Fusiform (Right)

Overview

The right fusiform gyrus is a ventral temporal lobe structure located along the basal surface of the cerebral hemisphere, extending between the inferior temporal gyrus laterally and the parahippocampal gyrus medially, and supplied primarily by branches of the posterior cerebral artery. In the AAL2 atlas, the right fusiform region encompasses cortex involved in high-level visual processing, including complex object recognition, face perception, and aspects of word-form processing, with strong connectivity to occipital visual areas, temporal association cortex, and limbic structures. Neuronal populations in this region exhibit category-selective responses—for example, to faces (including the right-lateralized fusiform face area), body parts, and other visually complex stimuli—supporting integration of detailed visual features into coherent, behaviorally relevant representations. Lesions or dysfunction in the right fusiform gyrus can lead to deficits such as prosopagnosia, visuoperceptual impairments, and category-specific recognition disorders, highlighting its role in specialized visual cognition. Fusiform gyrus

The right fusiform gyrus, including the fusiform face area as defined in the AAL2 atlas, has been implicated in genetic studies primarily through imaging genetics and GWAS of brain structure and function rather than single “region-specific” genes. Twin and family studies indicate high heritability for fusiform volume, cortical thickness, and face-selective activation, and large-scale imaging GWAS (e.g., ENIGMA and UK Biobank) have identified common variants associated with fusiform morphology, including loci near genes involved in neurodevelopment, synaptic function, and axon guidance (such as MAPT, HMGA2, and several intergenic regulatory regions), though findings are often shared with adjacent temporal and occipital areas rather than uniquely localized to the right fusiform. Functionally, genetic variation in oxytocin receptor (OXTR), serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), and dopaminergic genes has been linked to altered right fusiform responses during face and emotion processing. Clinically, genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder, prosopagnosia, and schizophrenia has been associated with atypical right fusiform structure and hypo- or hyperactivation, with polygenic risk scores for these conditions predicting fusiform alterations in some cohorts; likewise, Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia risk loci (including APOE) have been tied to fusiform atrophy patterns in neurodegeneration GWAS and imaging-genetics studies, although these effects are typically distributed across broader temporal lobe networks rather than confined strictly to the AAL2-defined right fusiform region.

Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).

Region ID: 5402
Hemisphere: right
Atlas: AAL2

Fusiform (Right) – Black Background (Full Brain)

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Fusiform (Right) – White Background (Full Brain)

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Fusiform (Right) – Black Background (Hemisphere)

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Fusiform (Right) – White Background (Hemisphere)

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Triplanar View – T1 Background

Triplanar View – Ghost Brain