An earlier component of face perception detected by seeing-as-face task

To investigate the time sequence of the neural processes underlying face perception, magnetoencephalography was performed using a seeing-as-face task, in which visual inputs were identical across two conditions, but subjectperceptions diiered: one being a non-speci¢c pattern of geographical shapes, the other being a percept of a face. Subtraction between the two conditions revealed a response occurring 120ms after stimulus onset in right occipital, B50ms earlier than previously reported response at a latency of 170ms at the right fusiform gyrus. As our novel task completely excluded diierences in low-level properties of visual stimuli between control and face conditions, these two responses were considered speci¢c to face perception.The result supported the two-stage theory of face processing. NeuroReport15:225^229 ! c 2004 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.