Experience Shapes the Development of Neural Substrates of Face Processing in Human Ventral Temporal Cortex.

ABSTRACT: In adult humans, the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) represents faces in a reproducible topology. However, it is unknown what role visual experience plays in the development of this topology. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults, we found a sequential development, in which the topology of face-selective activations across the VTC was matured by age 7, but the spatial extent and degree of face selectivity continued to develop past age 7 into adulthood. Importantly, own- and other-age faces were differentially represented, both in the distributed multivoxel patterns across the VTC, and also in the magnitude of responses of face-selective regions. These results provide strong evidence that experience shapes cortical representations of faces during development from

SUBMITTER: Golarai G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6161183 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature