Different time course between scene processing and face processing: A MEG study

USING magnetoencephalography (MEG), the neural response to scenes was recorded and compared with that to faces. The prominent MEG signals in response to scenes appeared 200-300ms after the stimulus presentation while those in response to faces appeared between 150 and 200 ms. Source locations of the signals were estimated in the right parahippocampal and paroieto- occipital regions with a latency of 300ms for the scene response, whereas those were estimated in the lingual or fusiform gyri bilaterally with a latency of 160ms for the face response. These data suggest that both the temporal and parietal regions process scenes, while the occipito-temporal regions process faces, and that scene processing takes a longer time than face processing.