The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition: implications for the pathobiology of autism
Open accessAbstract
A region in the lateral aspect of the fusiform gyrus (FG) is more engaged by human faces than any other category of image. It has come to be known as the ‘fusiform face area’ (FFA). The origin and extent of this specialization is currently a topic of great interest and debate. This is of special relevance to autism, because recent studies have shown that the FFA is hypoactive to faces in this disorder. In two linked functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of healthy young adults, we show here that the FFA is engaged by a social attribution task (SAT) involving perception of human–like interactions among three simple geometric shapes. The amygdala, temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex, inferolateral frontal cortex and superior temporal sulci were also significantly engaged. Activation of the FFA to a task without faces challenges the received view that the FFA is restricted in its activities to the perception of faces. We speculate that abstract semantic information associated with faces is encoded in the FG region and retrieved for social computations. From this perspective, the literature on hypoactivation of the FFA in autism may be interpreted as a reflection of a core social cognitive mechanism underlying the disorder.
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The pSTS is involved in intention processing.
“These findings suggest that the pSTS is involved in intention processing”
From Functional Heterogeneity and Convergence in the Right Temporoparietal Junction (2016) · cites this paper as Schultz et al. 2003
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- Authors
- Schultz, R. T., Grelotti, D. J., Klin, A., Kleinman, J., Van der Gaag, C., Marois, R., & Skudlarski, P.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Academic Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, PO Box 660, 9700 AR Groningen, The Netherlands
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2003-02-28
- Volume
- 358
- Issue
- 1430
- Pages
- 415-427
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC1693125
- OpenAlex
- W1982104210
- Cited by
- 469
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 14.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01 HD03008, P01HD/DC 35482, P01HD003008)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- fusiform face area, fusiform gyrus, autism spectrum disorder, social cognition, face perception, amygdala, temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amygdala, Autistic Disorder, Cognition, Face, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Social Behavior, Visual Perception, Prefrontal Cortex
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