Network processes of face working memory

Studies of memory often seek to discover anatomic locations where memories might be stored. In the case of human visual working memory, the attempts of functional neuroimaging to define a mnemonic role for temporal cortex have been surprisingly problematic. This dissertation begins with a review of monkey physiology data suggesting that stimulus selective portions of inferotemporal cortex support features of the visual working memory trace. The review emphasizes methodological features of the monkey experiments that might be amenable to translation into the neuroimaging setting. Subsequently, these methods are utilized in a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that provide converging evidence of a mnemonic role for the fusiform face area (FFA)—a stimulus-selective region of temporal cortex—during face working memory. While the experiments were designed primarily to test hypotheses about the FFA, other regions relevant to memory encoding, maintenance, and retrieval were also investigated—including prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and portions of temporal cortex not selective for faces. The aggregate results suggest that stimulus-selective portions of temporal cortex act in concert with an anatomically distributed network to maintain and act upon information held in visual working memory