Face-Selective Cells in the Temporal Cortex of Monkeys
Abstract
The notion of a neuron that responds selectively to the image of a particular complex object has been controversial ever since Gross and his colleagues reported neurons in the temporal cortex of monkeys that were selective for the sight of a monkey's hand (Gross, Rocha-Miranda, & Bender, 1972). Since that time, evidence has mounted for neurons in the temporal lobe that respond selectively to faces. The present paper presents a critical analysis of the evidence for face neurons and discusses the implications of these neurons for models of object recognition. The paper also presents some possible reasons for the evolution of face neurons and suggests some analogies with the development of language in humans.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
From V1 to IT, there is an increase in invariance to position and scale and, in parallel, an increase in the size of the receptive fields and in the complexity of the optimal stimuli for the neurons.
“From V1 to IT, there is an increase in invariance to position and scale (1, 2, 4-6) and in parallel, an increase in the size of the receptive fields (2, 4) as well as in the complexity of the optimal stimuli for the neurons (2, 3, 7).”
From A feedforward architecture accounts for rapid categorization (2007) · cites this paper as [7]
Cites
Berti, A. (1992) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(92)90076-x · Cited by 4,190 · see citing works
AN ANATOMICAL STUDY OF CONVERGING SENSORY PATHWAYS WITHIN THE CEREBRAL CORTEX OF THE MONKEY
Jones, E. G., & Powell, T. P. S. (1970) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/93.4.793 · Cited by 1,717 · see citing works
Visual properties of neurons in inferotemporal cortex of the Macaque.
Gross, C. G., Rocha‐Miranda, C. E., & Bender, D. B. (1972) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1972.35.1.96 · Cited by 1,488 · see citing works
Stimulus-selective properties of inferior temporal neurons in the macaque
Desimone, R., Albright, T. D., Gross, C. G., & Bruce, C. J. (1984) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.04-08-02051.1984 · Cited by 1,424 · see citing works
Self-citationVisual neurones responsive to faces in the monkey temporal cortex
Perrett, D. I., Rolls, E. T., & Caan, W. (1982) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00239352 · Cited by 1,386 · see citing works
Visual properties of neurons in a polysensory area in superior temporal sulcus of the macaque.
Bruce, C. J., Desimone, R., & Gross, C. G. (1981) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1981.46.2.369 · Cited by 1,230 · see citing works
Self-citationVisual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive to face view and gaze direction
Perrett, D. I., Smith, P., Potter, D. D., Mistlin, A. J., Head, A., Milner, A. D., & Jeeves, M. A. (1985) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.1985.0003 · Cited by 932 · see citing works
Andersen, R., Asanuma, C., Essick, G., & Siegel, R. M. (1990) · The Journal of comparative neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.902960106 · Cited by 853 · see citing works
Seltzer, B., & Pandya, D. Ν. (1978) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(78)90584-x · Cited by 781 · see citing works
Saito, H., Yukie, M., Tanaka, K., Hikosaka, K., Fukada, Y., & Iwai, E. (1986) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.06-01-00145.1986 · Cited by 664 · see citing works
Hasselmo, M. E., Rolls, E. T., & Baylis, G. C. (1989) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/s0166-4328(89)80054-3 · Cited by 657 · see citing works
Boussaoud, D., Ungerleider, L. G., & Desimone, R. (1990) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.902960311 · Cited by 634 · cited 5× · see citing works
“Consistent with these neuronal properties, STP receives inputs from the posterior parietal cortex (Jones & Powell, 1970; Anderson, Asanuma, Essick, & Siegel, 1990; Morel & Bullier, 1990; Baizer, Ungerleider, & Desimone, 1990), which is associated with spatial analyses, and from areas MST and FST in the posterior porti…”
BackgroundInfluentialVisual areas in the temporal cortex of the macaque
Desimone, R., & Gross, C. G. (1979) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(79)90699-1 · Cited by 552 · see citing works
Self-citationVisual neurones responsive to faces
Perrett, D. I., Mistlin, A. J., & Chitty, A. J. (1987) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/0166-2236(87)90071-3 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
Farah, M. J. (1990) · Cited by 482 · see citing works
Functional subdivisions of the temporal lobe neocortex
Baylis, G. C., Rolls, E. T., & Leonard, C. M. (1987) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.07-02-00330.1987 · Cited by 453 · see citing works
Perrett, D. I., Smith, P., Potter, D. D., Mistlin, A. J., Head, A., Milner, A. D., & Jeeves, M. A. (1984) · PubMed · Cited by 404 · see citing works
Rolls, E. T. (1984) · PubMed · Cited by 334 · see citing works
Perrett, D. I., Smith, P., Mistlin, A. J., Chitty, A. J., Head, A., Potter, D. D., Broennimann, R., Milner, A. D., & Jeeves, M. A. (1985) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0166-4328(85)90089-0 · Cited by 333 · see citing works
Shape recognition and inferior temporal neurons.
Schwartz, E., Desimone, R., Albright, T. D., & Gross, C. G. (1983) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.80.18.5776 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Self-citationBaylis, G. C., Rolls, E. T., & Leonard, C. M. (1985) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(85)91356-3 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Anatomical segregation of two cortical visual pathways in the macaque monkey
Morel, A., & Bullier, J. (1990) · Visual Neuroscience · doi:10.1017/s0952523800005769 · Cited by 322 · see citing works
Rolls, E. T., & Baylis, G. C. (1986) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00243828 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Interaction between auditory and motor activities in an avian song control nucleus.
McCasland, J. S., & Konishi, M. (1981) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.78.12.7815 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Hasselmo, M. E., Rolls, E. T., Baylis, G. C., & Nalwa, V. (1989) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00247948 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Cells in temporal cortex of conscious sheep can respond preferentially to the sight of faces.
Kendrick, K., & Baldwin, B. (1987) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3563521 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Clinical and Surgical Studies of the Cerebral Speech Areas in Man
Rasmussen, T., & Milner, B. A. (1975) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-66204-1_19 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Rolls, E. T., Baylis, G. C., Hasselmo, M. E., & Nalwa, V. (1989) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00253632 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
What facial features activate face neurons in the inferotemporal cortex of the monkey?
Yamane, S., Kaji, S., & Kawano, K. (1988) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00279674 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Perrett, D. I., Mistlin, A. J., Chitty, A. J., Smith, P., Potter, D. D., Broennimann, R., & Harries, M. H. (1988) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0166-4328(88)90029-0 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Rolls, E. T., Baylis, G. C., & Leonard, C. M. (1985) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/0042-6989(85)90091-4 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Leppelsack, H. J., & Vogt, M. (1976) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/bf00656737 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Face recognition by monkeys: Absence of an inversion effect
Bruce, C. J. (1982) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(82)90025-2 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Hemispheric specialization displayed by man but not macaques for analysis of faces
Overman, W., & Doty, R. W. (1982) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(82)90002-1 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
(2008) · Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics · doi:10.1159/000131704 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception
Kanwisher, N., McDermott, J., & Chun, M. M. (1997) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.17-11-04302.1997 · Cited by 7,738 · see citing works
The distributed human neural system for face perception
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01482-0 · Cited by 4,891 · see citing works
Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study
di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. (1992) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00230027 · Cited by 3,539 · see citing works
Mesulam, M. (1998) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/121.6.1013 · Cited by 3,072 · see citing works
Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning
Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.3.483 · Cited by 3,147 · see citing works
Neuronal Synchrony: A Versatile Code for the Definition of Relations?
Singer, W. (1999) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80821-1 · Cited by 2,581 · see citing works
Mechanisms of visual attention in the human cortex
Ungerleider, S. K. A. L. G. (2000) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.315 · Cited by 2,159 · see citing works
‘What’ and ‘where’ in the human brain
Ungerleider, L. G., & Haxby, J. V. (1994) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/0959-4388(94)90066-3 · Cited by 1,913 · see citing works
How parallel are the primate visual pathways?
Merigan, W. H., & Maunsell, J. H. R. (1993) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.16.030193.002101 · Cited by 1,597 · see citing works
The Enigmatic temporal pole: a review of findings on social and emotional processing
Olson, I. R., Plotzker, A., & Ezzyat, Y. (2007) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awm052 · Cited by 1,370 · see citing works
Human neural systems for face recognition and social communication
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01330-0 · Cited by 1,287 · see citing works
On the computational architecture of the neocortex: II The role of cortico-cortical loops
Mumford, D. (1992) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00198477 · Cited by 1,074 · see citing works
On the computational architecture of the neocortex: I. The role of the thalamo-cortical loop
Mumford, D. (1991) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00202389 · Cited by 929 · see citing works
A feedforward architecture accounts for rapid categorization
Serre, T., Oliva, A., & Poggio, T. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0700622104 · Cited by 918 · see citing works
Allison, T. (1999) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/9.5.415 · Cited by 882 · see citing works
Word recognition in the human inferior temporal lobe
Nobre, A. C., Allison, T., & McCarthy, G. (1994) · Nature · doi:10.1038/372260a0 · Cited by 789 · see citing works
De Bellis, M. D. (2005) · Child Maltreatment · doi:10.1177/1077559505275116 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
Human extrastriate visual cortex and the perception of faces words numbers and colors
Allison, T., McCarthy, G., Nobre, A., Puce, A., & Belger, A. (1994) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/4.5.544 · Cited by 517 · see citing works
von der Malsburg, C. (1999) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80825-9 · Cited by 501 · see citing works
Puce, A. (1999) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/9.5.445 · Cited by 422 · see citing works
Salinas, E., & Thier, P. (2000) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)00004-0 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
Recognition of the Mother's Face by Six-Month-Old Infants: A Neurobehavioral Study
de Haan, M., & Nelson, C. A. (1997) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01935.x · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Nessler, B., Pfeiffer, M., Buesing, L., & Maass, W. (2013) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003037 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Processing Faces and Facial Expressions
Posamentier, M. T., & Abdi, H. (2003) · Neuropsychology Review · doi:10.1023/a:1025519712569 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
A quantitative morphometric comparative analysis of the primate temporal lobe
Rilling, J. K., & Seligman, R. A. (2002) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1006/jhev.2001.0537 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Neuroethology of primate social behavior
Chang, S. W. C., Brent, L. J. N., Adams, G. K., Klein, J. T., Pearson, J. M., Watson, K. K., & Platt, M. L. (2013) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1301213110 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Superior temporal gyrus volumes in pediatric generalized anxiety disorder
De Bellis, M. D., Keshavan, M. S., Shifflett, H., Iyengar, S., Dahl, R. E., Axelson, D. A., Birmaher, B., Hall, J., Moritz, G., & Ryan, N. D. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01375-0 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Cortical activity related to accuracy of letter recognition
Garrett, A. S., Flowers, D. L., Absher, J. R., Fahey, F. H., Gage, H. D., Keyes, J. W., Porrino, L. J., & Wood, F. B. (2000) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1999.0528 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
- Authors
- Desimone, R.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Mental Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Desimone, Robert
- ORCID
- Desimone, Robert
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 1991-01-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-8
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W2004737002
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 10.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- face-selective neurons, face perception, temporal cortex, object recognition, language evolution, primate visual cortex
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
