Similar structures for face selectivity in human and monkey brains
(Medical Xpress) -- Face recognition and the interpretation of facial expressions and gaze direction play a key role in guiding the social behavior of human beings, and new study results point to similar mechanisms in macaques. Until now, many scientists have assumed that the capability for face recognition in monkeys is significantly different from that in humans and that different parts of the brain are involved. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have now discovered that the circuitry for face processing in the brain is remarkably similar in both macaques and humans. Consequently, macaque monkeys could be suitable model organisms for studying human disorders such as autism or prosopagnosia, so-called face blindness.