<P> The study of prosopagnosia (an impairment in recognizing faces which is usually caused by brain injury) has been particularly helpful in understanding how normal face perception might work . Individuals with prosopagnosia may differ in their abilities to understand faces, and it has been the investigation of these differences which has suggested that several stage theories might be correct . </P> <P> Face perception is an ability that involves many areas of the brain; however, some areas have been shown to be particularly important . Brain imaging studies typically show a great deal of activity in an area of the temporal lobe known as the fusiform gyrus, an area also known to cause prosopagnosia when damaged (particularly when damage occurs on both sides). This evidence has led to a particular interest in this area and it is sometimes referred to as the fusiform face area (FFA) for that reason . </P> <P> There are several parts of the brain that play a role in face perception . Rossion, Hanseeuw, and Dricot used BOLD fMRI mapping to identify activation in the brain when subjects viewed both cars and faces . The majority of BOLD fMRI studies use blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast to determine which areas of the brain are activated by various cognitive functions . They found that the occipital face area, located in the occipital lobe, the fusiform face area, the superior temporal sulcus, the amygdala, and the anterior / inferior cortex of the temporal lobe, all played roles in contrasting the faces from the cars, with the initial face perception beginning in the area and occipital face areas . This entire region links to form a network that acts to distinguish faces . The processing of faces in the brain is known as a "sum of parts" perception . However, the individual parts of the face must be processed first in order to put all of the pieces together . In early processing, the occipital face area contributes to face perception by recognizing the eyes, nose, and mouth as individual pieces . Furthermore, Arcurio, Gold, and James used BOLD fMRI mapping to determine the patterns of activation in the brain when parts of the face were presented in combination and when they were presented singly . The occipital face area is activated by the visual perception of single features of the face, for example, the nose and mouth, and preferred combination of two - eyes over other combinations . This research supports that the occipital face area recognizes the parts of the face at the early stages of recognition . On the contrary, the fusiform face area shows no preference for single features, because the fusiform face area is responsible for "holistic / configural" information, meaning that it puts all of the processed pieces of the face together in later processing . This theory is supported by the work of Gold et al. who found that regardless of the orientation of a face, subjects were impacted by the configuration of the individual facial features . Subjects were also impacted by the coding of the relationships between those features . This shows that processing is done by a summation of the parts in the later stages of recognition . </P> <P> Facial perception has well identified, neuroanatomical correlates in the brain . During the perception of faces, major activations occur in the extrastriate areas bilaterally, particularly in the fusiform face area, the occipital face area (OFA), and the superior temporal sulcus (fSTS). Perceiving an inverted human face involves increased activity in the inferior temporal cortex, while perceiving a misaligned face involves increased activity in the occipital cortex . However, none of these results were found when perceiving a dog face, suggesting that this process may be specific to perception of human faces . </P>

Where does facial recognition occur in the brain