HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bentin, S. Articles by Robertson, L. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Bentin, S. Articles by Robertson, L. C.

Too Many Trees to See the Forest: Performance, Event-related Potential, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Manifestations of Integrative Congenital Prosopagnosia

¹ The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, ² University of California, Berkeley, ³ Veteran Administration Medical Center, Martinez

Reprint requests should be sent to Shlomo Bentin, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, or via e-mail: msbentin{at}mscc.huji.ac.il.

Neuropsychological, event-related potential (ERP), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods were combined to provide a comprehensive description of performance and neurobiological profiles for K.W., a case of congenital prosopagnosia. We demonstrate that K.W.'s visual perception is characterized by almost unprecedented inability to identify faces, a large bias toward local features, and an extreme deficit in global/configural processing that is not confined to faces. This pattern could be appropriately labeled congenital integrative prosopagnosia, and accounts for some, albeit not all, cases of face recognition impairments without identifiable brain lesions. Absence of face selectivity is evident in both biological markers of face processing, fMRI (the fusiform face area [FFA]), and ERPs (N170). Nevertheless, these two neural signatures probably manifest different perceptual mechanisms. Whereas the N170 triggered by the occurrence of physiognomic stimuli in the visual field, the deficient face-selective fMRI activation in the caudal brain correlates with the severity of global processing deficits. This correlation suggests that the FFA might be associated with global/configural computation, a crucial part of face identification.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Gilaie-Dotan, A. Perry, Y. Bonneh, R. Malach, and S. Bentin Seeing with Profoundly Deactivated Mid-level Visual Areas: Non-hierarchical Functioning in the Human Visual Cortex Cereb Cortex, November 17, 2008; (2008) bhn205v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Mercure, F. Dick, H. Halit, J. Kaufman, and M. H. Johnson Differential Lateralization for Words and Faces: Category or Psychophysics? J. Cogn. Neurosci., November 1, 2008; 20(11): 2070 - 2087. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. DeGutis, S. Bentin, L. C. Robertson, and M. D'Esposito Functional Plasticity in Ventral Temporal Cortex following Cognitive Rehabilitation of a Congenital Prosopagnosic. J. Cogn. Neurosci., November 1, 2007; 19(11): 1790 - 1802. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]