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Effects of Face Contour and Features on Occipitotemporal Activity when Viewing Eye Movement

Kensaku MIKI^1,2), Shoko WATANABE¹⁾, Yukiko HONDA^1,2), Maiko NAKAMURA⁴⁾ and Ryusuke KAKIGI^1,2,3,5)

1)

Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan

2)

RISTEX, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0004, Japan

3)

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0913, Japan

4)

Department of Neurology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan

5)

Japan Space Forum, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004, Japan

(Received 3 December 2006 / Accepted 16 February 2007 / Published 20 November 2007)

Abstract

We investigated whether the activity in MT/V5 is influenced by a face contour and/or features such as the mouth using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We compared two conditions as visual motion stimuli using apparent motion as follows; (1) CDL: A schematic face consisting of a face Contour, two Dots & a horizontal Line and (2) D: Two Dots only. Subjects described a simple movement of dots for D, but eye movement for CDL, though movement modalities were the same through both conditions. We used a single equivalent current dipole (ECD) model between 145-220 ms after stimulus onset and estimated the location, dipole moment (strength) and peak latency. There were no significant differences in the peak latency of the estimated dipoles between each condition, but the activity was significantly stronger for CDL than for D (p < 0.01) in the right and left hemispheres. These results indicated that there is specific information processing for eye movements in the occipitotemporal area, the human MT/V5 homologue, and this activity was significantly influenced by whether movements appeared with the face contour and/or features, in other words, whether the eyes moved or not, even if the movement itself was the same.

Copyright (c) 2007 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research

Keywords

face, eye movement, MT/V5, MEG

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.2.S1128

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References

• [1] S. Watanabe et al., NeuroImage 13, 351 (2001).
• [2] K. Miki et al., Clin. Neurophysiol. 115, 1559 (2004).
• [3] K. Miki et al., NeuroImage 35 (2007).
• [4] Y. Kaneoke et al., Neuroreport 8, 677 (1997).
• [5] Y. Noguchi et al., Cereb. Cortex 15, 1592 (2005).

This paper may be cited as follows:

Kensaku MIKI, Shoko WATANABE, Yukiko HONDA, Maiko NAKAMURA and Ryusuke KAKIGI, Plasma Fusion Res. 2, S1128 (2007).