fMRI-Adaptation Reveals Dissociable Neural Representations of Identity and Expression in Face Perception

The distributed model of face processing proposes an anatomical dissociation between brain regions that encode invariant aspects of faces, such as identity, and those that encode changeable aspects of faces, such as expression. We tested for a neuroanatomical dissociation for identity and expression in face perception using a functional MRI (fMRI) adaptation paradigm. Repeating identity across face pairs led to reduced fMRI signal in fusiform cortex and posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), whereas repeating emotional expression across pairs led to reduced signal in a more anterior region of STS. These results provide neuroanatomical evidence for the distributed model of face processing and highlight a dissociation within right STS between a caudal segment coding identity and a more rostral region coding emotional expression.

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A Perceptual Traffic Jam on Highway N170

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00329.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 30-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Isabel Gauthier ◽

Kim M. Curby

Keyword(s):

Object Recognition ◽

Face Perception ◽

Face Processing ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Brain Activation ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Behavioral Performance ◽

Traffic Jam ◽

Rule Out

Whether face processing is modular or not has been the topic of a lively empirical and theoretical debate. In expert observers, the perception of nonface objects in their domain of expertise is remarkably similar to their perception of faces, in patterns of both behavioral performance and brain activation, providing some evidence against the modularity of face perception. However, the studies that have yielded these results do not rule out the possibility that object expertise and face processing occur in spatially overlapping, but functionally independent, brain regions. Recent research using an interference paradigm reveals that expert object (car) processing interferes with face processing. The level of interference was proportional to an individual's level of car expertise. These results may provide the most direct evidence to date that face and object recognition are not functionally independent.

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Event-related network changes unfold the dynamics of cortical integration during face processing

10.1101/2020.06.29.177436 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Antonio Maffei ◽

Paola Sessa

Keyword(s):

Face Perception ◽

Network Topology ◽

Face Processing ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Network Architecture ◽

Time Window ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Data Availability ◽

Global Network ◽

State And Local

AbstractFace perception arises from a collective activation of brain regions in the occipital, parietal and temporal cortices. Despite wide acknowledgement that these regions act in an intertwined network, the network behavior itself is poorly understood. Here we present a study in which time-varying connectivity estimated from EEG activity elicited by facial expressions presentation was characterized using graph-theoretical measures of node centrality and global network topology. Results revealed that face perception results from a dynamic reshaping of the network architecture, characterized by the emergence of hubs located in the occipital and temporal regions of the scalp. The importance of these nodes can be observed from early stages of visual processing and reaches a climax in the same time-window in which the face-sensitive N170 is observed. Furthermore, using Granger causality, we found that the time-evolving centrality of these nodes is associated with ERP amplitude, providing a direct link between the network state and local neural response. Additionally, investigating global network topology by means of small-worldness and modularity, we found that face processing requires a functional network with a strong small-world organization that maximizes integration, at the cost of segregated subdivisions. Interestingly, we found that this architecture is not static, but instead it is implemented by the network from stimulus onset to ~200 msec. Altogether, this study reveals the event-related changes underlying face processing at the network level, suggesting that a distributed processing mechanism operates through dynamically weighting the contribution of the cortical regions involved.Data AvailabilityData and code related to this manuscript can be accessed through the OSF at this link https://osf.io/hc3sk/?view_only=af52bc4295c044ffbbd3be019cc083f4

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Stable neural representations of mental states across target people and stimulus modalities

10.31234/osf.io/7axzj ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Miriam E. Weaverdyck ◽

Mark Allen Thornton ◽

Diana Tamir

Keyword(s):

Mental State ◽

Mental States ◽

Brain Regions ◽

The Self ◽

Similarity Analysis ◽

Multiple Modalities ◽

Neural Representations ◽

Conceptual Core ◽

Stimulus Modalities ◽

Huge Variety

Each individual experiences mental states in their own idiosyncratic way, yet perceivers are able to accurately understand a huge variety of states across unique individuals. How do they accomplish this feat? Do people think about their own anger in the same ways as another person’s? Is reading about someone’s anxiety the same as seeing it? Here, we test the hypothesis that a common conceptual core unites mental state representations across contexts. Across three studies, participants judged the mental states of multiple targets, including a generic other, the self, a socially close other, and a socially distant other. Participants viewed mental state stimuli in multiple modalities, including written scenarios and images. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that brain regions associated with social cognition expressed stable neural representations of mental states across both targets and modalities. This suggests that people use stable models of mental states across different people and contexts.

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The COVID-19 pandemic masks the way people perceive faces

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-78986-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Erez Freud ◽

Andreja Stajduhar ◽

R. Shayna Rosenbaum ◽

Galia Avidan ◽

Tzvi Ganel

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Face Perception ◽

Face Processing ◽

Qualitative Change ◽

Daily Activities ◽

Human Face ◽

Human Face Recognition ◽

Processing Abilities ◽

Partially Occluded ◽

The Way

AbstractThe unprecedented efforts to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic introduce a new arena for human face recognition in which faces are partially occluded with masks. Here, we tested the extent to which face masks change the way faces are perceived. To this end, we evaluated face processing abilities for masked and unmasked faces in a large online sample of adult observers (n = 496) using an adapted version of the Cambridge Face Memory Test, a validated measure of face perception abilities in humans. As expected, a substantial decrease in performance was found for masked faces. Importantly, the inclusion of masks also led to a qualitative change in the way masked faces are perceived. In particular, holistic processing, the hallmark of face perception, was disrupted for faces with masks, as suggested by a reduced inversion effect. Similar changes were found whether masks were included during the study or the test phases of the experiment. Together, we provide novel evidence for quantitative and qualitative alterations in the processing of masked faces that could have significant effects on daily activities and social interactions.

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Confidence of emotion expression recognition recruits brain regions outside the face perception network

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsy102 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 81-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Indrit Bègue ◽

Maarten Vaessen ◽

Jeremy Hofmeister ◽

Marice Pereira ◽

Sophie Schwartz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Perception ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Emotion Expression ◽

Expression Recognition ◽

The Face

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Neuronal Function in the Cortical Face Perception Network

Advances in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering - Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Neuroscience for Healthcare ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-2113-8.ch018 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 171-182

Author(s):

Bin Wang ◽

Tianyi Yan ◽

Jinglong Wu

Keyword(s):

Face Perception ◽

Visual Analysis ◽

Neural Systems ◽

Visual Object ◽

Lateral Side ◽

Face Area ◽

Object Categories ◽

Neural Representations ◽

Perceptual Skill ◽

Multiple Regions

Face perception is considered the most developed visual perceptual skill in humans. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have graphically illustrated that multiple regions exhibit a stronger neural response to faces than to other visual object categories, which were specialized for face processing. These regions are in the lateral side of the fusiform gyrus, the “fusiform face area” or FFA, in the inferior occipital gyri, the “occipital face area” or OFA, and in the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). These regions are supposed to perform the visual analysis of faces and appear to participate differentially in different types of face perception. An important question is how faces are represented within these areas. In this chapter, the authors review the function, interaction, and topography of these regions relevant to face perception. They also discuss the human neural systems that mediate face perception and attempt to show some research dictions for face perception and neural representations.

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fMRI-adaptation evidence of overlapping neural representations for objects related in function or manipulation

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.036 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 753-763 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Eiling Yee ◽

Daniel M. Drucker ◽

Sharon L. Thompson-Schill

Keyword(s):

Neural Representations ◽

Fmri Adaptation

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Novelty preference in face perception by week-old lambs (Ovis aries)

Interaction Studies ◽

10.1075/is.15.1.05ros ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 113-128

Author(s):

Orsola Rosa Salva ◽

Simona Normando ◽

Antonio Mollo ◽

Lucia Regolin

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Face Perception ◽

Face Processing ◽

Ovis Aries ◽

The Other ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Face Stimulus ◽

Novelty Preference ◽

Photographic Images ◽

Face Stimuli

An extensive literature has been accumulating, in recent years, on face-processing in sheep and on the relevance of faces for social interaction in this species. In spite of this, spontaneous preferences for face or non-face stimuli in lambs have not been reported. In this study we tested the spontaneous preference of 8-day-old lambs (N = 9) for three pairs of stimuli. In each pair, one stimulus was a face-like display, whereas the other presented the same inner features displaced in unnatural positions. One pair of stimuli was obtained from photographic images of ewes’ faces, the other two pairs were schematic face-like stimuli. Lambs could differentiate the two stimuli obtained by photos of conspecifics, looking longer at the non-face stimulus (p < 0.05). We interpret this as a novelty preference, proving that few day-old lambs have already encoded the structural properties that define a face and recognize violations of those general properties.

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Orientation-invariance of individual differences in three face processing tasks

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.181350 ◽

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.

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