scholarly journals Identification of visual paternity cues in humans

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 20140063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Alvergne ◽  
Fanny Perreau ◽  
Allan Mazur ◽  
Ulrich Mueller ◽  
Michel Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Paternal Investment ◽  
Relational Information ◽  
Adult Sons ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Paternity Uncertainty ◽  
The Face ◽  
Experimental Treatments ◽  
Location Type

Understanding how individuals identify their relatives has implications for the evolution of social behaviour. Kinship cues might be based on familiarity, but in the face of paternity uncertainty and costly paternal investment, other mechanisms such as phenotypic matching may have evolved. In humans, paternal recognition of offspring and subsequent discriminative paternal investment have been linked to father–offspring facial phenotypic similarities. However, the extent to which paternity detection is impaired by environmentally induced facial information is unclear. We used 27 portraits of fathers and their adult sons to quantify the level of paternity detection according to experimental treatments that manipulate the location, type and quantity of visible facial information. We found that (i) the lower part of the face, that changes most with development, does not contain paternity cues, (ii) paternity can be detected even if relational information within the face is disrupted and (iii) the signal depends on the presence of specific information rather than their number. Taken together, the results support the view that environmental effects have little influence on the detection of paternity using facial similarities. This suggests that the cognitive dispositions enabling the facial detection of kinship relationships ignore genetic irrelevant facial information.

Local and Relational Aspects of Face Distinctiveness

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Leder ◽  
Vicki Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Similar Pattern ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Local Features ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Relational Information ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face

Distinctiveness contributes strongly to the recognition and rejection of faces in memory tasks. In four experiments we examine the role played by local and relational information in the distinctiveness of upright and inverted faces. In all experiments subjects saw one of three versions of a face: original faces, which had been rated as average in distinctiveness in a previous study (Hancock, Burton, & Bruce, 1996), a more distinctive version in which local features had been changed ( D-local), and a more distinctive version in which relational features had been changed ( D-rel). An increase in distinctiveness was found for D-local and D-rel faces in Experiment 1 (complete faces) and 3 and 4 (face internals only) when the faces had to be rated in upright presentation, but the distinctiveness of the D-rel faces was reduced much more than that of the D-local versions when the ratings were given to the faces presented upside-down (Experiments 1 and 3). Recognition performance showed a similar pattern: presented upright, both D-local and D-rel revealed higher performance compared to the originals, but in upside-down presentation the D-local versions showed a much stronger distinctiveness advantage. When only internal features of faces were used (Experiments 3 and 4), the D-rel faces lost their advantage over the Original versions in inverted presentation. The results suggest that at least two dimensions of facial information contribute to a face's apparent distinctiveness, but that these sources of information are differentially affected by turning the face upside-down. These findings are in accordance with a face processing model in which face inversion effects occur because a specific type of information processing is disrupted, rather than because of a general disruption of performance.

Differential Characteristics of Face Neuron Responses Within the Anterior Superior Temporal Sulcus of Macaques

2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 1252-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wania C. De Souza ◽  
Satoshi Eifuku ◽  
Ryoi Tamura ◽  
Hisao Nishijo ◽  
Taketoshi Ono
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Functional Heterogeneity ◽  
Oblique View ◽  
Macaque Monkeys ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Rostral Region

The anterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) of macaque monkeys is thought to be involved in the analysis of incoming perceptual information for face recognition or identification; face neurons in the anterior STS show tuning to facial views and/or gaze direction in the faces of others. Although it is well known that both the anatomical architecture and the connectivity differ between the rostral and caudal regions of the anterior STS, the functional heterogeneity of these regions is not well understood. We recorded the activity of face neurons in the anterior STS of macaque monkeys during the performance of a face identification task, and we compared the characteristics of face neuron responses in the caudal and rostral regions of the anterior STS. In the caudal region, facial views that elicited optimal responses were distributed among all views tested; the majority of face neurons responded symmetrically to right and left views. In contrast, the face neurons in the rostral region responded optimally to a single oblique view; right-left symmetry among the responses of these neurons was less evident. Modulation of the face neuron responses according to gaze direction was more evident in the rostral region. Some of the face neuron responses were specific to a certain combination of a particular facial view and a particular gaze direction, whereas others were associated with the relative spatial relationship between facial view and gaze direction. Taken together, these results indicated the existence of a functional heterogeneity within the anterior STS and suggested a plausible hierarchical organization of facial information processing.

scholarly journals Does Prosopagnosia Take the Eyes Out of Face Representations? Evidence for a Defect in Representing Diagnostic Facial Information following Brain Damage

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1652-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Caldara ◽  
Philippe Schyns ◽  
Eugéne Mayer ◽  
Marie L. Smith ◽  
Frédéric Gosselin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Occipitotemporal Cortex ◽  
Response Classification ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces ◽  
Normal Controls

One of the most impressive disorders following brain damage to the ventral occipitotemporal cortex is prosopagnosia, or the inability to recognize faces. Although acquired prosopagnosia with preserved general visual and memory functions is rare, several cases have been described in the neuropsychological literature and studied at the functional and neural level over the last decades. Here we tested a brain-damaged patient (PS) presenting a deficit restricted to the category of faces to clarify the nature of the missing and preserved components of the face processing system when it is selectively damaged. Following learning to identify 10 neutral and happy faces through extensive training, we investigated patient PS's recognition of faces using Bubbles, a response classification technique that sampled facial information across the faces in different bandwidths of spatial frequencies [Gosselin, F., & Schyns, P. E., Bubbles: A technique to reveal the use of information in recognition tasks. Vision Research, 41, 2261-2271, 2001]. Although PS gradually used less information (i.e., the number of bubbles) to identify faces over testing, the total information required was much larger than for normal controls and decreased less steeply with practice. Most importantly, the facial information used to identify individual faces differed between PS and controls. Specifically, in marked contrast to controls, PS did not use the optimal eye information to identify familiar faces, but instead the lower part of the face, including the mouth and the external contours, as normal observers typically do when processing unfamiliar faces. Together, the findings reported here suggest that damage to the face processing system is characterized by an inability to use the information that is optimal to judge identity, focusing instead on suboptimal information.

scholarly journals Attention to speaking mouth is reduced by face inversion in infants only from 9 months of age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Laudańska ◽  
Aleksandra Dopierała ◽  
Magdalena Szmytke ◽  
Dianna Ilyka ◽  
Anna Malinowska-Korczak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Early Integration ◽  
Face Inversion ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Configural Face Processing ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

Abstract Configural processing is a specialised perceptual mechanism that allows adult humans to quickly process facial information. It emerges before the first birthday and can be disrupted by upside-down presentation of the face (inversion). To date, little is known about the relationship of configural face processing to the emerging knowledge of audiovisual (AV) speech in infancy. Using eye-tracking we measured attention to speaking mouth in upright and inverted faces that were either congruent or incongruent with the speech sound. Face inversion affected looking at AV speech only in older infants (9- to 11- and 12- to 14-month-olds). The youngest group of infants (5- to 7-month-olds) did not show any differences in looking durations between upright and inverted faces, while in both older groups face inversion led to reduced looking at the articulating mouth. We also observed a stronger interest in the eyes in the youngest infants, followed by an increase in looking time to the mouth in both older groups. Our findings suggest that configural face processing is involved in AV speech processing already in infancy, indicating early integration of face and speech processing mechanisms in cognitive development.

scholarly journals Prioritising Medicines, Negotiating Lives: An Anthropological Inquiry of Pharmaceutical Access in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Veronica Adams
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Cost Utility ◽  
Utility Analysis ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Experimental Treatments ◽  
Anthropological Literature

<p>Pharmaceuticals have become synonymous with ideas of health and wellbeing. The consumption of pharmaceuticals has become the gateway to restoring, maintaining, or improving one’s health; in turn becoming deeply entrenched in everyday life as treatment for disease. Given the use of pharmaceuticals for treatment, the question needs to be asked how individuals are able to obtain the medication they need. There is little anthropological literature concerning how patients negotiate and lobby for access to pharmaceutical treatment in New Zealand, particularly so in the face of Pharmac as the government entity which heavily regulates pharmaceuticals. Through conducting interviews with nine participants who are patients, general practitioners, and employees of Pharmac, I argue that in utilising policies such as cost utility analysis Pharmac prioritise which medicines are publically funded, and in doing this determine how health is conceived and calculated within the New Zealand health care system. In determining which medicines should be funded the state is making judgements over which lives are prioritised, and, in turn, who is left to die. I suggest that in the face of being denied access to life-saving drugs patients become mobilised through seeking access to experimental therapies via pharmaceutical companies. By taking these experimental treatments we come to understand that experimentation and risk have become crucial in patients fight for life against the prognosis of an early death from disease.</p>

scholarly journals Dissociating gait from static appearance: A virtual reality study of the role of dynamic identity signatures in person recognition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Simhi ◽  
Galit Yovel
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
Body Form ◽  
Person Recognition ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Dynamic Identity ◽  
Close Distance

Studies on person recognition have primarily examined recognition of static faces, presented on a computer screen at a close distance. Nevertheless, in naturalistic situations we typically see the whole dynamic person, often approaching from a distance. In such cases, facial information may be less clear, and the motion pattern of an individual, their dynamic identity signature (DIS), may be used for person recognition. Studies that examined the role of motion in person recognition, presented videos of people in motion. However, such stimuli do not allow for the dissociation of gait from face and body form, as different identities differ both in their gait and static appearance. To examine the contribution of gait in person recognition, independently from static appearance, we used a virtual environment, and presented across participants, the same face and body form with different gaits. The virtual environment also enabled us to assess the distance at which a person is recognized as a continuous variable. Using this setting, we assessed the accuracy and distance at which identities are recognized based on their gait, as a function of gait distinctiveness. We find that the accuracy and distance at which people were recognized increased with gait distinctiveness. Importantly, these effects were found when recognizing identities in motion but not from static displays, indicating that DIS rather than attention, enabled more accurate person recognition. Overall these findings highlight that gait contributes to person recognition beyond the face and body and stress an important role for gait in real-life person recognition.

Governance and Management of Coasts and Ocean in the face of uncertainty. A Guide for Decision Makers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Azuz-Adeath ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Postgraduate Studies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

For Mexico, which has under its control more than three million square kilometers of maritime surface, its oceans and coasts are still the elephant in the kitchen of politics territorial, environmental, socioeconomic, administrative, scientific and cultural public. It is an extensive and heterogeneous work in terms of themes and scope. The 42 chapters cover reviews of international experiences in governance, coastal erosion studies, meteorology and education, from coastal management to postgraduate studies. The problems of epicontinental wetlands, socio-ecological problems are also exposed, and policy instruments for the conservation, management and restoration of marine species and ecosystems are analyzed. They also touch on issues of introduction of clean energy in coastal areas, fisheries and aquaculture and current issues such as sargassum and plastics on coasts and seas, highlighting the lack of specific information on this issue on the Mexican seas. Scenarios and impacts of climate change and different adaptation possibilities are also addressed. A kind of common denominator is the presentation of lessons learned and recommendations in terms of management and socio-environmental organization. Although some of the policy instruments they mention are not necessarily current, the analyzes and reflections make it possible to take advantage of the experiences.

scholarly journals Testing encoding specificity and the diagnostic feature-detection theory of eyewitness identification, with implications for showups, lineups, and partially disguised perpetrators

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Curt A. Carlson ◽  
Jacob A. Hemby ◽  
Alex R. Wooten ◽  
Alyssa R. Jones ◽  
Robert F. Lockamyeir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feature Detection ◽  
Eyewitness Identification ◽  
Detection Theory ◽  
Diagnostic Information ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Exterior Region ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Encoding Specificity ◽  
Encoding And Retrieval

AbstractThe diagnostic feature-detection theory (DFT) of eyewitness identification is based on facial information that is diagnostic versus non-diagnostic of suspect guilt. It primarily has been tested by discounting non-diagnostic information at retrieval, typically by surrounding a single suspect showup with good fillers to create a lineup. We tested additional DFT predictions by manipulating the presence of facial information (i.e., the exterior region of the face) at both encoding and retrieval with a large between-subjects factorial design (N = 19,414). In support of DFT and in replication of the literature, lineups yielded higher discriminability than showups. In support of encoding specificity, conditions that matched information between encoding and retrieval were generally superior to mismatch conditions. More importantly, we supported several DFT and encoding specificity predictions not previously tested, including that (a) adding non-diagnostic information will reduce discriminability for showups more so than lineups, and (b) removing diagnostic information will lower discriminability for both showups and lineups. These results have implications for police deciding whether to conduct a showup or a lineup, and when dealing with partially disguised perpetrators (e.g., wearing a hoodie).

Perceptual and Semantic Phases of Face Identification Processing: A Multivariate Electroencephalography Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 1827-1839
Author(s):  
Zarrar Shehzad ◽  
Gregory McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Rapid Identification ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Invariant Representation ◽  
Scalp Topography ◽  
Person Identity ◽  
The Face

Rapid identification of a familiar face requires an image-invariant representation of person identity. A varying sample of familiar faces is necessary to disentangle image-level from person-level processing. We investigated the time course of face identity processing using a multivariate electroencephalography analysis. Participants saw ambient exemplars of celebrity faces that differed in pose, lighting, hairstyle, and so forth. A name prime preceded a face on half of the trials to preactivate person-specific information, whereas a neutral prime was used on the remaining half. This manipulation helped dissociate perceptual- and semantic-based identification. Two time intervals within the post-face onset electroencephalography epoch were sensitive to person identity. The early perceptual phase spanned 110–228 msec and was not modulated by the name prime. The late semantic phase spanned 252–1000 msec and was sensitive to person knowledge activated by the name prime. Within this late phase, the identity response occurred earlier in time (300–600 msec) for the name prime with a scalp topography similar to the FN400 ERP. This may reflect a matching of the person primed in memory with the face on the screen. Following a neutral prime, the identity response occurred later in time (500–800 msec) with a scalp topography similar to the P600f ERP. This may reflect activation of semantic knowledge associated with the identity. Our results suggest that processing of identity begins early (110 msec), with some tolerance to image-level variations, and then progresses in stages sensitive to perceptual and then to semantic features.

scholarly journals Sexual dimorphism in hemispheric processing of faces in humans: A meta-analysis of 817 cases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice M Proverbio
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Bioelectrical Activity ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Front View ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract A well-established neuroimaging literature predicts a right-sided asymmetry in the activation of face-devoted areas such as the fusiform gyrus (FG) and its resulting M/N170 response during face processing. However, the face-related response sometimes appears to be bihemispheric. A few studies have argued that bilaterality depended on the sex composition of the sample. To shed light on this matter, two meta-analyses were conducted starting from a large initial database of 250 ERP (Event-related potentials)/MEG (Magnetoencephalography) peer-reviewed scientific articles. Paper coverage was from 1985 to 2020. Thirty-four articles met the inclusion criteria of a sufficiently large and balanced sample size with strictly right-handed and healthy participants aged 18–35 years and N170 measurements in response to neutral front view faces at left and right occipito/temporal sites. The data of 817 male (n = 414) and female (n = 403) healthy adults were subjected to repeated-measures analyses of variance. The results of statistical analyses from the data of 17 independent studies (from Asia, Europe and America) seem to robustly indicate the presence of a sex difference in the way the two cerebral hemispheres process facial information in humans, with a marked right-sided asymmetry of the bioelectrical activity in males and a bilateral or left-sided activity in females.

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