Faces in the Brain

In this paper it will be investigated the distinction – supported by experimental data – of two different degrees within the so-called face perception: 1) The automatic perception/detection of faces; 2) The recognition of a specific face, that concerns personal meanings association – a story, we could say – to that first automatic perceptual configuration. In general, the first degree is a basic perception process, a universal, innate and early capacity belonging to all human beings. It includes three face-selective regions in the brain, with the OFA and the STS who process the partial data of faces, and the FFA that “produces” the overall basic form. The second degree consists in a complex recognition process, which implies the activation of many cerebral areas with different functions such as, for example, the subcortical regions responsible for emotions modulation (amygdala, insula), the intraparietal sulcus, the auditory cortex. It associates a given perceptual pattern with specific semantic entities, which compose a qualitative complex of experience, knowledge and subjective understanding.