Why can we recognize a familiar face so quickly, even in a crowd? At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Nancy Kanwisher, Josh McDermott, and Marvin Chun used functional MRI to investigate whether particular brain regions responded especially strongly to faces.
Their study, published on June 1, 1997, identified a region in the fusiform gyrus that responded more strongly to faces than to assorted everyday objects. They called it the fusiform face area.
The researchers tested alternative explanations, including whether the response reflected visual attention or a broader interest in living things. Their findings supported a specialization for face perception.
The breakthrough showed how neurotechnology could reveal functional organization within the living human brain. MRI was becoming more than a tool for locating injury or disease: it could help researchers investigate how the brain makes sense of the world.
Last Updated on October 20, 2026 | Published: October 20, 2026