The fusiform gyrus lies on the underside (basal surface) of each temporal and occipital lobe, between the parahippocampal gyrus on the inner side and the inferior temporal gyrus on the outer side. It is linked with recognition: of faces, bodies and written words. [1]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the fusiform gyrus is and what it does.
Slice
Opens cut by a front (coronal) slice through the fusiform gyrus. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
It sits on the basal surface of the temporal and occipital lobes and is the largest structure of the ventral temporal cortex, the underside region given over mainly to high-level vision. [1]
The collateral sulcus separates it from the parahippocampal gyrus on the inner (medial) side; the occipitotemporal sulcus separates it from the inferior temporal gyrus on the outer (lateral) side. [1]
A shallow groove along its middle, the mid-fusiform sulcus, divides it into a lateral and a medial half and marks where the fusiform face area lies. [1]
What it does
Its exact role is still debated, but there is relative consensus that parts of it are critical for recognising faces and bodies. [1]
The fusiform face area, on the lateral side of the gyrus and usually larger in the right hemisphere, responds more strongly to faces than to most other things; whether it is dedicated to faces or to telling apart any visually similar objects people are expert in (cars, birds) is an open debate. [2]
Part of the left fusiform gyrus, the visual word form area, is thought to identify letters and words from their shapes before they are linked to sounds or meaning. [3]
It also takes part in the colour-processing pathway: it passes shape information to the angular gyrus. [1]
Connections
Its fusiform face area lies in the ventral stream, the visual pathway along the underside of the temporal lobe that deals with recognising what things are. [2][4]
The medial part of the fusiform gyrus and the back of the parahippocampal gyrus together make up what is called the parahippocampal cortex. [5]
Other names
Lateral occipitotemporal gyrus; Brodmann area 37. The name means “spindle-shaped”: the gyrus is wider in the middle than at its ends. [1]
“Fusiform face area” (FFA) is the name of a face-responsive region within it, not of the whole gyrus. [2]
Size
On this model the left fusiform gyrus measures about 61 mm front to back, 27 mm top to bottom and 32 mm side to side (the box it fits in, not its volume); the right one is its mirror image. [6]
Centre of the left fusiform gyrus compared with the centre of the left parahippocampal gyrus: 5 mm further forward, 4 mm lower, 9 mm further from the midline; 11 mm apart in a straight line. [6]
Centre of the left fusiform gyrus compared with the centre of the left occipital lobe: 67 mm further forward, 12 mm lower, 10 mm further from the midline; 69 mm apart in a straight line. [6]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.