The Supramodal Brain Network for the Recognition of Faces and Bodies: Is Visual Experience Necessary for the Development of High-Order Visual Cortices?

The visual perception of faces and body parts provides a wealth of information that is used to understand others’ behaviors. It is well known that distributed networks of brain regions underlie the perception of faces and body parts. Do such networks develop even in the absence of visual experience? I introduce here our recent studies suggesting that the cortical networks for the recognition of faces and body parts can partially develop even in the absence of early visual experience.