scholarly journals Holistic processing of faces and words predicts reading accuracy and speed in dyslexic readers

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0259986
Author(s):  
Nuala Brady ◽  
Kate Darmody ◽  
Fiona N. Newell ◽  
Sarah M. Cooney
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Processing Task ◽  
Reading Accuracy ◽  
Visual Deficit ◽  
Holistic Face Processing ◽  
First Time ◽  
Accurate Reading

We compared the performance of dyslexic and typical readers on two perceptual tasks, the Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Task and the Holistic Word Processing Task. Both yield a metric of holistic processing that captures the extent to which participants automatically attend to information that is spatially nearby but irrelevant to the task at hand. Our results show, for the first time, that holistic processing of faces is comparable in dyslexic and typical readers but that dyslexic readers show greater holistic processing of words. Remarkably, we show that these metrics predict the performance of dyslexic readers on a standardized reading task, with more holistic processing in both tasks associated with higher accuracy and speed. In contrast, a more holistic style on the words task predicts less accurate reading of both words and pseudowords for typical readers. We discuss how these findings may guide our conceptualization of the visual deficit in dyslexia.

scholarly journals Holistic processing of words and faces in dyslexia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuala Brady ◽  
Kate Darmody ◽  
Fiona Newell ◽  
Sarah Maeve Cooney
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Specific Reading ◽  
Holistic Face Processing ◽  
Visuospatial Processing ◽  
Self Similar ◽  
Research Questions

Research on the perceptual correlates of developmental dyslexia has traditionally focused on phonological processing. Where visual processing has been considered, the emphasis has been on visuotemporal processing along the magnocellular pathway, e.g.,(Stein, 2001). More recently, and guided by brain imaging studies showing hypoactivation in left fusiform gyrus in dyslexia, there is a growing interest in visuospatial processing. In particular, this research questions whether atypical visual processing in dyslexia is restricted to words as is suggested by the disorder’s definition as a ‘specific reading disability’. The current study is unique in comparing the performance of dyslexic (n = 30) and typical readers (n = 29) on both word and face processing tests that are specifically designed to measure ‘holistic processing’, a form of visuospatial processing associated with perceptual expertise. In agreement with recent research on face processing in dyslexia, we report longer response latency on the Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test in dyslexic readers, a difference that cannot be attributed to anomalous holistic processing. In contrast, dyslexic readers show considerable impairment on the word processing task, including marked differences in holistic processing. These findings are discussed with reference to the ‘neuronal recycling hypothesis’ which emphasis the commonalities in how self-similar stimuli such as words and faces are processed by the human brain and to the heterogeneity underlying the dyslexia classification.

scholarly journals What We Could Learn About Holistic Face Processing Only From Nonface Objects

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-425
Author(s):  
Isabel Gauthier
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Specific Experience ◽  
Holistic Face Processing

Holistic processing is inferred from a number of effects, many of which suggest that people generally find it difficult to process face parts independently. The study of holistic processing using faces has revealed many failures of convergence across different measures, as well as very poor reliability. New tasks designed for individual-differences measurement of holistic processing are more reliable. But other challenges to the study of individual differences in holistic processing require a different approach, in particular the use of nonface objects. Observers’ experiences with faces may be so extensive that it cannot be quantified. In addition, it is difficult to manipulate experience with faces to study causes and mechanisms underlying holistic effects. Recent work has combined an individual-differences approach with a parametric manipulation of experience to reveal that holistic processing arises from domain-specific experience. Other work has revealed that learned attention to parts is sufficient to result in holistic processing, consistent with a mechanism rooted in category-specific learned attention.

scholarly journals The Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test (VHPT-F): A Short and Reliable Measure of Holistic Processing

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Jennifer Richler ◽  
R. Jackie Floyd ◽  
Chao-Chih Wang ◽  
David Ross ◽  
Isabel Gauthier
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Reliable Measure ◽  
Holistic Face Processing

scholarly journals Individual recognition is associated with holistic face processing in Polistes paper wasps in a species-specific way

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1943) ◽  
pp. 20203010
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Tibbetts ◽  
Juanita Pardo-Sanchez ◽  
Julliana Ramirez-Matias ◽  
Aurore Avarguès-Weber
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Wasp Species ◽  
Face Images ◽  
Holistic Face Processing ◽  
Species Specific

Most recognition is based on identifying features, but specialization for face recognition in primates relies on a different mechanism, termed ‘holistic processing’ where facial features are bound together into a gestalt which is more than the sum of its parts. Here, we test whether individual face recognition in paper wasps also involved holistic processing using a modification of the classic part-whole test in two related paper wasp species: Polistes fuscatus , which use facial patterns to individually identify conspecifics, and Polistes dominula , which lacks individual recognition. We show that P. fuscatus use holistic processing to discriminate between P. fuscatus face images but not P. dominula face images. By contrast, P. dominula do not rely on holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific or heterospecific face images. Therefore, P. fuscatus wasps have evolved holistic face processing, but this ability is highly specific and shaped by species-specific and stimulus-specific selective pressures. Convergence towards holistic face processing in distant taxa (primates, wasps) as well as divergence among closely related taxa with different recognition behaviour ( P. dominula , P. fuscatus ) suggests that holistic processing may be a universal adaptive strategy to facilitate expertise in face recognition.

Effect of background music in a computer word processing task

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 165-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arijit K. Sengupta ◽  
Xiaopeng Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Background Music ◽  
Processing Task ◽  
Computer Word

scholarly journals Investigating contextual effects in the Vanderbilt Holistic Processing Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1225
Author(s):  
Ting-Yun Chang ◽  
Isabel Gauthier
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Effects ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Processing Task
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document