COMPARISON OF CORTICAL ACTIVATION EVOKED BY FACES MEASURED BY INTRACRANIAL FIELD POTENTIALS AND FUNCTIONAL MRI - 2 CASE-STUDIES

The localization of neural processes contributing to face perception w as studied in two patients using event-related field potentials (ERPs) recorded from subdural strips and functional magnetic resonance imagi ng (fMRI). Despite the differences in the physiological bases of the t wo techniques, and in the tasks used to elicit activation, good corres pondence was obtained in the anatomical patterns of activation. Face-s pecific ERPs (N200s) and fMRI activation by faces occurred at the same locations in the right ventral extrastriate region of both patients, and in a similar region of the left hemisphere of one patient. Some di screpancies were noted in the pattern of activation which may reflect the adequacy of the tasks in identifying face-specific as opposed to f ace-sensitive processing, and in the differential sensitivity of the m ethods to the temporal course of face processing. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.