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Face cognition, the ability to perceive faces and interpret facial information, is a crucial skill in human social interactions. At the neurobiological level, several functionally specialized brain regions constitute a network of face processing. However, the evidence whether functional specialization within the face network is also reflected in the white matter structural connectivity patterns is yet limited. Based on imaging data from 1051 young healthy adult women and men, we investigated individual differences in the integrity of fibre tracts connecting face-processing regions relative to brain-general tract integrity. We analyzed individual tract-averaged fractional anisotropy (FA) values with structural equation modeling (SEM). Our results show that beyond the variance explained by a general factor indicating the quality of global tracts, the specificity of white matter integrity within the face network can be accounted for by additional factors. These factors correspond to the core and extended networks suggested in classic neuro-functional models of face processing. The right-hemisphere dominance, as commonly found in face cognition studies, is also reflected in this factorial structure. Overall, our results extend the structural brain substrate of the classic functional face processing system to the network of fibre tracts connecting these brain areas, and shed light on a structure-function correspondence from the perspective of individual differences. •White matter integrity in the face processing network is variable across individuals.•Face network variability is specific relative to fibre integrity of global brain tracts.•Face network links are separable into independent latent variables.•These links correspond to core and extended areas of neurofunctional face models.•Links to the extended system are more differentiated in the right hemisphere.

A discussion of some generalizations concerning the nature & utility of the concept 'model'. Models are seen as patterns of rules, symbols, & processes regarded as matching an existing perceptual complex in whole or in part. Models thus stipulate some correspondence with reality. Models generally are culture-bound & can be arranged along a historic gradient from the pictorial to the abstract. Following the simpler models of relationship, such as potter-clay image, came the dynamic models such as the wheel, web, & balance. Later the machine model appeared & in time need was felt for a new approach to complex systems which could not be treated mechanically. Today the prevailing model of systems analysis is the organic which has several implications for contemporary theory: (1) internal relations theory: things are functions of each other; (2) restatement of the structure-function dichotomy: the organism is a spatio-temporal structure & this structure is the activity; & (3) the concept of the entity as a system the parts of which are mutually constitutive of each other. Several difficulties connected with the use of models are discussed, including: (1) while there are levels of symbolization, each with its own advantage, the limitation that relations between phenomena cannot be made pictorial cannot be wholly ignored; (2) while the model is made to represent reality, the reality beyond its boundaries is always greater than that within it; & (3) models involve symbolizations & thus invariably lead to tropological reasoning. W. F. Kenkel.