Dissociating holistic from featural face processing by means of fixation patterns

AbstractConfigural face processing is considered to be vital for face perception. If configural face processing requires an evaluation of spatial information, might this process involve interactions between ventral stream face-processing regions and dorsal stream visuospatial-processing regions? We explored this possibility using thetaburst stimulation (TBS) with fMRI in humans. Participants were shown two faces that differed in either the shape (featural differences) or the spatial configuration (configural differences) of their features. TBS applied on dorsal location-processing regions: 1) reduced fMRI activity within ventral stream face-processing regions during configural but not featural face processing; and 2) reduced functional connectivity between these face regions significantly more for configural than featural face processing. No changes occurred when TBS was delivered on the vertex control site for either face task. We conclude that ventral stream face-processing regions receive visuospatial information from dorsal stream location-processing regions during configural face processing.Significance statementFace perception is thought to be mediated exclusively by neural substrates within the ventral visual pathway. However, by using non-invasive brain stimulation (thetabust transcranial magnetic stimulation) in healthy human adults, we demonstrate that the face-processing regions of the ventral visual pathway receive information from visuospatial-processing regions of the dorsal visual pathway during configural face processing, a vital function in face perception. Our findings thus indicate that veridical face perception may depend on both the ventral and dorsal visual pathways.

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Configural and Featural Face Processing Influences on Emotion Recognition in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617716001211 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 287-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Tamsyn E. Van Rheenen ◽

Nicole Joshua ◽

David J Castle ◽

Susan L. Rossell

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Face Processing ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Configural Processing ◽

Processing Strategies ◽

Featural Processing ◽

Configural Face Processing ◽

Featural Face Processing ◽

Face Emotion Recognition

AbstractObjectives: Emotion recognition impairments have been demonstrated in schizophrenia (Sz), but are less consistent and lesser in magnitude in bipolar disorder (BD). This may be related to the extent to which different face processing strategies are engaged during emotion recognition in each of these disorders. We recently showed that Sz patients had impairments in the use of both featural and configural face processing strategies, whereas BD patients were impaired only in the use of the latter. Here we examine the influence that these impairments have on facial emotion recognition in these cohorts. Methods: Twenty-eight individuals with Sz, 28 individuals with BD, and 28 healthy controls completed a facial emotion labeling task with two conditions designed to separate the use of featural and configural face processing strategies; part-based and whole-face emotion recognition. Results: Sz patients performed worse than controls on both conditions, and worse than BD patients on the whole-face condition. BD patients performed worse than controls on the whole-face condition only. Conclusions: Configural processing deficits appear to influence the recognition of facial emotions in BD, whereas both configural and featural processing abnormalities impair emotion recognition in Sz. This may explain discrepancies in the profiles of emotion recognition between the disorders. (JINS, 2017, 23, 287–291)

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Configural Face Processing Develops more Slowly than Featural Face Processing

Perception ◽

10.1068/p3339 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 553-566 ◽

Cited By ~ 399

Author(s):

Catherine J Mondloch ◽

Richard Le Grand ◽

Daphne Maurer

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Inversion Effect ◽

Configural Processing ◽

External Contour ◽

Slow Development ◽

Single Face ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Adults And Children ◽

Configural Face Processing ◽

Featural Face Processing

Expertise in face processing takes many years to develop. To determine the contribution of different face-processing skills to this slow development, we altered a single face so as to create sets of faces designed to measure featural, configural, and contour processing. Within each set, faces differed only in the shape of the eyes and mouth (featural set), only in the spacing of the eyes and mouth (spacing set), or only in the shape of the external contour (contour set). We presented adults, and children aged 6, 8, and 10 years, with pairs of upright and inverted faces and instructed them to indicate whether the two faces were the same or different. Adults showed a larger inversion effect for the spacing set than for the featural and external contour sets, confirming that the spacing set taps configural processing. On the spacing set, all groups of children made more errors than adults. In contrast, on the external contour and featural sets, children at all ages were almost as accurate as adults, with no significant difference beginning at age 6 on the external contour set and beginning at age 10 on the featural set. Overall, the results indicate that adult expertise in configural processing is especially slow to develop.

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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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