A Perspective on the Organization of Face Processing in Human Temporal Cortex

Event Details

Type

The Price Family Lectures

Speaker(s)

Stefano Anzellotti, Ph.D., assistant professor, department of psychology and neuroscience; chair, research computing committee, Boston College

Speaker bio(s)

Face perception engages multiple regions in human temporal cortex, organized into a ventral stream (in inferior temporal cortex) and a lateral stream (in the superior temporal sulcus). How do the representations in these two streams differ from each other? A classical theory proposes that ventral regions are specialized for identity recognition, while lateral regions are specialized for expression recognition. I will present some evidence that challenges this view, and examine its implications for the computational mechanisms underlying face perception. Then, I will consider some alternative hypotheses, and discuss ongoing studies on the distinct functional roles of the two streams and on the information they encode. Stefano Anzellotti completed his BS in Mathematics at the University of Trento, his Ph.D in Psychology at Harvard University, and a postdoc at MIT in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Currently he is Assistant Professor in the department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College and the chair of Research Computing. He is the recipient of a NSF CAREER award and his work has been published in journals including Neuron and Science. His laboratory studies social perception, social cognition and its impairments using behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational methods.

Open to

Public

Contact

Lihong Yin

Phone

(212) 327-7620

Sponsor

Winrich Freiwald
(212) 327-7620
wfreiwald@rockefeller.edu