Neuronal Mechanisms Underlying Face Recognition in Non-human Primates

Humans and primates rely on visual face recognition for social interactions. Damage to specific brain areas causes prosopagnosia, a condition characterized by the inability to recognize familiar faces, indicating the presence of specialized brain areas for facial-recognition processing. A breakthrough finding came from a non-human primate (NHP) study conducted in the early 2000s; it was the first to identify multiple face-processing areas in the temporal lobe, termed “face patches.” Subsequent studies have demonstrated the unique role of each face patch in the structural analysis of faces. More recent studies have expanded these findings by exploring the role of face-patch networks in social and memory functions and the importance of early face exposure in the development of the system. In this review, we discuss the neuronal mechanisms responsible for analyzing facial features, categorizing faces, and associating faces with memory and social contexts within both the cerebral cortex and subcortical areas. Use of NHPs in neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies can highlight the mechanistic aspects of the neuronal circuit underlying face recognition at both the single-neuron and whole-brain network levels.