It has been shown that human faces are processed holistically (i.e. as indecomposable wholes, rather than by their component parts) and this holistic face processing is linked to brain activity in face-responsive brain regions. Although several brain regions outside of the face-responsive network are also sensitive to relational processing and perceptual grouping, whether these non-face-responsive regions contribute to holistic processing remains unclear. Here, we investigated holistic face processing in the composite face paradigm both within and outside of face-responsive brain regions. We recorded participants' brain activity using fMRI while they performed a composite face task. Behavioural results indicate that participants tend to judge the same top face halves as different when they are aligned with different bottom face halves but not when they are misaligned, demonstrating a composite face effect. Neuroimaging results revealed significant differences in responses to aligned and misaligned faces in the lateral occipital complex (LOC), and trends in the anterior part of the fusiform face area (FFA2) and transverse occipital sulcus (TOS), suggesting that these regions are sensitive to holistic versus part-based face processing. Furthermore, the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and the parahippocampal place area (PPA) showed a pattern of neural activity consistent with a holistic representation of face identity, which also correlated with the strength of the behavioural composite face effect. These results suggest that neural activity in brain regions both within and outside of the face-responsive network contributes to the composite-face effect.

中文翻译：

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研究面部响应大脑区域内外的整体面部处理

已经表明，人脸是整体处理的（即作为不可分解的整体，而不是由其组成部分），并且这种整体面部处理与面部响应大脑区域的大脑活动有关。尽管面部反应网络之外的几个大脑区域也对关系处理和感知分组敏感，但这些非面部反应区域是否有助于整体处理仍不清楚。在这里，我们研究了面部响应大脑区域内外的复合面部范式中的整体面部处理。我们使用 fMRI 记录参与者在执行复合面部任务时的大脑活动。行为结果表明，当参与者与不同的底面对齐时，参与者倾向于将相同的顶面判断为不同，但在未对齐时则不会，这表明了复合面部效应。神经影像学结果显示外侧枕骨复合体 (LOC) 中对齐和未对齐面部的反应存在显着差异，梭状面部区域 (FFA2) 和枕横沟 (TOS) 前部的趋势表明这些区域对整体与基于部分的面部处理。此外，脾后皮层 (RSC) 和海马旁区域 (PPA) 显示出与面部身份的整体表示一致的神经活动模式，这也与行为复合面部效应的强度相关。