The effect of face inversion on activity in human neural systems for face and object perception

The differential effect of stimulus inversion on face and object recognitio n suggests that inverted faces are processed by mechanisms for the percepti on of other objects rather than by face perception mechanisms. We investiga ted the face inversion using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The principal effect of face inversion on was an increased response in vent ral extrastriate regions that respond preferentially to another class of ob jects (houses). In contrast, house inversion did not produce a similar chan ge in face-selective regions. Moreover, stimulus inversion had equivalent, minimal effects for faces in in face-selective regions and for houses in ho use-selective regions. The results suggest that the failure of face percept ion systems with inverted faces leads to the recruitment of processing reso urces in object perception systems, but this failure is not reflected by al tered activity in face perception systems.