PSYC51H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Mirror Neuron, Prosopagnosia, Body Plan
Document Summary
Studies on macaque monkeys have revealed that some neurons in the inferior temporal cortex (it) respond selectively to the shapes of human and monkey bodies and body parts. Hand-selective cells in the it respond strongly to images of human and monkey hands of different orientation and size, presented at various locations in the visual field, but not to other complex shapes or to faces. Other cells in the it respond selectively to faces but not to hands. In the animate category, faces and bodies elicited distinct patterns, with further distinctions between different types of face (animal, monkey or human), and different types of body (human, four-limbed animal or bird). Two recent studies that used fmri in monkeys provide evidence for two large clusters of body- selective cells in the sts, with those in the right hemisphere being most strongly activated. The body-selective area was adjacent to, and partly overlapped, a face-selective area.
