The contribution of the fusiform gyrus and superior temporal sulcus in processing facial attractiveness: Neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence

Abstract Current cognitive models suggest that the processing of dynamic facial attributes, including social signals such as gaze direction and facial expression, involves the superior temporal sulcus, whereas the processing of invariant facial structure such as the individuals' identity involv...

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Published in:	Neuroscience Vol. 155; no. 2; pp. 409 - 422
Main Authors:	Iaria, G, Fox, C.J, Waite, C.T, Aharon, I, Barton, J.J.S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 13-08-2008 Elsevier
Subjects:	Adult attraction Biological and medical sciences Brain Mapping Discrimination, Psychological esthetic Esthetics - psychology Face face perception Female Frontal Lobe - physiology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology fusiform Humans Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Middle Aged Neurology Neuropsychological Tests Photic Stimulation prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia - physiopathology Prosopagnosia - psychology temporal Temporal Lobe - physiology Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs Visual Cortex - physiology Visual Perception - physiology FFA amygdala magnetic resonance imaging MRI echoplanar imaging OFA fusiform OFC STS orbitofrontal cortex prosopagnosia AMG occipital face area temporal ISI inter-stimulus-interval superior temporal sulcus ROI face perception fusiform face area fMRI attraction esthetic region of interest functional magnetic resonance imaging EPI Perception Face
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Summary:	Abstract Current cognitive models suggest that the processing of dynamic facial attributes, including social signals such as gaze direction and facial expression, involves the superior temporal sulcus, whereas the processing of invariant facial structure such as the individuals' identity involves the fusiform face area. Where facial attractiveness, a social signal that may emerge from invariant facial structure, is processed within this dual-route model of face perception is uncertain. Here, we present two studies. First, we investigated the explicit judgments of facial attractiveness and attractiveness-motivated behavior in patients with acquired prosopagnosia, a deficit in familiar face recognition usually associated with damage to medial occipitotemporal cortex. We found that both abilities were impaired in these patients, with some weak residual ability for attractiveness judgments found only in those patients with unilateral right occipitotemporal or bilateral anterior temporal lesions. Importantly, deficits in attractiveness perception correlated with the severity of the face recognition deficit. Second, we performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in healthy subjects that included an implicit and explicit processing of facial attractiveness. We found increased neural activity when explicitly judging facial attractiveness within a number of cortical regions including the fusiform face area, but not the superior temporal sulcus, indicating a potential contribution of the fusiform face area to this judgment. Thus, converging neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence points to a critical role of the inferior occipitotemporal cortex in the processing of facial attractiveness.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 These authors contributed equally to the work.
ISSN:	0306-4522 1873-7544
DOI:	10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.05.046