scholarly journals Does the Occipital Face Area Contribute to Holistic Face Processing?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gates Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Face Features ◽  
Occipital Face Area ◽  
Face Stimuli

<p>Face perception depends on a network of brain areas that selectively respond to faces over non-face stimuli. These face-selective areas are involved in different aspects of face perception, but what specific process is implemented in a particular region remains little understood. A candidate processisholistic face processing, namely the integration of visual information across the whole of an upright face. In this thesis, I report two experimentsthat examine whether the occipital face area (OFA), a face-selective region in the inferior occipital gyrus, performs holistic processing for categorising a stimulus as a face. Both experiments were conducted using online, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to disrupt activity in the brain while participants performed face perception tasks. Experiment 1 was a localiser in which participants completed two face identification tasks while receiving TMS at OFA or vertex. Participants’ accuracy decreased for one of the tasks as a result of OFA but not vertex stimulation. This result confirms that OFA could be localised and its activity disrupted. Experiment 2 was a test of holistic processing in which participants categorised ambiguous two-tone images as faces or non-faces while TMS was delivered to OFA or vertex. Participants’ accuracy and response times were unchanged as a result of either stimulation. This result suggests that the OFA is not engaged in holistic processing for categorising a stimulus as a face. Overall, the currentresults are more consistent with previous studies suggesting that OFA is involved in processing of local face features/details rather than the whole face.</p>

scholarly journals Does the Occipital Face Area Contribute to Holistic Face Processing?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gates Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Face Features ◽  
Occipital Face Area ◽  
Face Stimuli

<p>Face perception depends on a network of brain areas that selectively respond to faces over non-face stimuli. These face-selective areas are involved in different aspects of face perception, but what specific process is implemented in a particular region remains little understood. A candidate processisholistic face processing, namely the integration of visual information across the whole of an upright face. In this thesis, I report two experimentsthat examine whether the occipital face area (OFA), a face-selective region in the inferior occipital gyrus, performs holistic processing for categorising a stimulus as a face. Both experiments were conducted using online, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to disrupt activity in the brain while participants performed face perception tasks. Experiment 1 was a localiser in which participants completed two face identification tasks while receiving TMS at OFA or vertex. Participants’ accuracy decreased for one of the tasks as a result of OFA but not vertex stimulation. This result confirms that OFA could be localised and its activity disrupted. Experiment 2 was a test of holistic processing in which participants categorised ambiguous two-tone images as faces or non-faces while TMS was delivered to OFA or vertex. Participants’ accuracy and response times were unchanged as a result of either stimulation. This result suggests that the OFA is not engaged in holistic processing for categorising a stimulus as a face. Overall, the currentresults are more consistent with previous studies suggesting that OFA is involved in processing of local face features/details rather than the whole face.</p>

scholarly journals Disentangling the representation of identity from head view along the human face processing pathway

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Swaroop Guntupalli ◽  
Kelsey G. Wheeler ◽  
M. Ida Gobbini
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Fusiform Face Area ◽  
Invariant Representation ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Occipital Face Area

AbstractNeural models of a distributed system for face perception implicate a network of regions in the ventral visual stream for recognition of identity. Here, we report an fMRI neural decoding study in humans that shows that this pathway culminates in a right inferior frontal cortex face area (rIFFA) with a representation of individual identities that has been disentangled from variable visual features in different images of the same person. At earlier stages in the pathway, processing begins in early visual cortex and the occipital face area (OFA) with representations of head view that are invariant across identities, and proceeds to an intermediate level of representation in the fusiform face area (FFA) in which identity is emerging but still entangled with head view. Three-dimensional, view-invariant representation of identities in the rIFFA may be the critical link to the extended system for face perception, affording activation of person knowledge and emotional responses to familiar faces.Significance StatementIn this fMRI decoding experiment, we address how face images are processed in successive stages to disentangle the view-invariant representation of identity from variable visual features. Representations in early visual cortex and the occipital face area distinguish head views, invariant across identities. An intermediate level of representation in the fusiform face area distinguishes identities but still is entangled with head view. The face-processing pathway culminates in the right inferior frontal area with representation of view-independent identity. This paper clarifies the homologies between the human and macaque face processing systems. The findings show further, however, the importance of the inferior frontal cortex in decoding face identity, a result that has not yet been reported in the monkey literature.

scholarly journals The neuropsychology of face perception: beyond simple dissociations and functional selectivity

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1571) ◽  
pp. 1726-1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Atkinson ◽  
Ralph Adolphs
Keyword(s):  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Face Categorization ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Visual Cortical

Face processing relies on a distributed, patchy network of cortical regions in the temporal and frontal lobes that respond disproportionately to face stimuli, other cortical regions that are not even primarily visual (such as somatosensory cortex), and subcortical structures such as the amygdala. Higher-level face perception abilities, such as judging identity, emotion and trustworthiness, appear to rely on an intact face-processing network that includes the occipital face area (OFA), whereas lower-level face categorization abilities, such as discriminating faces from objects, can be achieved without OFA, perhaps via the direct connections to the fusiform face area (FFA) from several extrastriate cortical areas. Some lesion, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings argue against a strict feed-forward hierarchical model of face perception, in which the OFA is the principal and common source of input for other visual and non-visual cortical regions involved in face perception, including the FFA, face-selective superior temporal sulcus and somatosensory cortex. Instead, these findings point to a more interactive model in which higher-level face perception abilities depend on the interplay between several functionally and anatomically distinct neural regions. Furthermore, the nature of these interactions may depend on the particular demands of the task. We review the lesion and TMS literature on this topic and highlight the dynamic and distributed nature of face processing.

Heterogeneous Structure in Face-selective Human Occipito-temporal Cortex

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 2276-2288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa R. Betts ◽  
Hugh R. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Heterogeneous Structure ◽  
Distributed Network ◽  
Emotion Classification ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Face Features ◽  
The Face ◽  
Occipital Face Area ◽  
Face Stimuli

It is well established that the human visual system contains a distributed network of regions that are involved in processing faces, but our understanding of how faces are represented within these face-sensitive brain areas is incomplete. We used fMRI to investigate whether face-sensitive brain areas are solely tuned for whole faces, or whether they contain heterogeneous populations of neurons tuned to individual components of the face as well as whole faces, as suggested by physiological investigations in nonhuman primates. The middle fusiform gyrus (fusiform face area, or FFA) and the inferior occipital gyrus (occipital face area, or OFA) produced robust BOLD activation to synthetic whole face stimuli, but also to the internal facial features and head outlines. BOLD responses to whole face stimuli in FFA were significantly reduced after adaptation to whole faces, but not after adaptation to features or head outlines, whereas activation to head outlines was reduced after adaptation to both whole faces and head outlines. OFA showed no significant adaptation effects for matching adaptation and test conditions, but did exhibit cross-adaptation between whole faces and head outlines. The internal face features did not produce any significant adaptation within either FFA or OFA. Our results are consistent with a model in which independent populations of whole face-, feature-, and head outline-tuned neurons exist within face-sensitive regions of human occipito-temporal cortex, which in turn would support tasks such as viewpoint processing, emotion classification, and identity discrimination.

The role of the occipital face area in holistic processing involved in face detection and discrimination: A tDCS study.

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Renzi ◽  
Chiara Ferrari ◽  
Susanna Schiavi ◽  
Alberto Pisoni ◽  
Costanza Papagno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Detection ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Occipital Face Area

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

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.

scholarly journals Attentional Weighting in the Face Processing Network: A Magnetic Response Image-guided Magnetoencephalography Study Using Multiple Cyclic Entrainments

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 1573-1588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eelke de Vries ◽  
Daniel Baldauf
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Magnetic Response ◽  
Fusiform Face Area ◽  
Facial Identity ◽  
Image Guided ◽  
Face Area ◽  
The Face ◽  
Occipital Face Area ◽  
Processing Network

We recorded magnetoencephalography using a neural entrainment paradigm with compound face stimuli that allowed for entraining the processing of various parts of a face (eyes, mouth) as well as changes in facial identity. Our magnetic response image-guided magnetoencephalography analyses revealed that different subnodes of the human face processing network were entrained differentially according to their functional specialization. Whereas the occipital face area was most responsive to the rate at which face parts (e.g., the mouth) changed, and face patches in the STS were mostly entrained by rhythmic changes in the eye region, the fusiform face area was the only subregion that was strongly entrained by the rhythmic changes in facial identity. Furthermore, top–down attention to the mouth, eyes, or identity of the face selectively modulated the neural processing in the respective area (i.e., occipital face area, STS, or fusiform face area), resembling behavioral cue validity effects observed in the participants' RT and detection rate data. Our results show the attentional weighting of the visual processing of different aspects and dimensions of a single face object, at various stages of the involved visual processing hierarchy.

scholarly journals Delayed brain sensitivity to the same face features in ageing during gender and emotion categorisation tasks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Boyle ◽  
Guillaume A Rousselet
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Gender Recognition ◽  
Face Features ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Promising Target ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
And Gender

An age-related slowing in face processing has been reported but it remains unclear whether this slowing affects the facial information that is processed in the brain, and relied upon for making socially relevant decisions.Using ‘Bubbles’ and electroencephalography (EEG), the effect of ageing on the information content of brain activity during tasks requiring emotion and gender categorisation of real-world faces was investigated.Both older and younger adults relied upon mouth visibility for accurate emotion recognition, and eye visibility for accurate gender recognition. However, the reliance upon eye visibility for gender recognition was stronger in the older adult. Both groups displayed greatest brain sensitivity to the same task-relevant information (eyes and mouth), but the processing of this information appeared to be delayed in the older adult.These findings suggest that the age-related delay and decline in face processing is due to a slower processing of task-relevant information, instead of a change in the information that is processed. As such, halting the slowing of visual information processing may be a promising target for improving face processing performance in older adults.

scholarly journals Holistic face processing is influenced by non-conscious visual information

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiyang Jin ◽  
Matt Oxner ◽  
Paul Michael Corballis ◽  
William Hayward
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Composite Effect ◽  
Continuous Flash Suppression ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Holistic Face Processing ◽  
Composite Face ◽  
Face Task

Holistic face processing has been widely implicated in conscious face perception. Yet, little is known about whether holistic face processing occurs when faces are processed unconsciously. The present study used the composite face task and continuous flash suppression (CFS) to inspect whether the processing of target facial information (the top half of a face) is influenced by irrelevant information (the bottom half) that is presented unconsciously. Results of multiple experiments showed that the composite effect was observed in both the monocular and CFS conditions, providing the first evidence that the processing of top facial halves is influenced by the aligned bottom halves no matter whether they are presented consciously or unconsciously. However, much of the composite effect for faces without masking was disrupted when bottom facial parts were rendered with CFS. These results suggest that holistic face processing can occur unconsciously, but also highlight the significance of holistic processing of consciously presented faces.

Sensitivity to Faces with Typical and Atypical Part Configurations within Regions of the Face-processing Network: An fMRI Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 963-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Engell ◽  
Na Yeon Kim ◽  
Gregory McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
The Face ◽  
Occipital Face Area ◽  
Typical Configuration ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Network

Perception of faces has been shown to engage a domain-specific set of brain regions, including the occipital face area (OFA) and the fusiform face area (FFA). It is commonly held that the OFA is responsible for the detection of faces in the environment, whereas the FFA is responsible for processing the identity of the face. However, an alternative model posits that the FFA is responsible for face detection and subsequently recruits the OFA to analyze the face parts in the service of identification. An essential prediction of the former model is that the OFA is not sensitive to the arrangement of internal face parts. In the current fMRI study, we test the sensitivity of the OFA and FFA to the configuration of face parts. Participants were shown faces in which the internal parts were presented in a typical configuration (two eyes above a nose above a mouth) or in an atypical configuration (the locations of individual parts were shuffled within the face outline). Perception of the atypical faces evoked a significantly larger response than typical faces in the OFA and in a wide swath of the surrounding posterior occipitotemporal cortices. Surprisingly, typical faces did not evoke a significantly larger response than atypical faces anywhere in the brain, including the FFA (although some subthreshold differences were observed). We propose that face processing in the FFA results in inhibitory sculpting of activation in the OFA, which accounts for this region's weaker response to typical than to atypical configurations.

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