Neural Mechanism of Synchronous Firing of Inferior Temporal Cortex in Face Perception

Abstract

Understanding the neural mechanism of object recognition is one of the fundamental challenges of visual neuroscience. However, little is known about how the information about a whole object and its parts are represented in inferior temporal (IT) cortex. To address this issue, we focus on the neural mechanism of face perception. To investigate the mechanism, we made a model of IT cortex, which performs face perception via an interaction between different IT networks. The model was made based on the face information processed by three resolution maps in early visual areas. The network model of IT consists of four kinds of networks, in which the information about a whole face is combined with the information about its face parts and their arrangements. We show here that the learning of face stimuli makes the functional connection between these IT networks, causing synchronous firing of IT neurons. The model seems to be compatible with experimental data about dynamic properties of IT neurons.