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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on August 18, 2004
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh152
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
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Article

Face Recognition and Cortical Responses Show Similar Sensitivity to Noise Spatial Frequency

Topi Tanskanen 1*, Risto Näsänen 2, Teresa Montez 1, Juha Päällysaho 3, Riitta Hari 4

1 Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box 2200, FIN-02015, Espoo, Finland
2 Brainwork Laboratory, Institute of Occupational Health, FIN-00250 Helsinki, Finland
3 Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box 2200, FIN-02015, Espoo, Finland; Brainwork Laboratory, Institute of Occupational Health, FIN-00250 Helsinki, Finland
4 Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box 2200, FIN-02015, Espoo, Finland; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Helsinki, FIN-00290 Helsinki, Finland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: topi.tanskanen{at}hut.fi.


  Abstract

To find cortical correlates of face recognition, we manipulated the recognizability of face images in a parametric manner by masking them with narrow-band spatial noise. Face recognition performance was best at the lowest and highest noise spatial frequencies (NSFs, 2 and 45 c/image, respectively), and degraded gradually towards central NSFs (11-16 c/image). The strength of the 130-180 ms neuromagnetic response (M170) in the temporo-occipital cortex paralleled the recognition performance, whereas the mid-occipital response at 70-120 ms acted in the opposite manner, being strongest for the central NSFs. To noise stimuli without faces, M170 was small and rather insensitive to NSF, whereas the mid-occipital responses resembled closely the responses to the combined face and noise stimuli. These results suggest that the 100 ms mid-occipital response is sensitive to the central spatial frequencies that are critical for face recognition, whereas the M170 response is sensitive to the visibility of a face and closely related to face recognition.

Keywords: cortex; face; human; MEG; recognition; visual.
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