Day 1

Joey Day
Proffessor Mohamed Jama
Biology 1615
8 November 2015
Face Patch Resting State Networks Link Face Processing to Social Cognition
Primates are very social animals that use many social interactions and mechanisms to
perform tasks and go through life. They are very similar to humans in the way that they cope
with life by forming social groups and using social skills to get through challenges. They use
many social signals to give and receive information and this helps them communicate. One of the
most important ways primates communicate seems to be through facial recognition and
processing. They use facial patterns and expressions to transmit information and help their social
life.
This study was done to help us understand the connection between face processing and
cognition. This is important to understand because it has been shown that faces seem to hold a
very important and relevant place in our social lives. Many animals, including humans, pay
special attention to faces and use facial expressions to form cues and create interactions. Facial
patterns can lead to specific emotions, behaviors, and communication between individuals. This
suggests that there are parts of the brain dedicated to facial recognition and linking facial patterns
to thought processes. The study was done largely to locate that area of the brain and help us
understand how it functions.
In this study 6 male Macaque monkeys were implanted with MR-compatible head posts
to study brain processes and patterns. The monkeys were then put in a room with a screen and
were to fixate their attention on a white dot in the middle of the screen. The monkeys were given

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fluid reward when their fixation remained on the screen to encourage them to keep watching it.
The screen then displayed many images including images of human or other monkey faces, as
well as other objects like fruit or manmade objects as well as headless bodies. Data was then
acquired using a 3 T scanner and an AC88 gradient insert.
In each animal and each hemisphere the data was used to identify 5 temporal face patches
(ML, MF, AL, AF, AM) and one frontal face patch (PO). Face patches were identified based on
anatomical location and relative position. The brain waves and patterns from each image were
displayed. The voxels activated by manmade objects and other inanimate objects were compared
to those made from images of faces and bodies. This helped isolate face patches and object
patches. This is ultimately what led to the identification of the face patches in the brain. This also
led to mapping of the face patch and 5,000 maps were made for each face patch.
Through this research and the data that was collected we now located the face patches for
these monkeys and have a better understanding of how they work. Humans are not the only
animals that recognize facial patterns and use them in social situations. From this data it is clear
that primates also have this ability and have parts of the brain designated to recognizing and
processing faces. This helps us better understand how other animals socialize and communicate
with each other. This study also helped discover and learn more about how face patching affects
the rest of the brain in all animals and can be used to help us understand how our brains function
and process faces. This data seems to show that the social cognitive skills found in humans can
be found in Macaque monkeys and possibly many other primates as well, despite their much
more limited social cognitive abilities.
This research is somewhat limited because of the very small sample, but the data is so
sound and consistent this doesnt matter much. The research clearly showed the face patches in

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the brains of all the monkeys. This data is also somewhat limited because it only shows the face
patches in this one species of monkey. This process could be used on other primates and could
determine how relevant facial recognition is and how important it is for all animals to socialize.
A larger study could be conducted that used more test subjects and a wider variety of primates.