Cited by 3,940Face Recognition and PerceptionVisual perception and processing mechanismsMemory Processes and Influences

Distributed and overlapping representations of faces and objects in ventral temporal cortex

Open access
Haxby, James V., Gobbini, M. Ida, Furey, Maura L., Ishai, Alumit, Schouten, Jennifer L., Pietrini, Pietro·2001·Science

Abstract

The functional architecture of the object vision pathway in the human brain was investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure patterns of response in ventral temporal cortex while subjects viewed faces, cats, five categories of man-made objects, and nonsense pictures. A distinct pattern of response was found for each stimulus category. The distinctiveness of the response to a given category was not due simply to the regions that responded maximally to that category, because the category being viewed also could be identified on the basis of the pattern of response when those regions were excluded from the analysis. Patterns of response that discriminated among all categories were found even within cortical regions that responded maximally to only one category. These results indicate that the representations of faces and objects in ventral temporal cortex are widely distributed and overlapping.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.1063736

Cites

33 of 33 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Several areas specialized for other classes of visual stimuli such as faces, places, or body parts have been identified in the human ventral visual stream.

    “The VWFA hypothesis was framed in the broader context of recent studies of functional specialization within the human ventral visual stream, in which have been identified several areas specialized for other classes of visual stimuli such as faces, places, or body parts (Downing et al., 2001; Hasson et al., 2003; Haxby et al., 2001; Kanwisher et al., 1997).”

    From Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area (2004) · cites this paper as Haxby et al., 2001

  • The density of neurons activated during reading probably varies continuously, though nonrandomly, across the surface of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, thus creating a landscape of local preference for various categories of objects.

    “Rather, the density of neurons activated during reading probably varies continuously, though nonrandomly, across the surface of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, thus creating a landscape of local preference for various categories of objects (Hasson et al., 2002; Haxby et al., 2001).”

    From Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area (2004) · cites this paper as Haxby et al., 2001

  • At the scale accessible to human neuroimaging, most if not all of the cortical surface is likely to respond jointly to words, faces, and objects, with smooth but systematic changes in local selectivity.

    “Therefore, at the scale accessible to human neuroimaging, most if not all of the cortical surface is likely to respond jointly to words, faces, and objects, with smooth but systematic changes in local selectivity (Haxby et al., 2001).”

    From Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area (2004) · cites this paper as Haxby et al., 2001

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Haxby, J. V., Gobbini, M. I., Furey, M. L., Ishai, A., Schouten, J. L., & Pietrini, P.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • University of Pisa (IT)
Corresponding author
Haxby, James V.
Venue
Science
Published
2001-09-28
Volume
293
Issue
5539
Pages
2425-2430
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2089632738
Cited by
3,940
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 109 · 2025: 153 · 2024: 136 · 2023: 155 · 2022: 155 · 2021: 179 · 2020: 199 · 2019: 194 · 2018: 246 · 2017: 224 · 2016: 209 · 2015: 205 · 2014: 218 · 2013: 202 · 2012: 192
FWCI
27.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • CINECA IRIS Institutial research information system (University of Pisa) (submittedVersion)
  • Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Trento) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords
face perception, object recognition, ventral temporal cortex, distributed representations, face-selective regions
MeSH terms
Brain Mapping, Face, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Temporal Lobe, Visual Pathways, Recognition, Psychology

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review