The Neural Correlates of Cognitive Objectification

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 550-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Bernard ◽  
Tiziana Rizzo ◽  
Ingrid Hoonhorst ◽  
Gaétane Deliens ◽  
Sarah J. Gervais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
N170 Amplitude ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Amplitude Inversion ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Human Faces

At an early stage of visual processing, human faces and bodies are typically associated with larger N170s when presented in an inverted (vs. upright) position, indexing the involvement of configural processing. We challenged this view and hypothesized that sexualized bodies would not be sensitive to inversion, thereby suggesting that they would be processed similarly to objects. Participants saw sexualized male and female bodies, nonsexualized male and female bodies, as well as objects in both upright and inverted positions while we recorded the N170. Results indicated that inverted (vs. upright) nonsexualized male and female bodies were associated with larger N170 amplitudes. In contrast, no N170 amplitude inversion effect emerged for sexualized male and female bodies or objects. These results suggest that sexualized bodies are processed similarly to objects and quite differently than nonsexualized bodies. We discuss the results and their implications in the light of the literatures in person perception and objectification.

Visual body processing’s associations to Body Mass Index and internalization of societal beauty ideals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Cazzato ◽  
Elizabeth Walters ◽  
Cosimo Urgesi
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
The Body ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Cultural Ideals ◽  
Beauty Ideals ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Attention To Detail

We examined whether visual processing mechanisms of the body of conspecifics are different in women and men and whether these rely on westernised socio-cultural ideals and body image concerns. Twenty-four women and 24 men performed a visual discrimination task of upright or inverted images of female or male bodies and faces (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, both groups of women and men showed comparable abilities in the discrimination of upright and inverted bodies and faces. However, the genders of the human stimuli yielded different effects on participants’ performance, so that male bodies and female faces appeared to be processed less configurally than female bodies and male faces, respectively. Interestingly, altered configural processing for male bodies was significantly predicted by participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) and their level of internalization of muscularity. Our findings suggest that configural visual processing of bodies and faces in women and men may be linked to a selective attention to detail needed for discriminating salient physical (perhaps sexual) cues of conspecifics. Importantly, BMI and muscularity internalization of beauty ideals may also play a crucial role in this mechanism.

Revealing Clothing Does Not Make the Object: ERP Evidences That Cognitive Objectification is Driven by Posture Suggestiveness, Not by Revealing Clothing

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Bernard ◽  
Florence Hanoteau ◽  
Sarah Gervais ◽  
Lara Servais ◽  
Irene Bertolone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inversion Effect ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Body Perception ◽  
N170 Amplitude ◽  
Amplitude Inversion ◽  
Body Asymmetry ◽  
Key Driver

Recent research found that sexualized bodies are visually processed similarly to objects. This article examines the effects of skin-to-clothing ratio and posture suggestiveness on cognitive objectification. Participants were presented images of upright versus inverted bodies while we recorded the N170. We used the N170 amplitude inversion effect (larger N170 amplitudes for inverted vs. upright stimuli) to assess cognitive objectification, with no N170 inversion effect indicating less configural processing and more cognitive objectification. Contrary to Hypothesis 1, skin-to-clothing ratio was not associated with cognitive objectification (Experiments 1-3). However, consistent with Hypothesis 2, we found that posture suggestiveness was the key driver of cognitive objectification (Experiment 2), even after controlling for body asymmetry (Experiment 3). This article showed that high (vs. low) posture suggestiveness caused cognitive objectification (regardless of body asymmetry), whereas high (vs. low) skin-to-clothing ratio did not. The implications for objectification and body perception literatures are discussed.

Early Face Processing Specificity: It's in the Eyes!

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1815-1826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxane J. Itier ◽  
Claude Alain ◽  
Katherine Sedore ◽  
Anthony R. McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Neural Model ◽  
Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Response Modulation ◽  
N170 Amplitude ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
The Face

Unlike most other objects that are processed analytically, faces are processed configurally. This configural processing is reflected early in visual processing following face inversion and contrast reversal, as an increase in the N170 amplitude, a scalp-recorded event-related potential. Here, we show that these face-specific effects are mediated by the eye region. That is, they occurred only when the eyes were present, but not when eyes were removed from the face. The N170 recorded to inverted and negative faces likely reflects the processing of the eyes. We propose a neural model of face processing in which face- and eye-selective neurons situated in the superior temporal sulcus region of the human brain respond differently to the face configuration and to the eyes depending on the face context. This dynamic response modulation accounts for the N170 variations reported in the literature. The eyes may be central to what makes faces so special.

scholarly journals Associations of observer’s gender, Body Mass Index and internalization of societal beauty ideals to visual body processing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Cazzato ◽  
Elizabeth R. Walters ◽  
Cosimo Urgesi
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
The Body ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Cultural Ideals ◽  
Beauty Ideals ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Attention To Detail

AbstractWe examined whether visual processing mechanisms of the body of conspecifics are different in women and men and whether these rely on westernised socio-cultural ideals and body image concerns. Twenty-four women and 24 men performed a visual discrimination task of upright or inverted images of female or male bodies and faces (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, both groups of women and men showed comparable abilities in the discrimination of upright and inverted bodies and faces. However, the gender of the human stimuli yielded different effects on participants’ performance, so that female faces, and male bodies appeared to be processed less configurally than female bodies and male faces, respectively. Interestingly, the reduction of configural processing for male bodies was significantly predicted by participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) and their level of internalization of muscularity. Our findings suggest that configural visual processing of bodies and faces in women and men may be linked to a selective attention to detail needed for discriminating salient physical (perhaps sexual) cues of conspecifics. Importantly, BMI and muscularity internalization of beauty ideals may also play a crucial role in this mechanism.

Neural correlates of person perception

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malia F. Mason ◽  
C. Neil Macrae ◽  
David Turk
Keyword(s):  
Person Perception ◽  
Neural Correlates

Computing with Self-Excitatory Cliques: A Model and an Application to Hyperacuity-Scale Computation in Visual Cortex

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Miller ◽  
Steven W. Zucker
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Cortical Cell ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Direct Calculation ◽  
Formal Theory ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Cell Counts ◽  
Spatiotemporal Response

We present a model of visual computation based on tightly inter-connected cliques of pyramidal cells. It leads to a formal theory of cell assemblies, a specific relationship between correlated firing patterns and abstract functionality, and a direct calculation relating estimates of cortical cell counts to orientation hyperacuity. Our network architecture is unique in that (1) it supports a mode of computation that is both reliable and efficent; (2) the current-spike relations are modeled as an analog dynamical system in which the requisite computations can take place on the time scale required for an early stage of visual processing; and (3) the dynamics are triggered by the spatiotemporal response of cortical cells. This final point could explain why moving stimuli improve vernier sensitivity.

The “Mosaic Stage” in Amodal Completion as Characterized by Magnetoencephalography Responses

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1394-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gijs Plomp ◽  
Lichan Liu ◽  
Cees van Leeuwen ◽  
Andreas A. Ioannides
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Amodal Completion ◽  
Peak Latency ◽  
Per Se

We investigated the process of amodal completion in a same-different experiment in which test pairs were preceded by sequences of two figures. The first of these could be congruent to a global or local completion of an occluded part in the second figure, or a mosaic interpretation of it. We recorded and analyzed the magnetoencephalogram for the second figures. Compared to control conditions, in which unrelated primes were shown, occlusion and mosaic primes reduced the peak latency and amplitude of neural activity evoked by the occlusion patterns. Compared to occlusion primes, mosaic ones reduced the latency but increased the amplitude of evoked neural activity. Processes relating to a mosaic interpretation of the occlusion pattern, therefore, can dominate in an early stage of visual processing. The results did not provide evidence for the presence of a functional “mosaic stage” in completion per se, but characterize the mosaic interpretation as a qualitatively special one that can rapidly emerge in visual processing when context favors it.

III. On the sexual cells and the early stages in the development of Millepora plicata

1888 ◽  
Vol 43 (258-265) ◽  
pp. 245-247
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Fringing Reefs

The investigations were made upon several specimens of Millepora plicata I found growing in abundance on the fringing reefs of Talisse Island, N. Celebes. The young sexual cells, both male and female, are found in the ectoderm of the cœnosarcal canals, between the dactylozooids and the gastrozooids. At an early stage they leave the ectoderm, and by perforating the mesoglœa take up a position in the endoderm.

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