PITTSBURGH, Pa. (PTTP) – The same part of the human brain used to recognize faces is also used to recognize voices, suggests a recent study by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Neurological Surgery and the University of Iowa.
After a series of experiments, in which patients identified former United States presidents based on color images and voice clips, researchers determined that the fusiform gyrus—a small, spindle-shaped fold in the brain—helped to identify both their faces and voices.
“Each of the five patients contained at least one recording site that showed significant [brain activity] increases to both faces and voices,” the study reads. “These sites were concentrated in the posterior [fusiform gyrus].”
The fusiform gyrus’s function in identifying faces—in addition to colors, words, and other visual stimuli—was previously known, but identifying its function in recognizing voices allows medical professionals to more deeply understand this part of the brain and the disorders that affect it.
