Figure 4. Average fMRI time courses.

Event-related averages extracted from individually-defined ROIs. Red and orange time courses for faces are shown in the top row and correspond to upright faces and inverted faces in the Persist condition, respectively (purple = Vanish_faces). Blue and green time courses for animals are shown on the bottom row and correspond to upright animals and inverted animals in the Persist condition, respectively (purple = Vanish_animals). fMRI responses were highest to faces in the OFA and the FFA. fMRI activity in all three ROIs remained elevated for Persist conditions relative to Vanish conditions for both faces and animals. Additional elevation of fMRI activity was also apparent for upright stimuli, indicating a facilitation of persistence for upright faces and animals. The grey area indicates the time period over which our fMRI measure of persistence was computed.