scholarly journals Enhanced Peripheral Face Processing in Deaf Individuals †

Author(s):  
Kassandra R. Lee ◽  
Elizabeth Groesbeck ◽  
O. Scott Gwinn ◽  
Michael A. Webster ◽  
Fang Jiang

Studies of compensatory changes in visual functions in response to auditory loss have shown that enhancements tend to be restricted to the processing of specific visual features, such as motion in the periphery. Previous studies have also shown that deaf individuals can show greater face processing abilities in the central visual field. Enhancements in the processing of peripheral stimuli are thought to arise from a lack of auditory input and subsequent increase in the allocation of attentional resources to peripheral locations, while enhancements in face processing abilities are thought to be driven by experience with American sign language and not necessarily hearing loss. This combined with the fact that face processing abilities typically decline with eccentricity suggests that face processing enhancements may not extend to the periphery for deaf individuals. Using a face matching task, the authors examined whether deaf individuals’ enhanced ability to discriminate between faces extends to the peripheral visual field. Deaf participants were more accurate than hearing participants in discriminating faces presented both centrally and in the periphery. Their results support earlier findings that deaf individuals possess enhanced face discrimination abilities in the central visual field and further extend them by showing that these enhancements also occur in the periphery for more complex stimuli.

Author(s):  
Markus M. Thielgen ◽  
Stefan Schade ◽  
Carolin Bosé

AbstractIn the present study, we investigated whether police officers’ performance in searching for unfamiliar faces in a video-based real-world task is predicted by laboratory-based face processing tests that are typically used to assess individual differences in face processing abilities. Specifically, perceptual performance in the field was operationalized via the identification of target individuals in self-made close-circuit television (CCTV) video tapes. Police officers’ abilities in the laboratory were measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test long form (CFMT+). We hypothesized that the CFMT+ predicts individual differences in the CCTV task performance. A total of N = 186 police officers of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Police participated in the study (i.e., N = 139 novice and advanced cadets with either 3 months, 15 months or 24 months of pre-service experience; N = 47 experienced police officers with three years of pre-service experience and at least two years of full-service experience, who participated in the assessment center of the special police forces, specifically the surveillance and technical unit). Results revealed that the CFMT+ explained variance in the CCTV task. In sample 1, CFMT+ scores predicted hits, but not false alarms. In contrast, in sample 2, CFMT+ scores were correlated with both hits and false alarms. From a theoretical perspective, we discuss factors that might explain CCTV task performance. From a practical perspective, we recommend that personnel selection processes investigating individual differences of police officers’ face processing abilities should comprise of two steps. At first, laboratory-based tests of face processing abilities should be applied. Subsequently, to validate laboratory-based individual differences in face processing abilities, we recommend that work samples such as CCTV tasks from the field should be added.


Author(s):  
Isabelle Boutet ◽  
Bozana Meinhardt-Injac

Abstract Background Face-identity processing declines with age. Few studies have examined whether face-identity processing abilities can be measured independently from general cognitive abilities in older adults (OA). This question has practical implications for the assessment of face-identity processing abilities in OA and theoretical implications for the notion of face processing as a specific ability. The present study examined the specificity of face memory and face matching abilities in OA aged 50 + . Methods Performance of younger adults (YA) and OA was measured on face tasks: Cambridge Face Memory Task (CFMT), the Glasgow Face Matching Task (GFMT), holistic processing; and tasks of general cognition: fluid intelligence, selective attention, and mental rotation. Data were analyzed using multiple regression models encompassing (i) the CFMT/GFMT and measures of general cognition; and (ii) all face processing tasks. Results Across the two age groups, models encompassing all face tasks were significant and accounted for more variance in the data than models encompassing the CFMT/GFMT and measures of general cognition. General cognitive abilities accounted for 17% of variance for the GFMT (p < 0.01) and 3% for the CFMT (p > 0.05). Discussion Our results suggest that face memory can be measured independently from general cognition using the CFMT in OA. Implications for the notion of a general face processing factor across the adult lifespan are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Maria Felisberti

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 223 ◽  
pp. 229-240
Author(s):  
Eren Ekici ◽  
Sasan Moghimi ◽  
Huiyuan Hou ◽  
James Proudfoot ◽  
Linda M. Zangwill ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erez Freud ◽  
Andreja Stajduhar ◽  
R. Shayna Rosenbaum ◽  
Galia Avidan ◽  
Tzvi Ganel

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.


1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desimone ◽  
Jeffrey Moran ◽  
Stanley J. Schein ◽  
Mortimer Mishkin

AbstractThe classically defined receptive fields of V4 cells are confined almost entirely to the contralateral visual field. However, these receptive fields are often surrounded by large, silent suppressive regions, and stimulating the surrounds can cause a complete suppression of response to a simultaneously presented stimulus within the receptive field. We investigated whether the suppressive surrounds might extend across the midline into the ipsilateral visual field and, if so, whether the surrounds were dependent on the corpus callosum, which has a widespread distribution in V4. We found that the surrounds of more than half of the cells tested in the central visual field representation of V4 crossed into the ipsilateral visual field, with some extending up to at least 16 deg from the vertical meridian. Much of this suppression from the ipsilateral field was mediated by the corpus callosum, as section of the callosum dramatically reduced both the strength and extent of the surrounds. There remained, however, some residual suppression that was not further reduced by addition of an anterior commissure lesion. Because the residual ipsilateral suppression was similar in magnitude and extent to that found following section of the optic tract contralateral to the V4 recording, we concluded that it was retinal in origin. Using the same techniques employed in V4, we also mapped the ipsilateral extent of surrounds in the foveal representation of VI in an intact monkey. Results were very similar to those in V4 following commissural or contralateral tract sections. The findings suggest that V4 is a central site for long-range interactions both within and across the two visual hemifields. Taken with previous work, the results are consistent with the notion that the large suppressive surrounds of V4 neurons contribute to the neural mechanisms of color constancy and figure-ground separation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Perdicchi ◽  
M. Iester ◽  
G. Scuderi ◽  
S. Amodeo ◽  
E.M. Medori ◽  
...  

Purpose To make a visual field retrospective analysis on a group of patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and to evaluate whether different refractive errors could have different progression of the 30° central sensitivity. Methods A total of 110 patients with POAG (52 men and 58 women) were included in the study. All the patients were divided into four subgroups based on the refractive error. The visual field of all the included patients was assessed by an Octopus 30° central visual field every 6 months, for a total of 837 visual fields examined. The resulting data were analyzed by PERIDATA for Windows 1.7 TREND function. Mean defect (MD) and loss variance (LV) were considered for the analysis. Results At the first examination, 82% of eyes showed a global decrease of differential light sensitivity (MD >2 dB) and in 67% the distribution of the defect was nonhomogeneous (LV >6 dB). The analysis of variance for subgroups showed a more significant decrease of MD in highly myopic patients. A linear regression analysis highlighted a statistically significant change in time of MD in 36% and of LV in 34% of the eyes studied. Highly myopic patients had the highest (p<0.01) percentage of change of MD and LV (46% and 42%, respectively). Among the four subgroups, there was no difference in progression of MD decrease in time. Conclusions These results showed that after 5 years of glaucoma, the visual field was altered in most of the eyes examined (82%) and that in 67% of cases, its defect was nonhomogeneous and worsened with the increase of myopia. The regression linear analysis of visual field changes in time showed a progressive increase of MD and LV in approximately one third of all the eyes examined.


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