The acquisition of face and person identity information following anterior temporal lobectomy MARIA MORAN, 1 MICHAEL SEIDENBERG, 2 DAVE SABSEVITZ, 2 SARA SWANSON, 3 and BRUCE HERMANN 4 1 West Virginia University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Charleston, West Virginia 2 Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago, Illinois 3 Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Neurology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 4 University of Wisconsin, Department of Neurology, Madison, Wisconsin (Received December 24, 2003; 1st Revision August 30, 2004; Accepted December 7, 2004) Abstract Thirty unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) subjects (15 right and 15 left) and 15 controls were presented a multitrial learning task in which unfamiliar faces were paired with biographical information (occupation, city location, and a person’s name). Face recognition hits were similar between groups, but the rightATL group committed more false-positive errors to face foils. Both left and right ATL groups were impaired relative to controls in acquiring biographical information, but the deficit was more pronounced for the left ATL group. Recall levels also varied for the different types of biographical information; occupation was most commonly recalled followed by city name and person name. In addition, city and person name recall was more likely when occupation was also recalled. Overall, recall of biographical information was positively correlated with clinical measures of anterograde episodic memory. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the temporal lobe and associative learning ability in the successful acquisition of new face semantic (biographical) representations. ( JINS, 2005, 11, 237–248.) Keywords: Person identity network, Face processing, Anterior temporal lobectomy INTRODUCTION Typically, the recognition and identification of a familiar face unfolds in a smooth, automatic, and rapid fashion. The sense of “familiarity” is commonly accompanied by the retrieval of biographical information that specifically iden- tifies the individual. However, it is now well established that there are distinct and separable component processes involved in face recognition and identification (Bruce & Young, 1986). In the Bruce and Young model, familiar face processing is composed of four distinct, sequential, and inter- active stages which provide for access and retrieval of infor- mation about a face: (1) structural encoding, creates a description of the basic physical features of the face; (2) face recognition, matching of the structural encoding stage is matched to a face recognition unit (FRU) in memory; (3) semantic identification, a representation of the identity spe- cific semantic codes that allow for unique identification of a particular face, and (4) name retrieval, retrieval of the lexical name code associated with the particular face. Impairment in face recognition and identification is pre- sumed to occur as a result of a breakdown at different stages and as a result of lesions in different neuroanatomical regions. Studies of both nonneurological and people with focal brain damage have provided support for the decomposition of the face recognition process into these stages. For example, diaries maintained by participants describing their day-to- day difficulties and errors in encounters with familiar peo- ple confirmed the occurrence of “face slips” that were consistent with the Bruce and Young model. Name retrieval was the most common error, and a name was typically not provided unless semantic identification occurred (Young et al., 1985). Evidence concerning the neural substrates of these dis- tinct components primarily comes from studies of patients with focal brain damage. For example, differential patterns of familiar face recognition and identification occur in patients with left or right temporal lobe damage. Patients Reprint requests to: Michael Seidenberg, Rosalind Franklin Univer- sity, Department of Psychology, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, IL 60064. E-mail: michael. seidenberg@rosalindfranklin.edu Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2005), 11, 237–248. Copyright © 2005 INS. Published by Cambridge University Press. Printed in the USA. DOI: 10.10170S1355617705050290 237