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

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.

The Composite Face Effect Between Young and Older Chinese Adults Remains Stable

Holistic face perception is often considered to be a cornerstone of face processing. However, the development of the ability to holistically perceive faces in East Asian individuals is unclear. Therefore, we measured and compared holistic face processing in groups of Chinese children, young adults, and older adults by employing the complete composite face paradigm. The results demonstrate a similar magnitude of the composite effect in all three groups although face recognition performance in the task was better in young adults than in the two other groups. These findings suggest that holistic face perception in Eastern individuals is stable from late childhood to at least age 60, whereas face memory may be subject to later development and earlier decline.

Effects of age on face perception: Reduced eye region discrimination ability but intact holistic processing

While age-related decline in face recognition memory is well established, the degree of decline in face perceptual abilities across the lifespan and their underlying mechanisms are incompletely characterized. In the current study, using the part-whole task, we sought to examine how age relates to facial feature discrimination ability and holistic face processing in a large sample of 3,341 online participants aged 18-69 years. We evaluated performance on the part-whole eye and mouth trials and the magnitude of the part-whole holistic advantage across the lifespan. We found that while discrimination of the eye region decreased beginning in the 50s, both mouth discrimination accuracy and the magnitude of the holistic advantage were stable with age. When investigating gender differences, we found that age-related declines in eye region accuracy were more pronounced in men than women, but this was not true for mouth accuracy or holistic processing. We discuss potential mechanistic explanations for this eye region-specific aging effect, including age-related hearing loss and its potential relationship with the age-related positivity effect.

Holistic face processing is influenced by non-conscious visual information

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.