Research Interests

My main research interest is to understand how the human brain categorizes objects of the visual world.  I have a particular interest in the visual recognition of a fascinating category of objects: faces. The face is undoubtedly a ‘special’ type of stimulus, with a critical role in humans for social communication.

To clarify the neuro-functional mechanisms of face recognition, I like to combine sources of information from a variety of methods. We perform our studies with neuroimaging (PET, fMRI), EEG, eye movement recordings, and behavioral studies in normal adults, children and infants, as well as in brain-damaged people suffering from selective face identity recognition deficits (prosopagnosia). In the past decade, we have focused on a fast visual periodic stimulation approach, or "frequency-tagging", to understand face recognition and brain function in general. In particular, using this approach with infants (de Heering & Rossion, 2015; Leleu et al., 2020) and in intracerebral recordings  (e.g., Jonas et al., 2016; Jacques et al., 2022) has proved extremely fruitful.

Selected Publications

Jacques, C., Jonas, J., Maillard, L., Colnat-Coulbois, S., Rossion, B. (2022). Low and high frequency intracranial neural signals match in the human associative cortex. eLife, 11, e76544. PDF

REVIEW Rossion, B. (2022). Twenty years of investigation with the case of prosopagnosia PS to understand human face identity recognition. Part I: function. Neuropsychologia, 173: 108278. PDF

REVIEW Rossion, B. (2022). Twenty years of investigation with the case of prosopagnosia PS to understand human face identity recognition. Part II: neural basis. Neuropsychologia, 173: 108279. PDF

REVIEW Rossion, B., Jacques, C., Jonas, J. (2018). Mapping face categorization in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex with direct neural intracranial recordings. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. PDF 

Norcia, A.M., Appelbaum, L.G., Ales, J.M., Cottereau, B., Rossion, B. (2015). The steady-state visual evoked potential in vision research: a review. Journal of Vision, 15(6):4, 1-46. [PDF]

de Heering, A. & Rossion, B. (2015). Rapid categorization of natural face images in the infant right hemisphere. eLife 2015;4;e06564. [PDF]

Boremanse, A., Norcia, A.M., Rossion, B. (2013). An objective signature for visual binding of face parts in the human brain. Journal of Vision (11):6, 1-18.[PDF][video].

Rossion, B. (2013). The composite face illusion: a whole window into our understanding of holistic face perception. Visual Cognition, 21, 139-253.  [PDF] [table_of_ content] see our WEBPAGE

Jiang, F., Dricot, L., Weber, J., Righi, G., Tarr, M.J., Goebel, R., Rossion, B. (2011). Face categorization in visual scenes may start in a higher order area of the right fusiform gyrus: evidence from dynamic visual stimulation in neuroimaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 106, 2720-2736. [PDF] [stimuli as figures]

Van Belle, G., de Graef, P., Verfaillie, K., Busigny, T., Rossion, B. (2010). Whole not hole: expert face recognition requires holistic perception.  Neuropsychologia, 48, 2609-2620. [PDF]

Rossion, B. (2008). Picture-plane inversion leads to qualitative changes of face perception. Acta Psychologica, 128, 274-289. [PDF]

Orban de Xivry, J.-J., Ramon, M., Lefèvre, P., Rossion, B. (2008). Reduced fixation on the upper area of personally familiar faces following acquired prosopagnosia. Journal of Neuropsychology, 2, 245-268. [PDF]

Rossion, B. & Jacques, C. (2008). Does physical interstimulus variance account for early electrophysiological face sensitive responses in the human brain? Ten lessons on the N170. NeuroImage, 39, 1959-1979. [PDF]

Schiltz, C. & Rossion, B. (2006). Faces are represented holistically in the human occipito-temporal cortex. NeuroImage, 32, 1385-1394. [PDF] [slideshow summary]

Jacques, C. & Rossion, B. (2006). The speed of individual face categorization. Psychological Science,17, 485-492. [PDF]

Joyce, C.A. & Rossion, B. (2005). The face-sensitive N170 and VPP components manifest the same brain processes: The effect of reference electrode site. Clinical Neurophysiology. 116, 2613-2631. [PDF]

Rossion, B., Kung, C.C., Tarr, M.J. (2004). Visual expertise with nonface objects leads to competition with the early perceptual processing of faces in the human occipitotemporal cortex. PNAS, 101, 14521-14526. [PDF] [slideshow summary]

Rossion, B., Caldara, R., Seghier, M., Schuller, A.-M., Lazeyras, F., Mayer, E. (2003). A network of occipito-temporal face-sensitive areas besides the right middle fusiform gyrus is necessary for normal face processing. Brain, 126, 2381-2395. [PDF] [slideshow summary]

Rossion, B., Schiltz, C., Robaye, L., Pirenne, D., Crommelinck, M. (2001). How does the brain discriminate familiar and unfamiliar faces: a PET study of face categorical perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 1019-1034. [PDF]

Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M.-J., Despland, P., Linotte, S., Bruyer, R., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is enhanced and delayed to inverted faces but not to inverted objects: an electrophyiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain, Neuroreport, 11, 1-6. [PDF]