Neural systems underlying the recognition of familiar and newly learned faces

Memory for famous faces can be used to examine the neural systems underlyin g retrieval from long-term memory. To date, there have been a limited numbe r of functional neuroimaging investigations examining famous face recogniti on. In this study, we compared recognition of famous faces to recognition o f newly learned faces. Whole-brain, event-related functional magnetic reson ance imaging was used to image regional changes in neural activity in 11 su bjects during the encoding of unfamiliar faces and during familiarity judgm ents for: (1) newly learned faces, (2) unfamiliar face distractors, and (3) famous faces. Image analyses were restricted to correct recognition trials . Recognition accuracy and response time to famous and recently learned fac es were equivalent. Recognition of famous faces was associated with a wides pread network of bilateral brain activations involving the prefrontal, late ral temporal, and mesial temporal (hippocampal and parahippocampal regions) regions compared to recognition of recently encoded faces or unfamiliar fa ces seen for the first time. Findings are discussed in relation to current proposals concerning the neural regions thought to participate in long-term memory retrieval and, more specifically, in relation to retrieval of infor mation from the person identity semantic system.