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

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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.