Implicit Distinction of the Race underlying the Perception of Faces by Event-Related fMRI

A few studies have shown that the function of fusiform face area is selectively involved in the perception of faces including a race difference. We investigated the neural substrates of the face-selective region called fusiform face area In the ventral occipital-temporal cortex and same-race memory superiority In the fusiform face area by the event-related fMRI. In our fMRI study, twelve healthy subjects (Oriental-Korean) performed the implicit distinction of the race while they consciously made familiar-judgments, regardless of whether they considered a face as Oriental-Korean or European-American. In the race distinction as an implicit task, the fusiform face areas (FFA) and the right parahippocampal gyrus had a greater response to the presentation of Oriental-Korean than European-American faces, but in the consciously race distinction between Oriental-Korean and European-American faces, any significant difference in the FFA was not observed. These results suggest that different activation in the fusiform regions and right parahippocampal gyrus resulting from same-race memory superiority could be implicitly taken place by the physiological processes of face recognition.