Intrinsic Organized Face Networks by Using Granger Causality Analysis

It is reported that even in the absence of external stimuli, some discrete functionally-related brain regions have information flows which construct an effective connectivity brain network, while little study has investigated how these face selective regions are constructed and organized during the resting states. In this study, we used functional MRI and Granger Causality analysis to investigate the effective connectivity of face perception brain network in resting states. We especially focused on the interactions among the face selective regions in resting. Our result based on 8 subjects showed that in resting states, the bilateral connections between OFA and FFA are still remains, suggesting an intrinsic organized effective connectivity between FFA and OFA, The connectivity between STS and OFA, amygdala and STS, amygdala and FFA, OFA and amygdala, and FFA and STS is significant for face perception task, suggesting there are information flows among these regions when perceiving faces, while no more information flow in resting.