Perception and memory reinstatement engage overlapping face selective regions within human ventral temporal cortex

Abstract

Humans have the remarkable ability to vividly retrieve sensory details of past events. According to the theory of sensory reinstatement, during remembering, brain regions specialized for processing specific sensory stimuli are reactivated to support content specific retrieval. Recently, several studies have emphasized transformations in the spatial organization of these reinstated activity patterns. Specifically, studies of scene stimuli suggest a clear anterior shift in the location of retrieval activations compared with activity observed during perception. However, it is not clear that such transformations occur universally, with inconsistent evidence for other important stimulus categories, particularly faces. One challenge in addressing this question is the careful delineation of face-selective cortices, which are inter-digitated with other selective regions, in configurations that spatially differ across individuals. Therefore, we conducted a multi-session neuroimaging study to first carefully map individual participants (9 males and 7 females) face-selective regions within ventral temporal cortex (VTC), followed by a second session to examine the activity patterns within these regions during face memory encoding and retrieval. While face-selective regions were expectedly engaged during face perception at encoding, memory retrieval engagement exhibited a more selective and constricted reinstatement pattern within these regions, but did not show any consistent direction of spatial transformation (e.g., anteriorization). We also report on unique human intracranial recordings from VTC under the same experimental conditions. These findings highlight the importance of considering the complex configuration of category selective cortex in elucidating principles shaping the neural transformations that occur from perception to memory.Significance statement Sensory reinstatement suggests that brain regions involved in the initial sensory processing of a stimulus are reactivated to support successful memory retrieval. However, recent findings have suggested reinstated cortical activations occur anterior to perceptually driven activities, particularly for scene stimuli. It remains unclear if this anteriorization occurs for other stimuli, such as faces. To address this question, we conducted a multi-session fMRI study to identify face selective regions in ventral temporal cortex, and examined activities within these regions during face-memory reinstatement. Results showed retrieval activity closely aligns with the perceptual neural substrate, confirming individual-specific face-selective regions without consistent spatial shifts. This underscores the importance of considering individual functional organizations when investigating the neural substrates of perception-memory transformations.