RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Feature-based encoding of face identity by single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.09.01.278283
DO 10.1101/2020.09.01.278283
A1 Cao, Runnan
A1 Wang, Jinge
A1 Lin, Chujun
A1 Rutishauser, Ueli
A1 Todorov, Alexander
A1 Li, Xin
A1 Brandmeir, Nicholas
A1 Wang, Shuo
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/02/2020.09.01.278283.abstract
AB Neurons in the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) that are selective for the identity of specific people are classically thought to encode identity invariant to visual features. However, it remains largely unknown how visual information from higher visual cortex is translated into a semantic representation of an individual person. Here, we show that some MTL neurons are selective to multiple different face identities on the basis of shared features that form clusters in the representation of a deep neural network trained to recognize faces. Contrary to prevailing views, we find that these neurons represent an individual’s face with feature-based encoding, rather than through association with concepts. The response of feature neurons did not depend on face identity nor face familiarity, and the region of feature space to which they are tuned predicted their response to new face stimuli. Our results provide critical evidence bridging the perception-driven representation of facial features in the higher visual cortex and the memory-driven representation of semantics in the MTL, which may form the basis for declarative memory.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.