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Expert face processing requires visual input to the right hemisphere during infancy

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 1108–1112 (2003)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 December 2003

Abstract

Adult expertise in face processing is mediated largely by neural networks in the right hemisphere. Here we evaluate the contribution of early visual input in establishing this neural substrate. We compared visually normal individuals to patients for whom visual input had been restricted mainly to one hemisphere during infancy. We show that early deprivation of visual input to the right hemisphere severely impairs the development of expert face processing, whereas deprivation restricted mainly to the left hemisphere does not. Our results indicate that the neural circuitry responsible for adults' face expertise is not pre-specified, but requires early visual experience. However, the two hemispheres are not equipotent: only the right hemisphere is capable of using the early input to develop expertise at face processing.

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Figure 1: The face stimuli.
Figure 2: The effect of early left versus right hemisphere deprivation on face processing.
Figure 3: The effect of duration of visual deprivation on second-order relational processing.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by grants to D.M. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and by a graduate scholarship to R.L. from NSERC. We thank the patients for their willingness to participate in the study, and A. Freire and K. Lee for providing face stimuli on which our stimulus sets were modeled.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, L8S 4K1, Ontario, Canada

    Richard Le Grand, Catherine J Mondloch & Daphne Maurer

  2. The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, M5G 1X8, Ontario, Canada

    Daphne Maurer & Henry P Brent

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  1. Richard Le Grand
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  2. Catherine J Mondloch
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  3. Daphne Maurer
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Correspondence to Daphne Maurer.

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Grand, R., Mondloch, C., Maurer, D. et al. Expert face processing requires visual input to the right hemisphere during infancy. Nat Neurosci 6, 1108–1112 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1121

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