The ventral visual cortex has a modular organization in whichndiscrete and well-defined regions show amuch stronger responsento certain object categories (e.g., faces, bodies) than to otherncategories. The majority of previous studies have examined thenresponse of these category-selective regions to isolated imagesnof preferred or nonpreferred categories. Thus, little is knownnabout the way these category-selective regions represent morencomplex visual stimuli, which include both preferred and nonpreferrednstimuli. Here we examined whether glasses (nonpreferred)nmodify the representation of simultaneously presentednfaces (preferred) in the fusiform face area. We used an eventrelatednfMR-adaptation paradigm in which faces were presentednwith glasses either on or above the face while subjects performedna face or a glasses discrimination task. Our findings show thatnthe sensitivity of the fusiform face area to glasses was maximalnwhen glasses were presented on the face than above the facenduring a face discrimination task rather than during a glasses discriminationntask. These findings suggest that nonpreferred stimulinmay significantly modify the representation of preferred stimuli,neven when they are task irrelevant. Future studies will determinenwhether this interaction is specific to faces or may be found fornother object categories in category-selective areas. ■
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