FMRI repetition suppression reveals no sensitivity to trait judgments from faces in face perception or theory-of-mind networks.

ABSTRACT: The human face cues a wealth of social information, but the neural mechanisms that underpin social attributions from faces are not well known. In the current fMRI experiment, we used repetition suppression to test the hypothesis that populations of neurons in face perception and theory-of-mind neural networks would show sensitivity to faces that cue distinct trait judgments. Although faces were accurately discriminated based on associated traits, our results showed no evidence that face or theory-of-mind networks showed repetition suppression for face traits. Thus, we do not provide evidence for population coding models of face perception that include sensitivity to high and low trait features. Due to aspects of the experimental design, which bolstered statistical power and sensitivity, we

SUBMITTER: Butler EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6091917 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature