Fusiform face area development correlates with development in higher-order social brain regions

The fusiform face area (FFA) preferentially responds to faces within the first months of life. One hypothesis is that higher-order social responses in middle medial prefrontal cortex (MMPFC) or face responses in superior temporal sulcus (STS) drive the development of face-selective responses in FFA, with right-hemisphere dominance in FFA eventually arising from lateralised connections to these regions. Another hypothesis proposes an innate face template in the amygdala guides attention to face-like shapes. This study opportunistically examined the development of the FFA, MMPFC, STS, and amygdala in childhood using an open cross-sectional movie-viewing fMRI dataset with 3-12-year-olds (N=117, M=6.77 years) and adults (N=33, M=24.77 years). We tested for correlations between FFA development and development in MMPFC, STS, and amygdala on the premise that associations between these regions may be observable even in children, and such associations could constrain hypotheses and analytic approaches in future studies with infants. First, we measured functional maturity- i.e., how similar each child’s response to the movie was to an adult average response timecourse. In all regions, older children’s responses were more adult-like. Next, we tested whether FFA maturity correlated with functional connectivity with, or functional maturity of, MMPFC, STS, or amygdala. Children with more mature right FFA responses showed stronger right FFA-right MMPFC connectivity. Children with more mature FFA responses also had more mature STS responses, bilaterally. This study provides preliminary evidence that FFA co-develops with higher-order social brain regions.