[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

297. Social Recognition and Partner Preference
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 297.14/TT32
Topic: F.03.c. Social behavior
Support: NIH/NCRR RR-00165 (Yerkes National Primate Research Center)
R01-MH068791 (Lisa A. Parr)
NSF IBS#9876754 (Center for Behavioral Neuroscience)
Title: Functional neuroimaging of the neural correlates of face recognition in chimpanzees
Authors: *E. E. HECHT 1 , S. K. BARKS 2 , T. M. PREUSS 3 , J. K. RILLING 2 , J. R. VOTAW 3 ,
L. A. PARR 3 ;
1 Neurosci Program, 2 Dept. of Anthrop., 3 Yerkes Natl. Primate Res. Ctr., Emory Univ., Atlanta,
GA
Abstract: Objective: The ability to recognize individuals is a crucial component of social
cognition, enabling behavior which takes into account prior interactions and observations of that
individual. Humans and chimpanzees show evidence of greater “face expertise” than macaque
monkeys, including the ability to reliably and rapidly identify individuals from faces, secondorder
configural processing of faces, and a consistent face inversion effect. Humans and
macaques activate similar, but not identical, neural networks during face perception. The neural
correlates of chimpanzee face recognition are unknown. To investigate the evolution of neural
specializations for face recognition, the current study examined the neural correlates of face
recognition in chimpanzees using PET neuroimaging.
Methods: Five captive chimpanzees were administered radioactively labeled glucose
(fluorodeoxyglucose), performed a match-to-sample task with photographs of unfamiliar
conspecific faces during brain uptake, and were scanned afterwards using a high resolution
research tomograph. In a control task, subjects matched images of clip art objects. The
fluorodeoxyglucose tracer accumulates in brain regions of higher metabolism during the
conscious uptake period. Regions with higher radioactivity in the scan thus represent regions that
are active during the task. Individual PET scans were coregistered to anatomical MRI scans.
Activity associated with face versus object matching tasks was compared using a full-factorial
ANOVA in SPM5.
Results: Face recognition-specific activation was observed in regions similar to those identified
in humans, including the precuneus, temporoparietal junction, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and
posterior superior temporal sulcus, using a whole brain analysis (p< 0.05). Interestingly, this
network is similar to one identified by Gobbini and Haxby (2007) underlying the recognition of
familiar or famous faces. The chimpanzees have repeatedly encountered photographs of the
conspecifics used in this experiment over a period of years, possibly resulting in a type of
exposure similar to human media exposure to famous individuals.