Occipital face area

Occipital Face Area (OFA) is a region in the human brain that plays a significant role in face perception. It is located in the occipital lobe, specifically in the inferior occipital gyrus. The OFA is one of the core regions involved in the processing of faces, along with the fusiform face area (FFA) and the superior temporal sulcus (STS).

Function

The OFA is primarily involved in the early stages of face processing. It is thought to be responsible for the low-level analysis of facial features, such as the detection of eyes, nose, and mouth. The information processed by the OFA is then sent to the FFA and STS for further analysis.

Anatomy

The OFA is located in the inferior occipital gyrus, which is part of the occipital lobe. The occipital lobe is the visual processing center of the mammalian brain, containing most of the anatomical region of the visual cortex.

Research

Research on the OFA has primarily been conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Studies have shown that the OFA responds more strongly to faces than to other objects. This response is consistent across different face orientations and lighting conditions, suggesting that the OFA is involved in the invariant aspects of face perception.

See also

• Fusiform face area
• Superior temporal sulcus
• Prosopagnosia