Visual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive to face view and gaze direction

1985 ◽  
Vol 223 (1232) ◽  
pp. 293-317 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Visual Cells ◽  
The Face ◽  
Full Face

The direction of eye gaze and orientation of the face towards or away from another are important social signals for man and for macaque monkey. We have studied the effects of these signals in a region of the macaque temporal cortex where cells have been found to be responsive to the sight of faces. Of cells selectively responsive to the sight of the face or head but not to other objects (182 cells) 63% were sensitive to the orientation of the head. Different views of the head (full face, profile, back or top of the head, face rotated by 45° up to the ceiling or down to the floor) maximally activated different classes of cell. All classes of cell, however, remained active as the preferred view was rotated isomorphically or was changed in size or distance. Isomorphic rotation by 90–180° increased cell response latencies by 10–60 ms. Sensitivity to gaze direction was found for 64% of the cells tested that were tuned to head orientation. Eighteen cells most responsive to the full face preferred eye contact, while 18 cells tuned to the profile face preferred averted gaze. Sensitivity to gaze was thus compatible with, but could be independent of, sensitivity to head orientation. Results suggest that the recognition of one type of object may proceed via the independent high level analysis of several restricted views of the object (viewer-centred descriptions).

Turning Heads: The Effects of Face View and Eye Gaze Direction on the Perceived Attractiveness of Expressive Faces

Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-356
Author(s):  
Pik Ki Ho ◽  
Fiona N. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Relative Duration ◽  
Front View ◽  
The Face ◽  
Face View ◽  
Full Face ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces ◽  
Perceived Attractiveness

We investigated whether the perceived attractiveness of expressive faces was influenced by head turn and eye gaze towards or away from the observer. In all experiments, happy faces were consistently rated as more attractive than angry faces. A head turn towards the observer, whereby a full-face view was shown, was associated with relatively higher attractiveness ratings when gaze direction was aligned with face view (Experiment 1). However, preference for full-face views of happy faces was not affected by gaze shifts towards or away from the observer (Experiment 2a). In Experiment 3, the relative duration of each face view (front-facing or averted at 15°) during a head turn away or towards the observer was manipulated. There was benefit on attractiveness ratings for happy faces shown for a longer duration from the front view, regardless of the direction of head turn. Our findings support previous studies indicating a preference for positive expressions on attractiveness judgements, which is further enhanced by the front views of faces, whether presented during a head turn or shown statically. In sum, our findings imply a complex interaction between cues of social attention, indicated by the view of the face shown, and reward on attractiveness judgements of unfamiliar faces.

scholarly journals Neural correlates to seen gaze-direction and head orientation in the macaque monkey amygdala

Neuroscience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 169 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Tazumi ◽  
E. Hori ◽  
R.S. Maior ◽  
T. Ono ◽  
H. Nishijo
Keyword(s):  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Orientation

Perception of eye gaze direction in a case of acquired prosopagnosia

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Fall 2019) ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Britt Erni ◽  
Roland Maurer ◽  
Dirk Kerzel ◽  
Nicolas Burra
Keyword(s):  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽  
Brain Lesions ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Healthy Women ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
The Face

The ability to perceive the direction of eye gaze is critical in social settings. Brain lesions in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) impair this ability. We investigated the perception of gaze direction of PS, a patient suffering from acquired prosopagnosia (Rossion et al., 2003). Despite lesions in the face network, the STS was spared in PS. We assessed perception of gaze direction in PS with upright, inverted, and contrast-reversed faces. Compared to the performance of 11 healthy women matched for age and education, PS demonstrated abnormal discrimination of gaze direction with upright and contrast-reversed faces, but not with inverted faces. Our findings suggest that the inability of the patient to process faces holistically weakened her perception of gaze direction, especially in demanding tasks.

scholarly journals Perceptual integration of head and eye cues to gaze direction in schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 180885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin J. Palmer ◽  
Nathan Caruana ◽  
Colin W. G. Clifford ◽  
Kiley J. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Contour Detection ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Head Region ◽  
Facial Cues ◽  
Sensory Features ◽  
The Face ◽  
Integrative Processing ◽  
Eye Region

The perceptual mechanisms that underlie social experience in schizophrenia are increasingly becoming a target of empirical research. In the context of low-level vision, there is evidence for a reduction in the integration of sensory features in schizophrenia (e.g. increased thresholds for contour detection and motion coherence). In the context of higher-level vision, comparable differences in the integration of sensory features of the face could in theory impair the recognition of important social cues. Here we examine how the sense of where other people are looking relies upon the integration of eye-region cues and head-region cues. Adults with schizophrenia viewed face images designed to elicit the ‘Wollaston illusion’, a perceptual phenomenon in which the perceived gaze direction associated with a given pair of eyes is modulated by the surrounding sensory context. We performed computational modelling of these psychophysical data to quantify individual differences in the use of facial cues to gaze direction. We find that adults with schizophrenia exhibit a robust perceptual effect whereby their sense of other people's direction of gaze is strongly biased by sensory cues relating to head orientation in addition to eye region information. These results indicate that the visual integration of facial cues to gaze direction in schizophrenia is intact, helping to constrain theories of reduced integrative processing in higher-level and lower-level vision. In addition, robust gaze processing was evident in the tested participants despite reduced performance on a theory of mind task designed to assess higher-level social cognition.

Objects Capture Perceived Gaze Direction

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janek S. Lobmaier ◽  
Martin H. Fischer ◽  
Adrian Schwaninger
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Local Features ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Gaze Perception ◽  
Mouse Cursor ◽  
Fixation Points ◽  
Normal Adults

The interpretation of another person's eye gaze is a key element of social cognition. Previous research has established that this ability develops early in life and is influenced by the person's head orientation, as well as local features of the person's eyes. Here we show that the presence of objects in the attended space also has an impact on gaze interpretation. Eleven normal adults identified the fixation points of photographed faces with a mouse cursor. Their responses were systematically biased toward the locations of nearby objects. This capture of perceived gaze direction probably reflects the attribution of intentionality and has methodological implications for research on gaze perception.

scholarly journals Human Face Tilt Is a Dynamic Social Signal That Affects Perceptions of Dimorphism, Attractiveness, and Dominance

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 147470492091040
Author(s):  
Peter Marshall ◽  
Amy Bartolacci ◽  
Darren Burke
Keyword(s):  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Linear Increase ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Social Signal ◽  
Actual Movement ◽  
The Face ◽  
M 31 ◽  
The Given ◽  
Rating Category ◽  
Physical Dominance

Previous research has shown that manipulating the pitch of a face (tilting the face upward or downward) affects the perceived femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and dominance of the given face. However, previous research has not considered the influence of direct eye gaze on dominance perceptions or the ambiguity surrounding the proposed social signals sent from a static face. The current research used 94 participants across two studies (women = 63%, age: M = 31). Stimuli varied in head pitch angle, eye gaze, and motion/static appearance. Participants rated the stimuli for levels of masculinity, femininity, attractiveness, and dominance. Both studies confirmed that pitching the face upward at incrementally increasing angles resulted in a linear increase in ratings of masculinity, physical dominance, and social dominance and a linear decrease in ratings of femininity, physical attractiveness, and behavioral allure. Study 2 showed that these effects can be dependent on either the perceived structural change of the face or the actual movement of the face, and these are different for each rating category. The perceived dimorphism, attractiveness, and dominance of a face will change dependent on the angle of pitch it is presented but also whether it is moving or not, where it is moving in space, and what direction it is moving.

Attention to Facial Regions in Segmental and Prosodic Visual Speech Perception Tasks

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charissa R. Lansing ◽  
George W. McConkie
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
The Face ◽  
Visual Speech Perception ◽  
Prosodic Categories

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that visual information related to segmental versus prosodic aspects of speech is distributed differently on the face of the talker. In the first experiment, eye gaze was monitored for 12 observers with normal hearing. Participants made decisions about segmental and prosodic categories for utterances presented without sound. The first experiment found that observers spend more time looking at and direct more gazes toward the upper part of the talker's face in making decisions about intonation patterns than about the words being spoken. The second experiment tested the Gaze Direction Assumption underlying Experiment 1—that is, that people direct their gaze to the stimulus region containing information required for their task. In this experiment, 18 observers with normal hearing made decisions about segmental and prosodic categories under conditions in which face motion was restricted to selected areas of the face. The results indicate that information in the upper part of the talker's face is more critical for intonation pattern decisions than for decisions about word segments or primary sentence stress, thus supporting the Gaze Direction Assumption. Visual speech perception proficiency requires learning where to direct visual attention for cues related to different aspects of speech.

Effects of Head Orientation on Gaze Perception: How Positive Congruency Effects Can be Reversed

2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Ricciardelli ◽  
Jon Driver
Keyword(s):  
Time Pressure ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Gaze Perception ◽  
Visible Part ◽  
The Face ◽  
Orientation Cues ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Eye Region

Several past studies have considered how perceived head orientation may be combined with perceived gaze direction in judging where someone else is attending. In three experiments we tested the impact of different sources of information by examining the role of head orientation in gaze-direction judgements when presenting: (a) the whole face; (b) the face with the nose masked; (c) just the eye region, removing all other head-orientation cues apart from some visible part of the nose; or (d) just the eyes, with all parts of the nose masked and no head orientation cues present other than those within the eyes themselves. We also varied time pressure on gaze direction judgements. The results showed that gaze judgements were not solely driven by the eye region. Gaze perception can also be affected by parts of the head and face, but in a manner that depends on the time constraints for gaze direction judgements. While “positive” congruency effects were found with time pressure (i.e., faster left/right judgements of seen gaze when the seen head deviated towards the same side as that gaze), the opposite applied without time pressure.

Organization and functions of cells responsive to faces in the temporal cortex

1992 ◽  
Vol 335 (1273) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Spatial Awareness ◽  
Functional Interpretation ◽  
Characteristic Views ◽  
The Face ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Vertical Elevation

Cells selectively responsive to the face have been found in several visual sub-areas of temporal cortex in the macaque brain. These include the lateral and ventral surfaces of inferior temporal cortex and the upper bank, lower bank and fundus of the superior temporal sulcus (STS). Cells in the different regions may contribute in different ways to the processing of the facial image. Within the upper bank of the STS different populations of cells are selective for different views of the face and head. These cells occur in functionally discrete patches (3-5 mm across) within the STS cortex. Studies of output connections from the STS also reveal a modular anatomical organization of repeating 3-5 mm patches connected to the parietal cortex, an area thought to be involved in spatial awareness and in the control of attention. The properties of some cells suggest a role in the discrimination of heads from other objects, and in the recognition of familiar individuals. The selectivity for view suggests that the neural operations underlying face or head recognition rely on parallel analyses of different characteristic views of the head, the outputs of these view-specific analyses being subsequently combined to support view-independent (object-centred) recognition. An alternative functional interpretation of the sensitivity to head view is that the cells enable an analysis of ‘social attention’, i.e. they signal where other individuals are directing their attention. A cell maximally responsive to the left profile thus provides a signal that the attention (of another individual) is directed to the observer’s left. Such information is useful for analysing social interactions between other individuals. This interpretation accounts not only for the extensive tuning to head view in the horizontal plane, but also explains the additional tuning of many STS cells to gaze direction and vertical elevation of the head and body posture. Deficits in perception of gaze direction after lesions to the macaque STS cortex, and in certain cases of prosopagnosia, are also predicted by this interpretation.

Supporting the Use of Rudimentary Vocalizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Zubow ◽  
Richard Hurtig
Keyword(s):  
Rett Syndrome ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Multiple Modalities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
The Face

Children with Rett Syndrome (RS) are reported to use multiple modalities to communicate although their intentionality is often questioned (Bartolotta, Zipp, Simpkins, & Glazewski, 2011; Hetzroni & Rubin, 2006; Sigafoos et al., 2000; Sigafoos, Woodyatt, Tuckeer, Roberts-Pennell, & Pittendreigh, 2000). This paper will present results of a study analyzing the unconventional vocalizations of a child with RS. The primary research question addresses the ability of familiar and unfamiliar listeners to interpret unconventional vocalizations as “yes” or “no” responses. This paper will also address the acoustic analysis and perceptual judgments of these vocalizations. Pre-recorded isolated vocalizations of “yes” and “no” were presented to 5 listeners (mother, father, 1 unfamiliar, and 2 familiar clinicians) and the listeners were asked to rate the vocalizations as either “yes” or “no.” The ratings were compared to the original identification made by the child's mother during the face-to-face interaction from which the samples were drawn. Findings of this study suggest, in this case, the child's vocalizations were intentional and could be interpreted by familiar and unfamiliar listeners as either “yes” or “no” without contextual or visual cues. The results suggest that communication partners should be trained to attend to eye-gaze and vocalizations to ensure the child's intended choice is accurately understood.

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