scholarly journals Influence of Perceptual Discriminability and Spatial Distance on Holistic Processing of Faces

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Chih Wang ◽  
Gary C.-W. Shyi ◽  
Peter Kuan-Hao Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Spatial Distance ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
The Face ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Composite Face ◽  
Face Task

Background: Holistic processing is defined as the perceptual integration of facial features, and plays an important role in face recognition. While researchers recognize the crucial role played by holistic processing in face perception, a complete delineation of the underlying mechanisms is impending. Very few studies have examined the effects of perceptual discrimination and spatial perception on holistic processing. Hence, the present study aimed to examine the influence of perceptual discrimination and spatial perception on face recognition.Methods: We conducted two experiments by manipulating the perceptual discriminability of the target (the top-half faces) and non-target face (the bottom-half faces) parts in the composite-face task and examined how perceptual discriminability may affect holistic processing of faces.Results: The results of Experiment 1 illustrated that holistic processing was modulated by the perceptual discriminability of the face. Furthermore, differential patterns of perceptual discriminability with the target and non-target parts suggested that different mechanisms may be responsible for the influence of target and non-target parts on face perception. The results of Experiment 2 illustrated that holistic processing was modulated by spatial distance between two faces, implicating that feature-by-feature strategy might decrease the magnitude of holistic processing.Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that holistic processing may lead to augmented perception effect exaggerating the differences between the two faces and may also be affected by the feature-by-feature strategy.

scholarly journals There's a Time and a Face: The Time Course of Composite Face Processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Lynch ◽  
Xue Jun Cheng ◽  
Daniel R. Little
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Processing Time ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Response Signal ◽  
The Face ◽  
Task Recognition ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Composite Face ◽  
Face Task

Faces are considered a special class of holistically-processed object. The composite face task is a widely-used tool to infer holistic processing. In this task, recognition of one half of a composite face is shown to be hampered by interference from the other half of the face. Although this effect has been documented numerous times, when used in different paradigms, composite faces do not always exhibit effects consistent with holistic processing. The present study explored the cause of these discrepant findings by combining a composite face task with a signal-to-respond paradigm. The amount of time to make a face recognition decision was manipulated by introducing a response signal, and the resulting changes in accuracy were mapped over the time course of processing, which was then used to fit a speed-accuracy trade-off model. We found that holistic processing emerges late in the time course (after approximately 600 ms processing time). Additionally, we found that only easy-to-detect changes elicited holistic processing.

scholarly journals Correlations between holistic processing, Autism quotient, extraversion, and experience and the own-gender bias in face recognition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Morgan ◽  
Peter James Hills
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Face Inversion Effect ◽  
Autism Quotient ◽  
The Face ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Composite Face ◽  
Opposite Gender

The variability in the own-gender bias (OGB) in face-recognition is thought to be based on experience (Herlitz & Lovén, 2013) and the engagement of expert face processing mechanisms for own-gender faces. Experience is also associated with personality characteristics such as extraversion and Autism, yet the effects of these variables on the own-gender bias has not been explored. We ran a face recognition study exploring the relationships between opposite-gender experience, holistic processing (measured using the face-inversion effect, composite face effect, and the parts-and-wholes test), personality characteristics (extraversion and Autism Quotient) and the OGB. Findings did not support a mediational account where experience increases holistic processing and this increases the OGB. Rather, there was a direct relationship between extraversion and Autism Quotient and the OGB. We interpret this as personality characteristics having an effect on the motivation to process own-gender faces more deeply than opposite-gender faces.

scholarly journals Face Perception Deficits in Developmental Prosopagnosia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ella Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
The Face ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
Severe Difficulty ◽  
Scale Experiment

<p>Face recognition is a fundamental cognitive function that is essential for social interaction – yet not everyone has it. Developmental prosopagnosia is a lifelong condition in which people have severe difficulty recognising faces but have normal intellect and no brain damage. Despite much research, the component processes of face recognition that are impaired in developmental prosopagnosia are not well understood. Two core processes are face perception, being the formation of visual representations of a currently seen face, and face memory, being the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of those representations. Most studies of developmental prosopagnosia focus on face memory deficits, but a few recent studies indicate that face perception deficits might also be important. Characterising face perception in developmental prosopagnosia is crucial for a better understanding of the condition. In this thesis, I addressed this issue in a large-scale experiment with 108 developmental prosopagnosics and 136 matched controls. I assessed face perception abilities with multiple measures and ran a broad range of analyses to establish the severity, scope, and nature of face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia. Three major results stand out. First, face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia were severe, and could be comparable in size to face memory deficits. Second, the face perception deficits were widespread, affecting the whole sample rather than a subset of individuals. Third, the deficits were mainly driven by impairments to mechanisms specialised for processing upright faces. Further analyses revealed several other features of the deficits, including the use of atypical and inconsistent strategies for perceiving faces, difficulties matching the same face across different pictures, equivalent impact of lighting and viewpoint variations in face images, and atypical perceptual and non-perceptual components of test performance. Overall, my thesis shows that face perception deficits are more central to developmental prosopagnosia than previously thought and motivates further research on the issue.</p>

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.

About Face

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Grotesque

Inverting the eyes and the mouth in a smiling face renders the expression grotesque. However, when this image is itself rotated through 180 degrees, the grotesque expression is no longer apparent—the smiling expression returns. This illusion, first shown with the face of the then UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been explained as showing the detrimental effects of inversion on configural or holistic processing of faces. This explanation is, however, not entirely satisfactory and the illusion is still not fully understood. Variants and relevant parameters of the effect are explored, as are related concepts of inversion, expression, and face perception.

scholarly journals Face Perception Deficits in Developmental Prosopagnosia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
The Face ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
Severe Difficulty ◽  
Scale Experiment

<p>Face recognition is a fundamental cognitive function that is essential for social interaction – yet not everyone has it. Developmental prosopagnosia is a lifelong condition in which people have severe difficulty recognising faces but have normal intellect and no brain damage. Despite much research, the component processes of face recognition that are impaired in developmental prosopagnosia are not well understood. Two core processes are face perception, being the formation of visual representations of a currently seen face, and face memory, being the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of those representations. Most studies of developmental prosopagnosia focus on face memory deficits, but a few recent studies indicate that face perception deficits might also be important. Characterising face perception in developmental prosopagnosia is crucial for a better understanding of the condition. In this thesis, I addressed this issue in a large-scale experiment with 108 developmental prosopagnosics and 136 matched controls. I assessed face perception abilities with multiple measures and ran a broad range of analyses to establish the severity, scope, and nature of face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia. Three major results stand out. First, face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia were severe, and could be comparable in size to face memory deficits. Second, the face perception deficits were widespread, affecting the whole sample rather than a subset of individuals. Third, the deficits were mainly driven by impairments to mechanisms specialised for processing upright faces. Further analyses revealed several other features of the deficits, including the use of atypical and inconsistent strategies for perceiving faces, difficulties matching the same face across different pictures, equivalent impact of lighting and viewpoint variations in face images, and atypical perceptual and non-perceptual components of test performance. Overall, my thesis shows that face perception deficits are more central to developmental prosopagnosia than previously thought and motivates further research on the issue.</p>

scholarly journals Facial Emotion Recognition in Schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyun Gao ◽  
Wentao Zhao ◽  
Sha Liu ◽  
Zhifen Liu ◽  
Chengxiang Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Facial Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Emotion ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
The Face ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Future Direction

Deficits in facial emotion recognition are one of the most common cognitive impairments, and they have been extensively studied in various psychiatric disorders, especially in schizophrenia. However, there is still a lack of conclusive evidence about the factors associated with schizophrenia and impairment at each stage of the disease, which poses a challenge to the clinical management of patients. Based on this, we summarize facial emotion cognition among patients with schizophrenia, introduce the internationally recognized Bruce–Young face recognition model, and review the behavioral and event-related potential studies on the recognition of emotions at each stage of the face recognition process, including suggestions for the future direction of clinical research to explore the underlying mechanisms of schizophrenia.

Holistic Processing of Faces: Learning Effects with Mooney Faces

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 1316-1327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Latinus ◽  
Margot J. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Inversion Effect ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
N170 Amplitude ◽  
Face Inversion Effect ◽  
Face Inversion ◽  
The Face ◽  
Analytic Processing ◽  
Experimental Group

The specialness of faces is seen in the face inversion effect, which disrupts the configural, but not the analytic, processing of faces. Mooney faces, which are processed holistically, allowed us to determine the contribution of holistic processing to the face inversion effect. As inverted Mooney faces are difficult to recognize as faces, we also included an intermediary training period for Mooney face recognition for half of the subjects. Early face-sensitive ERPs (N170 and P1) and P2 were measured. Behavioral data showed an increase in correct responses to inverted and upright Mooney faces after the learning phase for the experimental group. No effects were seen on P1. N170 latency did not vary with stimulus type before the intermediary phase, however, N170 amplitude was consistently larger for upright than inverted Mooney faces. After the intermediary exercise, N170 was delayed for inverted compared to upright Mooney faces. In contrast, for both groups of subjects P2 amplitude was larger for nonface stimuli, and P2 amplitude decreased after the intermediate task only for the subjects trained to recognize Mooney faces. As the usual inversion effect seen with photographic faces (delayed and larger N170) was not seen with Mooney faces, these data suggest that this effect on N170 is due to the recruitment of analytic processing. P2 reflected learning and a deeper processing of the stimuli that were not identifiable as faces.

Inversion Impairs Expert Budgerigar Identity Recognition: A Face-Like Effect for a Nonface Object of Expertise

Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 647-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Campbell ◽  
James W. Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Object Recognition ◽  
Picture Plane ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Inversion Effect ◽  
Orientation Sensitivity ◽  
Identity Recognition ◽  
Face Inversion Effect ◽  
Face Inversion ◽  
The Face

The face-inversion effect is the finding that picture-plane inversion disproportionately impairs face recognition compared to object recognition and is now attributed to greater orientation-sensitivity of holistic processing for faces but not common objects. Yet, expert dog judges have showed similar recognition deficits for inverted dogs and inverted faces, suggesting that holistic processing is not specific to faces but to the expert recognition of perceptually similar objects. Although processing changes in expert object recognition have since been extensively documented, no other studies have observed the distinct recognition deficits for inverted objects-of-expertise that people as face experts show for faces. However, few studies have examined experts who recognize individual objects similar to how people recognize individual faces. Here we tested experts who recognize individual budgerigar birds. The effect of inversion on viewpoint-invariant budgerigar and face recognition was compared for experts and novices. Consistent with the face-inversion effect, novices showed recognition deficits for inverted faces but not for inverted budgerigars. By contrast, experts showed equal recognition deficits for inverted faces and budgerigars. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that processes underlying the face-inversion effect are specific to the expert individuation of perceptually similar objects.

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