Lateral Differences in Face Processing: Task and Modality Effects

We compared the performance of dyslexic and typical readers on two perceptual tasks, the Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Task and the Holistic Word Processing Task. Both yield a metric of holistic processing that captures the extent to which participants automatically attend to information that is spatially nearby but irrelevant to the task at hand. Our results show, for the first time, that holistic processing of faces is comparable in dyslexic and typical readers but that dyslexic readers show greater holistic processing of words. Remarkably, we show that these metrics predict the performance of dyslexic readers on a standardized reading task, with more holistic processing in both tasks associated with higher accuracy and speed. In contrast, a more holistic style on the words task predicts less accurate reading of both words and pseudowords for typical readers. We discuss how these findings may guide our conceptualization of the visual deficit in dyslexia.

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Altered Prefrontal Theta and Gamma Activity during an Emotional Face Processing Task in Parkinson Disease

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01450 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (11) ◽

pp. 1768-1776

Author(s):

Witney Chen ◽

Coralie de Hemptinne ◽

Michael Leibbrand ◽

Andrew M. Miller ◽

Paul S. Larson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson Disease ◽

Face Processing ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Gamma Activity ◽

Alpha Power ◽

Processing Task ◽

Prefrontal Cortical ◽

Emotional Face Processing ◽

Gamma Power ◽

Emotional Face

Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) often experience nonmotor symptoms including cognitive deficits, depression, and anxiety. Cognitive and affective processes are thought to be mediated by prefrontal cortico-basal ganglia circuitry. However, the topography and neurophysiology of prefrontal cortical activity during complex tasks are not well characterized. We used high-resolution electrocorticography in pFC of patients with PD and essential tremor, during implantation of deep brain stimulator leads in the awake state, to understand disease-specific changes in prefrontal activity during an emotional face processing task. We found that patients with PD had less task-related theta–alpha power and greater task-related gamma power in the dorsolateral pFC, inferior frontal cortex, and lateral OFC. These findings support a model of prefrontal neurophysiological changes in the dopamine-depleted state, in which focal areas of hyperactivity in prefrontal cortical regions may compensate for impaired long-range interactions mediated by low-frequency rhythms. These distinct neurophysiological changes suggest that nonmotor circuits undergo characteristic changes in PD.

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7.4 Functional Activation During an Implicit Emotional Face Processing Task in Children and Adolescents With Bipolar Disorder and Unaffected Offspring of Bipolar Parents

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.jaac.2017.07.615 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 56 (10) ◽

pp. S311-S312

Author(s):

Isabelle E. Bauer ◽

Nithya Ramakrishnan ◽

Kirti Saxena ◽

Stefan Ursu ◽

Danielle Spiker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Face Processing ◽

Processing Task ◽

Emotional Face Processing ◽

Emotional Face

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Face Inversion Effect Emerges Under Critical Configural Discrepancy

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185/a000018 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 161-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jisien Yang ◽

Adrian Schwaninger

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Face Processing ◽

Underlying Mechanism ◽

Inversion Effect ◽

Configural Processing ◽

Major Contributor ◽

Face Inversion Effect ◽

Configural Information ◽

Face Inversion ◽

The Face

Configural processing has been considered the major contributor to the face inversion effect (FIE) in face recognition. However, most researchers have only obtained the FIE with one specific ratio of configural alteration. It remains unclear whether the ratio of configural alteration itself can mediate the occurrence of the FIE. We aimed to clarify this issue by manipulating the configural information parametrically using six different ratios, ranging from 4% to 24%. Participants were asked to judge whether a pair of faces were entirely identical or different. The paired faces that were to be compared were presented either simultaneously (Experiment 1) or sequentially (Experiment 2). Both experiments revealed that the FIE was observed only when the ratio of configural alteration was in the intermediate range. These results indicate that even though the FIE has been frequently adopted as an index to examine the underlying mechanism of face processing, the emergence of the FIE is not robust with any configural alteration but dependent on the ratio of configural alteration.

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