Neurons in the human amygdala encode face identity, but not gaze direction

Florian Mormann; Johannes Niediek; Oana Tudusciuc; Carlos M Quesada; Volker A Coenen; Christian E Elger; Ralph Adolphs

doi:10.1038/nn.4139

Neurons in the human amygdala encode face identity, but not gaze direction

Nat Neurosci. 2015 Nov;18(11):1568-70. doi: 10.1038/nn.4139. Epub 2015 Oct 19.

Authors

Florian Mormann¹, Johannes Niediek¹, Oana Tudusciuc², Carlos M Quesada¹, Volker A Coenen³, Christian E Elger¹, Ralph Adolphs²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
² Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.
³ Stereotaxy and MR-based Operative Techniques, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

PMID: 26479589
PMCID: PMC4624486
DOI: 10.1038/nn.4139

Abstract

The amygdala is important for face processing, and direction of eye gaze is one of the most socially salient facial signals. Recording from over 200 neurons in the amygdala of neurosurgical patients, we found robust encoding of the identity of neutral-expression faces, but not of their direction of gaze. Processing of gaze direction may rely on a predominantly cortical network rather than the amygdala.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Amygdala / physiology*
Emotions / physiology*
Face / physiology
Facial Expression*
Female
Fixation, Ocular / physiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neurons / physiology*
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods
Young Adult

Grants and funding

P50 MH094258/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States