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Objection to FFA showing that people could be trained to recognize other things (not faces) and light up FFA?

User Suddjian
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Final answer:

The objection to the Fusiform Face Area's (FFA) specialization in face recognition lies in the evidence that training can lead to FFA activation for recognition of non-facial objects, suggesting the FFA's functionality in object recognition is influenced by the expertise an individual has developed.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question pertains to the Fusiform Face Area (FFA), which is a part of the brain that has been implicated in face perception. Some researchers argue that the FFA is specialized for facial recognition, but there has been an objection to FFA functionality because research shows it can also respond to other forms of expertise in object recognition, not just faces. This suggests that the FFA may not be exclusively for face perception, but rather for recognition tasks that individuals are highly trained to recognize. For example, car experts have shown increased FFA activity when viewing cars, suggesting that the FFA may be involved in processing any category of object for which an individual has developed expertise.It becomes a counterpoint against the notion that the FFA is face-specific when experiments demonstrate that training can lead to increased FFA activation while recognizing non-facial objects. Thus, the objection is rooted in the brain's plasticity and ability to adapt based on experience and learning processes

User Balaj Khan
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