The human brain has a specialized area responsible for recognising familiar faces and is called the fusiform face area (FFA). It is located in the inferior temporal cortex in the fusiform gyrus and is part of the visual system. It is assumed that activation of the FFA occurs upon presentation of a stimulus in the form of a familiar face, whereas presentation of objects other than a face (e.g. a car, a house, a fork) does not trigger activation of this area. However, some studies indicate that other stimuli - for example familiar objects - are able to trigger FFA activation. A study whose results were published in 1999 in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience found that FFA activation occurs as a result of the presentation of greebles, which are artificial non-face objects created for FFA research [1].
However, the FFA is not the only area in the brain involved in face recognition. Structures such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala [3], which are predominantly involved in the emotional interpretation of the stimulus, also play an important role.
According to research, human newborns are already able to recognise faces in the first few days after birth. This ability then develops gradually during childhood as a result of plastic changes in the brain. Furthermore, the ability to recognise faces has not only developed in humans, but also in other animals. These include, for example, sheep and monkeys [2]. In contrast, research by Nancy Kanwisher and her team has shown that FFA is activated not only during visual face recognition, but also during tactile recognition of faces using 3D models [5].
Are there then people who do not recognise faces? Yes. Such a disorder is called prosopagnosia and is a form of visual agnosia. The cause of such a disorder can be secondary - for example, arising from an accident - or primary - for example, caused by a genetic mutation. People with prosopagnosia do not recognise familiar faces, with usually no problems recognising objects, shapes or colours. However, they sometimes have difficulty recognising people's age, gender and emotions [6]. There is currently no treatment for this disorder. Famous people who face or have faced prosopagnosia include Brad Pitt or Oliver Sacks, who described his illness in his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
It has also been indicated that difficulties in face recognition occur in individuals on the autism spectrum. It has been shown that these individuals may have a reduced secretion of oxytocin, which plays an important role in social interactions as well as face or emotion recognition [3]. Furthermore, a study by van Kooten and colleagues published in 2008 in the journal Brain, found that individuals on the autism spectrum had reduced density and number of neurons in layer III and layers II, V, VI of the fusiform gyrus, respectively, as well as reduced mean volume of neuronal cell bodies in layers V and VI of the fusiform gyrus. This may result in the impaired facial perceptual process that is evident in individuals on the autism spectrum [4].
Author: Suri Stawicka
Bibliografia:
[1] Gauthier I, Behrmann M, Tarr MJ. Can Face Recognition Really be Dissociated from Object Recognition? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 1999;11(4):349-370. doi:10.1162/089892999563472
[2] Jaracz J. Neurobiologia percepcji emocji twarzy. ResearchGate. Styczeń 2010. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288603004_Neurobiology_of_facial_emotion_perception.
[3] Lopatina O, Komleva YK, Gorina YV, Higashida H, Салмина АБ. Neurobiologiczne aspekty rozpoznawania twarzy: rola oksytocyny. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2018;12. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00195
[4] van Kooten IAJ, Palmen SJMC, von Cappeln P, et al. Neurony w zakręcie wrzecionowatym są mniej liczne i mniejsze w autyzmie. Brain. 2008;131(4):987-999
[5] https://news.mit.edu/2020/fusiform-brain-faces-blind-0826 (dostęp 16.12.2023)
[6] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/face-blindness/ (dostęp 17.12.2023)
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