Functional Compartmentalization and Viewpoint Generalization Within the Macaque Face-Processing System
Open accessAbstract
Tuned for Faces: The temporal lobe of macaques' brains contains six patches of face-selective cortex. This observation has prompted systems neuroscientists to ask, why so many and what do they do? Freiwald and Tsao (p. 845 ; see the Perspective by Connor ) targeted four of these regions for single-unit recordings and found that the different face-selective patches in macaques have independent functions. The areas where earliest processing occurred were most sharply tuned for individual views and least sharply tuned for identity. The mid-level area was more sharply tuned for identity, and the highest processing stage was strongly tuned for identity in a strikingly view-invariant way. These results yield fundamental insights into the computational process of object recognition, the functional organization of the brain, and how representations are transformed through processing hierarchies.
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ML neurons exhibit viewpoint specificity.
“These three areas are distinguished by their increasingly abstract stimulus preferences: ML, whose neurons exhibit viewpoint specificity; AL, which is characterized by mirror‐symmetric response preferences (i.e., profile‐selective); and AM, which is tuned to view‐independent stimulus identity.”
From Evaluating the neurophysiological evidence for predictive processing as a model of perception (2020) · cites this paper as [73]
AM is tuned to view-independent stimulus identity.
“These three areas are distinguished by their increasingly abstract stimulus preferences: ML, whose neurons exhibit viewpoint specificity; AL, which is characterized by mirror‐symmetric response preferences (i.e., profile‐selective); and AM, which is tuned to view‐independent stimulus identity.”
From Evaluating the neurophysiological evidence for predictive processing as a model of perception (2020) · cites this paper as [73]
AL is characterized by mirror-symmetric response preferences (i.e., profile-selective).
“These three areas are distinguished by their increasingly abstract stimulus preferences: ML, whose neurons exhibit viewpoint specificity; AL, which is characterized by mirror‐symmetric response preferences (i.e., profile‐selective); and AM, which is tuned to view‐independent stimulus identity.”
From Evaluating the neurophysiological evidence for predictive processing as a model of perception (2020) · cites this paper as [73]
Retinotopy in the amygdala is unlikely because visual receptive fields in areas that project to the amygdala, e.g., area TE, are large enough to encompass an entire hemifield.
“Retinotopy is unlikely when considering the gradual expansion of visual receptive fields along the ventral visual pathway [26]; indeed the receptive fields in areas that project to the amygdala, e.g. area TE [27,28], are large enough to encompass an entire hemifield [29-31].”
From Neurons in the Monkey Amygdala Detect Eye Contact during Naturalistic Social Interactions (2014) · cites this paper as [31]
A brain-computational model of face recognition will have to explain the spatial clusters of face-selective units and the selectivities and invariances observed with fMRI and invasive recordings.
“A brain-computational model of face recognition16 will have to explain the spatial clusters of face-selective units and the selectivities and invariances observed with fMRI17,18 and invasive recordings14,19.”
From Cognitive computational neuroscience (2018) · cites this paper as [14]
Primate face patches revealed high densities of face-selective neurons, with invariances emerging at higher stages of hierarchical processing.
“Localized with fMRI and probed with invasive electrode recordings, the primate face patches revealed high densities of face-selective neurons13, with invariances emerging at higher stages of hierarchical processing, including mirror-symmetric tuning and view-tolerant representations of individual faces in the anteriormost patch14.”
From Cognitive computational neuroscience (2018) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Freiwald, W. A., & Tsao, D. Y.
- Affiliations
- Rockefeller University (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Freiwald, Winrich A.
- Tsao, Doris Y.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2010-11-05
- Volume
- 330
- Issue
- 6005
- Pages
- 845-851
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- PMC
- PMC3181095
- OpenAlex
- W2038032054
- Cited by
- 678
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 52 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 17.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0847798, CAREER)
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- National Institutes of Health
- National Eye Institute (R01EY019702)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Face recognition and analysis
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- face processing, face-selective regions, viewpoint invariance, viewpoint generalization, macaque, mirror symmetry, functional specialization, primate visual cortex
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain Mapping, Face, Humans, Macaca mulatta, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neurons, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Temporal Lobe, Visual Pathways, Recognition, Psychology, Electrophysiological Phenomena
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