scholarly journals Priming Visual Face-Processing Mechanisms: Electrophysiological Evidence

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Bentin ◽  
Noam Sagiv ◽  
Axel Mecklinger ◽  
Angela Friederici ◽  
Yves D. von Cramon
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Perceptual Representation ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Perceptual Mechanism

Accumulated evidence from electrophysiology and neuroimaging suggests that face perception involves extrastriate visual mechanisms specialized in processing physiognomic features and building a perceptual representation that is categorically distinct and can be identified by face-recognition units. In the present experiment, we recorded event-related brain potentials in order to explore possible contextual influences on the activity of this perceptual mechanism. Subjects were first exposed to pairs of small shapes, which did not elicit any face-specific brain activity. The same stimuli, however, elicited face-specific brain activity after subjects saw them embedded in schematic faces, which probably primed the subjects to interpret the shapes as schematic eyes. No face-specific activity was observed when objects rather than faces were used to form the context. We conclude that the activity of face-specific extrastriate perceptual mechanisms can be modulated by contextual constraints that determine the significance of the visual input.

scholarly journals Specialized Face Perception Mechanisms Extract Both Part and Spacing Information: Evidence from Developmental Prosopagnosia

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 580-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galit Yovel ◽  
Brad Duchaine
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Face Representation ◽  
Lower Performance ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Normal Performance ◽  
Extract Information

It is well established that faces are processed by mechanisms that are not used with other objects. Two prominent hypotheses have been proposed to characterize how information is represented by these special mechanisms. The spacing hypothesis suggests that face-specific mechanisms primarily extract information about spacing among parts rather than information about the shape of the parts. In contrast, the holistic hypothesis suggests that faces are processed as nondecomposable wholes and, therefore, claims that both parts and spacing among them are integral aspects of face representation. Here we examined these hypotheses by testing a group of developmental prosopagnosics (DPs) who suffer from deficits in face recognition. Subjects performed a face discrimination task with faces that differed either in the spacing of the parts but not the parts (spacing task), or in the parts but not the spacing of the parts (part task). Consistent with the holistic hypothesis, DPs showed lower performance than controls on both the spacing and the part tasks, as long as salient contrast differences between the parts were minimized. Furthermore, by presenting similar spacing and part tasks with houses, we tested whether face-processing mechanisms are specific to faces, or whether they are used to process spacing information from any stimulus. DPs' normal performance on the tasks of two houses indicates that their deficit does not result from impairment in a general-purpose spacing mechanism. In summary, our data clearly support face-specific holistic hypothesis by showing that face perception mechanisms extract both part and spacing information.

scholarly journals Orientation-invariance of individual differences in three face processing tasks

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 181350
Author(s):  
G. Meinhardt ◽  
B. Meinhardt-Injac ◽  
M. Persike
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Common Variance ◽  
Strong Inversion ◽  
Orientation Invariance

Numerous studies have reported impairments in perception and recognition, and, particularly, in part-integration of faces following picture-plane inversion. Whether these findings support the notion that inversion changes face processing qualitatively remains a topic of debate. To examine whether associations and dissociations of the human face processing ability depend on stimulus orientation, we measured face recognition with the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT), along with experimental tests of face perception and selective attention to faces and non-face objects in a sample of 314 participants. Results showed strong inversion effects for all face-related tasks, and modest ones for non-face objects. Individual differences analysis revealed that the CFMT shared common variance with face perception and face-selective attention, however, independent of orientation. Regardless of whether predictor and criterion had same or different orientation, face recognition was best predicted by the same test battery. Principal component decomposition revealed a common factor for face recognition and face perception, a second common factor for face recognition and face-selective attention, and two unique factors. The patterns of factor loadings were nearly identical for upright and inverted presentation. These results indicate orientation-invariance of common variance in three domains of face processing. Since inversion impaired performance, but did not affect domain-related associations and dissociations, the findings suggest process-specific but orientation-general mechanisms. Specific limitations by constraints of individual differences analysis and test selection are discussed.

Adults’ Markers of Face Processing Are Present at Age 6 and Are Interconnected Along Development

Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 1002-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elite Mardo ◽  
Galia Avidan ◽  
Bat-Sheva Hadad
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
Perceptual Skills ◽  
Domain Specific

Recent studies on the development of face processing argue for a late, quantitative, domain-specific development of face processing, and face memory in particular. Most previous findings were based on separately tracking the developmental course of face perception skills, comparing performance across different age groups. Here, we adopted a different approach studying the mechanisms underlying the development of face processing by focusing on how different face skills are interrelated over the years (age 6 to adulthood). Specifically, we examined correlations within and between different categories of tasks: face domain-specific skills involving face recognition based on long-term representations (famous face), and short-term memory retention (Cambridge Face Memory Test), perceptual face-specific marker (inversion effect), global effects in scene perception (global–local task), and the perception of facial expressions. Factor analysis revealed that face identity skills have a similar pattern of interrelations throughout development, identifying two factors: a face domain-specific factor comprising adultlike markers of face processing and a general factor incorporating related, but nonspecific perceptual skills. Domain-specific age-related changes in face recognition entailing short- and long-term retention of face representations were observed, along with mature perceptual face-specific markers and more general perceptual effects predicting face perception skills already at age 6. The results suggest that the domain-specific changes in face processing are unlikely to result from developmental changes in perceptual skills driving face recognition. Instead, development may either involve improvement in the ability to retain face representations in memory or changes in the interactions between the perceptual representations of faces and their representations in long-term memory.

scholarly journals The importance of surface-based cues for face discrimination in non-human primates

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1714) ◽  
pp. 1964-1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Parr ◽  
Jessica Taubert
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Contrast Information ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

Understanding how individual identity is processed from faces remains a complex problem. Contrast reversal, showing faces in photographic negative, impairs face recognition in humans and demonstrates the importance of surface-based information (shading and pigmentation) in face recognition. We tested the importance of contrast information for face encoding in chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys using a computerized face-matching task. Results showed that contrast reversal (positive to negative) selectively impaired face processing in these two species, although the impairment was greater for chimpanzees. Unlike chimpanzees, however, monkeys performed just as well matching negative to positive faces, suggesting that they retained some ability to extract identity information from negative faces. A control task showed that chimpanzees, but not rhesus monkeys, performed significantly better matching face parts compared with whole faces after a contrast reversal, suggesting that contrast reversal acts selectively on face processing, rather than general visual-processing mechanisms. These results confirm the importance of surface-based cues for face processing in chimpanzees and humans, while the results were less salient for rhesus monkeys. These findings make a significant contribution to understanding the evolution of cognitive specializations for face processing among primates, and suggest potential differences between monkeys and apes.

Of Mannequins and Men

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason C. Deska ◽  
Steven M. Almaraz ◽  
Kurt Hugenberg
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Perceptual Similarity ◽  
Face Inversion ◽  
Interactive Product ◽  
Spontaneous Activation ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Configural Face Processing ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

Recent research has demonstrated that ascribing minds to humanlike stimuli is a product of both their perceptual similarity to human faces and whether they engaged configural face processing. We present the findings of two experiments in which we both manipulate the amount of humanlike features in faces (in a doll-to-human morph continuum) and manipulate perceivers’ ability to employ configural face processing (via face inversion) while measuring explicit ratings of mind ascription (Study 1) and the spontaneous activation of humanlike concepts (Study 2). In both studies, we find novel evidence that ascribing minds to entities is an interactive product of both having strong perceptual similarity to human faces and being processed using configural processing mechanisms typical of normal face perception. In short, ascribing mind to others is bounded jointly by the featural cues of the target and by processes employed by the perceiver.

Monkey and Human Face Perception: Inversion Effects for Human Faces But Not for Monkey Faces or Scenes

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony A. Wright ◽  
William A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Facial Hair ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Inversion Effects

Three rhesus monkeys and two groups of 10 human subjects judged upright or inverted pictures as same or different. The pictures were black and white pairs of human faces, monkey faces, or scenes. The monkeys were trained with sets of 50 pictures and were tested with other sets of 36 pictures from each category. The groups of 10 human subjects were tested with the same pictures used to test monkeys. Both monkeys and humans showed large performance decrements to inverted human faces relative to upright human faces but neither species showed inversion effects for monkey faces or scenes. A second test with both monkeys and humans showed the same pattern of results with a different set of human-face pictures that varied more in sex (female as well as male), facial hair, eyeglasses, haircut, view angle, and background than those of the first test. The results indicate similar face-processing mechanisms in monkeys and humans despite experiential and evolutionary differences.

Face Inversion Effect Emerges Under Critical Configural Discrepancy

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-167 ◽  
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.

Skipping Breakfast Affects the Early Steps of Cognitive Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Andrés Antonio González-Garrido ◽  
Jacobo José Brofman-Epelbaum ◽  
Fabiola Reveca Gómez-Velázquez ◽  
Sebastián Agustín Balart-Sánchez ◽  
Julieta Ramos-Loyo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Skipping Breakfast

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

Do Event-Related Brain Potentials Reflect Mental (Cognitive) Operations?

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Kotchoubey
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
External Variables ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Mental Operations ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

Abstract Most cognitive psychophysiological studies assume (1) that there is a chain of (partially overlapping) cognitive processes (processing stages, mechanisms, operators) leading from stimulus to response, and (2) that components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) may be regarded as manifestations of these processing stages. What is usually discussed is which particular processing mechanisms are related to some particular component, but not whether such a relationship exists at all. Alternatively, from the point of view of noncognitive (e. g., “naturalistic”) theories of perception ERP components might be conceived of as correlates of extraction of the information from the experimental environment. In a series of experiments, the author attempted to separate these two accounts, i. e., internal variables like mental operations or cognitive parameters versus external variables like information content of stimulation. Whenever this separation could be performed, the latter factor proved to significantly affect ERP amplitudes, whereas the former did not. These data indicate that ERPs cannot be unequivocally linked to processing mechanisms postulated by cognitive models of perception. Therefore, they cannot be regarded as support for these models.

Visual asymmetries during face encoding Increased dwell time and fixations in the upper and left hemifields

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Maria Felisberti
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Dwell Time ◽  
The Other ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
The Right

Visual field asymmetries (VFA) in the encoding of groups rather than individual faces has been rarely investigated. Here, eye movements (dwell time (DT) and fixations (Fix)) were recorded during the encoding of three groups of four faces tagged with cheating, cooperative, or neutral behaviours. Faces in each of the three groups were placed in the upper left (UL), upper right (UR), lower left (LL), or lower right (LR) quadrants. Face recognition was equally high in the three groups. In contrast, the proportion of DT and Fix were higher for faces in the left than the right hemifield and in the upper rather than the lower hemifield. The overall time spent looking at the UL was higher than in the other quadrants. The findings are relevant to the understanding of VFA in face processing, especially groups of faces, and might be linked to environmental cues and/or reading habits.

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