Data from: A face-selective ventral occipito-temporal map of the human brain with intracerebral potentials

Human neuroimaging studies have identified a network of distinct face-selective regions in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC), with a right hemispheric dominance. To date, there is no evidence for this hemispheric and regional specialization with direct measures of brain activity. To address this gap in knowledge, we recorded local neurophysiological activity from 1,678 contact electrodes implanted in the VOTC of a large group of epileptic patients (n = 28). They were presented with natural images of objects at a rapid fixed rate (six images per second: 6 Hz), with faces interleaved as every fifth stimulus (i.e., 1.2 Hz). High signal-to-noise ratio face-selective responses were objectively (i.e., exactly at the face stimulation frequency) identified and quantified throughout the whole VOTC. Face-selective responses were widely distributed across the whole VOTC, but also spatially clustered in specific regions. Among these regions, the lateral section of the right middle fusiform gyrus showed the largest face-selective response by far, offering, to our knowledge, the first supporting evidence of two decades of neuroimaging observations with direct neural measures. In addition, three distinct regions with a high proportion of face-selective responses were disclosed in the right ventral anterior temporal lobe, a region that is undersampled in neuroimaging because of magnetic susceptibility artifacts. A high proportion of contacts responding only to faces (i.e., “face-exclusive” responses) were found in these regions, suggesting that they contain populations of neurons involved in dedicated face-processing functions. Overall, these observations provide a comprehensive mapping of visual category selectivity in the whole human VOTC with direct neural measures.

人类神经影像学研究已在腹侧枕颞皮层（ventral occipito-temporal cortex, VOTC）中识别出一组独立的面孔选择性脑区，并呈现右侧半球优势。迄今为止，尚无直接测量脑活动的证据支持这种半球及脑区特化现象。为填补这一认知空白，我们对28名癫痫患者腹侧枕颞皮层中植入的1678个接触电极进行了局部神经生理活动记录。实验以快速固定速率（每秒6张图像，即6Hz）呈现自然物体图像，每5个刺激插入一张人脸图像（人脸刺激频率为1.2Hz）。我们在整个VOTC中客观识别并量化了高信噪比的面孔选择性反应（即反应频率精准匹配人脸刺激频率）。面孔选择性反应广泛分布于整个VOTC，同时在特定脑区呈现空间聚集特征。在这些脑区中，右侧中梭状回的外侧部展现出迄今为止最强的面孔选择性反应，据我们所知，这为二十年来的神经影像学观测结论提供了首个直接神经测量层面的佐证。此外，我们在右侧腹侧前颞叶发现了三个面孔选择性反应占比极高的独立脑区——该区域因磁敏感伪影的影响，在神经影像学研究中常被欠采样。这些区域中存在大量仅对人脸产生反应的接触电极（即“面孔专属”反应），提示其神经元群体参与了专一的面孔加工功能。综上，本研究通过直接神经测量手段，完成了全人类VOTC视觉类别选择性的全面映射。