Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 15, Issue 2, February 2002, Pages 454-461
NeuroImage

Rapid Communication
Neural Correlates of Woman Face Processing by 2-Month-Old Infants

https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0979Get rights and content

Abstract

The age of 2 months marks a turn in the development of face processing in humans with the emergence of recognition based on internal feature configuration. We studied the neural bases of this early cognitive expertise, critical for adaptive behavior in the social world, by mapping with positron emission tomography the brain activity of 2-month-old alert infants while looking at unknown woman faces. We observed the activation of a distributed network of cortical areas that largely overlapped the adult face-processing network, including the so-called fusiform face area. We also evidenced the activation of left superior temporal and inferior frontal gyri, regions associated, in adults, with language processing. These findings demonstrates that cognitive development proceeds early in functionally active interconnected cortical areas despite the fact they have not all yet reached full metabolic maturation.

References (40)

  • J.P. Changeux

    Concluding remarks: On the “singularity” of nerve cells and its ontogenesis

    Prog. Brain Res.

    (1983)
  • L.L. Chao et al.

    Attribute-based neural substrates in temporal corex for perceiving and knowing about objects

    Nat. Neurosci.

    (1999)
  • L.L. Chao et al.

    Are face-responsive regions selective only for faces?

    NeuroReport

    (1999)
  • H.T. Chugani et al.

    Maturational changes in cerebral functions in infants determined by 18FDG positron emission tomography

    Science

    (1986)
  • H.T. Chugani et al.

    Positron emission tomography study of human brain functional development

    Ann. Neurol.

    (1987)
  • S. de Schonen et al.

    First come, first served: A scenario about the development of hemispheric specialization in face recognition during infancy

    Eur. Bull. Cogn. Psychol.

    (1989)
  • S. de Schonen et al.

    Hemispheric asymmetry in a face discrimination task in infants

    Child Dev.

    (1990)
  • C. Deruelle et al.

    Do the right and left hemisphere attend to the same visuo-spatial information within a face in infancy?

    Dev. Neuropsychol.

    (1998)
  • R.J. Dolan et al.

    How the brain learns to see objects and faces in an impoverished context

    Nature

    (1997)
  • Cited by (234)

    • Towards a social brain

      2021, Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience: Second Edition
    • Temporal dynamics of visual representations in the infant brain

      2020, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    • The influence of maternal anxiety and depression symptoms on fNIRS brain responses to emotional faces in 5- and 7-month-old infants

      2020, Infant Behavior and Development
      Citation Excerpt :

      In a second study, PET was used to investigate neural correlates of face processing in 2-month-olds. Specifically, infants showed increased activation of the IFG (as well as other face sensitive cortical regions, including the fusiform face area), when viewing neutral female faces (Tzourio-Mazoyer et al., 2002). fMRI work involving adults has also demonstrated increased IFG activation during facial emotion processing (Sabatinelli et al., 2011), emotion recognition and empathy (Carr, Iacoboni, Dubeau, Mazziotta, & Lenzi, 2003; Seitz et al., 2008; Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2009).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    1

    Present address: Laboratory of Cognition and Development, CNRS-Paris 5, 71 ave Edouard Vaillant, Boulogne-Billancourt 92774, and INSERM E9935, Hopital Robert Debré, 48 Boulevard Sérurier, 75019, Paris, France.

    2

    To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Fax: 33-2-31470222. E-mail: [email protected].

    View full text