in individuals with DP using fMRI.
• To explore the neural basis of DP by examining both local activation and network connectivity.

Main Methods:

• fMRI scans were performed on a large sample of individuals with DP (N=34) and controls (N=23).
• Analysis included functional activation during face viewing and functional connectivity during rest, examining both face-selective regions and their connections to other cortical areas.

Main Results:

• Reduced face-selective activation was found in the left fusiform face area (FFA) and left occipital face area (OFA) in individuals with DP.
• Functional connectivity within the face network was reduced in DP, with significant deficits between the right anterior superior sulcus (aSTS) and the left FFA.
• No significant functional connectivity differences were found outside the immediate face-selective network.

Conclusions:

• The left FFA plays a crucial role in face recognition deficits observed in DP, affecting both local activation and network connectivity.
• Functional connectivity impairments in DP are largely confined to the core face processing network.
• These findings highlight the importance of the left FFA and its network interactions in typical face recognition.