Dynamics of visual feature analysis and object-level processing in face versus letter-string perception
Abstract
Neurones in the human inferior occipitotemporal cortex respond to specific categories of images, such as numbers, letters and faces, within 150-200 ms. Here we identify the locus in time when stimulus-specific analysis emerges by comparing the dynamics of face and letter-string perception in the same 10 individuals. An ideal paradigm was provided by our previous study on letter-strings, in which noise-masking of stimuli revealed putative visual feature processing at 100 ms around the occipital midline followed by letter-string-specific activation at 150 ms in the left inferior occipitotemporal cortex. In the present study, noise-masking of cartoon-like faces revealed that the response at 100 ms increased linearly with the visual complexity of the images, a result that was similar for faces and letter-strings. By 150 ms, faces and letter-strings had entered their own stimulus-specific processing routes in the inferior occipitotemporal cortex, with identical timing and large spatial overlap. However, letter-string analysis lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas face processing occurred more bilaterally or with right-hemisphere preponderance. The inferior occipitotemporal activations at approximately 150 ms, which take place after the visual feature analysis at approximately 100 ms, are likely to represent a general object-level analysis stage that acts as a rapid gateway to higher cognitive processing.
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MEG and intracranial electrical recordings provide increasingly specific localization information that is consistent with the fMRI findings for the VWFA.
“Similar results have also been found with magneto-encephalography (MEG) [14,15] and intracranial electrical recordings [16] that provide increasingly specific localization information that is consistent with the fMRI findings for the VWFA.”
From The visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus (2003) · cites this paper as [15]
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- Authors
- Tarkiainen, A., Cornelissen, P. L., & Salmelin, R.
- Affiliations
- Newcastle University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Tarkiainen, A.
- Venue
- Brain
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 125
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1125-1136
- ISSN
- 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2156
- OpenAlex
- W2169247405
- Cited by
- 207
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 6.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- European Commission
- Academy of Finland
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- face perception, hemispheric lateralization, visual complexity, noise masking, face-selective neurons
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Occipital Lobe, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Reading, Temporal Lobe, Visual Perception
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