I'm sure I recognise you from somewhere! German scientists investigate face and voice recognition
The sound of a voice that you just can't place, or the sight of someone you're sure you've met before ... we've all been there. Recognising others is a complex process, and now European researchers have discovered a direct structural connection of fibre pathways between the brain's face and voice recognition functions. The team, from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, believe their findings show that this exchange of information could be what helps us quickly identify familiar people in a variety of situations. Among scientists, the jury is still out as to what happens in the brain when we see a familiar face or recognise a voice, but the accepted theory considers face and voice recognition to be separate processes, combined only on a higher processing level. However, these findings could challenge this established theory. Building on previous research from one of the study authors, Katharina von Kriegstein, which found that areas of the brain responsible for the identification of faces also become active when we hear a familiar voice, the team were able to show that a structural connection between voice and face recognition areas exists. 'We now assume that areas in the brain which are involved in voice and face recognition interact directly and influence each other,' says Helen Blank, a member of the research group, who worked on this new study on the topic. The researchers used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, a method with which the course of white matter tracts in the brain can be reconstructed when combined with tractography, a mathematical modelling technique. The areas responsible for voice and face recognition were located in participants by measuring the reactions of the brain to different voices and faces using magnetic resonance imaging. Helen Blank explains how they discovered a direct connection consisting of fibre pathways between the voice and the face recognition area: 'It is particularly interesting that the face recognition area appears to be more strongly connected with the areas involved in voice identification, despite the fact that these areas are further away than areas which process information from voices on a more general level.' This means that we could be using this connection in our everyday lives, for example when we are talking to someone on the phone and visualising their face at the same time. The Max Plank team now want to investigate the intricacies of this information exchange between the face and voice 'departments' of our brains, and have plans to carry out related research in a forthcoming study. These new insights into brain function could lead to innovations in computer technology and improve person recognition by machines. The team also insist that creating a more detailed understanding of how the brain works in relation to the processing of basic tasks like person recognition could be of benefit to the medical world too. 'The finding is of interest for research on unusual neurological conditions, such as prosopagnosia and phonagnosia, which prevent people from being able to recognise others from their faces or voices,' explains Helen Blank.For more information, please visit:Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences:http://www.cbs.mpg.de/index.html
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Germany