Cortex Is Cortex: Ubiquitous Principles Drive Face-Domain Development

Cerebral Cortex Principles of Operation

Principles governing auditory cortex connections.

Topographic maps are common constituents of the primary auditory, visual, and somatic sensory cortex. However, in most cortical areas, no such maps have yet been identified, posing a conceptual problem for theories of cortical function centered on topography. What principle guides the organization of these other areas? We investigated this issue in cat auditory cortex. The connectional topograp...

Microstructural proliferation in human cortex is coupled with the development of face processing.

How does cortical tissue change as brain function and behavior improve from childhood to adulthood? By combining quantitative and functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults, we find differential development of high-level visual areas that are involved in face and place recognition. Development of face-selective regions, but not place-selective regions, is dominated by microstr...

Domain specificity in visual cortex.

We investigated the prevalence and specificity of category-selective regions in human visual cortex. In the broadest survey to date of category selectivity in visual cortex, 12 participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing scenes and 19 different object categories in a blocked-design experiment. As expected, we found selectivity for faces in the fusiform fac...

Auditory Cortex Mapmaking: Principles, Projections, and Plasticity

Maps of sensory receptor epithelia and computed features of the sensory environment are common elements of auditory, visual, and somatic sensory representations from the periphery to the cerebral cortex. Maps enhance the understanding of normal neural organization and its modification by pathology and experience. They underlie the derivation of the computational principles that govern sensory p...