101
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Wiese H, Schipper M, Popova T, Burton AM, Young AW. Personal familiarity of faces, animals, objects, and scenes: Distinct perceptual and overlapping conceptual representations. Cognition 2023; 241:105625. [PMID: 37769520 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
While face, object, and scene recognition are often studied at a basic categorization level (e.g. "a face", "a car", "a kitchen"), we frequently recognise individual items of these categories as unique entities (e.g. "my mother", "my car", "my kitchen"). This recognition of individual identity is essential to appropriate behaviour in our world. However, relatively little is known about how we recognise individually familiar visual stimuli. Using event-related brain potentials, the present study examined whether and to what extent the underlying neural representations of personally familiar items are similar or different across different categories. In three experiments, we examined the recognition of personally highly familiar faces, animals, indoor scenes, and objects. We observed relatively distinct familiarity effects in an early time window (200-400 ms), with a clearly right-lateralized occipito-temporal scalp distribution for human faces and more bilateral and posterior distributions for other stimulus categories, presumably reflecting access to at least partly discrete visual long-term representations. In contrast, we found clearly overlapping familiarity effects in a later time window (starting 400 to 500 ms after stimulus onset), again with a mainly right occipito-temporal scalp distribution, for all stimulus categories. These later effects appear to reflect the sustained activation of conceptual properties relevant to any potential interaction. We conclude that familiarity for items from the various visual stimulus categories tested here is represented differently at the perceptual level, while relatively overlapping conceptual mechanisms allow for the preparation of impending potential interaction with the environment.
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102
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Stantić M, Brown K, Ichijo E, Pounder Z, Catmur C, Bird G. Independent measurement of face perception, face matching, and face memory reveals impairments in face perception and memory, but not matching, in autism. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:2240-2249. [PMID: 37312015 PMCID: PMC10728234 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02304-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Multiple psychological processes are required in order for a face to be recognised from memory. However, when testing face memory using tasks such as the Cambridge Face Memory Task (CFMT), it is rare for studies to attempt to account for individual differences in face perception and face matching in order to isolate variance in face memory specifically. In Study 1, the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT) was used to assess face matching and face perception in a large sample of participants (N = 1,112). Results revealed independent contributions of face perception and matching to CFMT performance, and these results replicated with the Glasgow Face Matching Test. In Study 2, the same procedure was used to test face perception, face matching and face memory in a group of 57 autistic adults and a matched neurotypical control group. Results revealed impaired face perception and memory in the individuals with autism, but intact face matching. Face perception may therefore act as a potential intervention target for individuals with autism who exhibit face recognition impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirta Stantić
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Katie Brown
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Eri Ichijo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Zoë Pounder
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Geoffrey Bird
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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103
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Zhang Z, Chen T, Liu Y, Wang C, Zhao K, Liu CH, Fu X. Decoding the temporal representation of facial expression in face-selective regions. Neuroimage 2023; 283:120442. [PMID: 37926217 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability of humans to discern facial expressions in a timely manner typically relies on distributed face-selective regions for rapid neural computations. To study the time course in regions of interest for this process, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure neural responses participants viewed facial expressions depicting seven types of emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, surprise, and neutral). Analysis of the time-resolved decoding of neural responses in face-selective sources within the inferior parietal cortex (IP-faces), lateral occipital cortex (LO-faces), fusiform gyrus (FG-faces), and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS-faces) revealed that facial expressions were successfully classified starting from ∼100 to 150 ms after stimulus onset. Interestingly, the LO-faces and IP-faces showed greater accuracy than FG-faces and pSTS-faces. To examine the nature of the information processed in these face-selective regions, we entered with facial expression stimuli into a convolutional neural network (CNN) to perform similarity analyses against human neural responses. The results showed that neural responses in the LO-faces and IP-faces, starting ∼100 ms after the stimuli, were more strongly correlated with deep representations of emotional categories than with image level information from the input images. Additionally, we observed a relationship between the behavioral performance and the neural responses in the LO-faces and IP-faces, but not in the FG-faces and lpSTS-faces. Together, these results provided a comprehensive picture of the time course and nature of information involved in facial expression discrimination across multiple face-selective regions, which advances our understanding of how the human brain processes facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhihao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Tong Chen
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Non-Linear Circuit and Intelligent Information Processing, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Service Robot Control Technology, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Ye Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Chongyang Wang
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Ke Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Chang Hong Liu
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Dorset, United Kingdom
| | - Xiaolan Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
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104
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Rizzo G, Martino D, Avanzino L, Avenanti A, Vicario CM. Social cognition in hyperkinetic movement disorders: a systematic review. Soc Neurosci 2023; 18:331-354. [PMID: 37580305 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2023.2248687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
Numerous lines of research indicate that our social brain involves a network of cortical and subcortical brain regions that are responsible for sensing and controlling body movements. However, it remains unclear whether movement disorders have a systematic impact on social cognition. To address this question, we conducted a systematic review examining the influence of hyperkinetic movement disorders (including Huntington disease, Tourette syndrome, dystonia, and essential tremor) on social cognition. Following the PRISMA guidelines and registering the protocol in the PROSPERO database (CRD42022327459), we analyzed 50 published studies focusing on theory of mind (ToM), social perception, and empathy. The results from these studies provide evidence of impairments in ToM and social perception in all hyperkinetic movement disorders, particularly during the recognition of negative emotions. Additionally, individuals with Huntington's Disease and Tourette syndrome exhibit empathy disorders. These findings support the functional role of subcortical structures (such as the basal ganglia and cerebellum), which are primarily responsible for movement disorders, in deficits related to social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaetano Rizzo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Davide Martino
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Laura Avanzino
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
| | - Carmelo Mario Vicario
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
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105
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Pitcher D, Sliwinska MW, Kaiser D. TMS disruption of the lateral prefrontal cortex increases neural activity in the default mode network when naming facial expressions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:nsad072. [PMID: 38048419 PMCID: PMC10695328 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsad072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recognizing facial expressions is dependent on multiple brain networks specialized for different cognitive functions. In the current study, participants (N = 20) were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while they performed a covert facial expression naming task. Immediately prior to scanning thetaburst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered over the right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), or the vertex control site. A group whole-brain analysis revealed that TMS induced opposite effects in the neural responses across different brain networks. Stimulation of the right PFC (compared to stimulation of the vertex) decreased neural activity in the left lateral PFC but increased neural activity in three nodes of the default mode network (DMN): the right superior frontal gyrus, right angular gyrus and the bilateral middle cingulate gyrus. A region of interest analysis showed that TMS delivered over the right PFC reduced neural activity across all functionally localised face areas (including in the PFC) compared to TMS delivered over the vertex. These results suggest that visually recognizing facial expressions is dependent on the dynamic interaction of the face-processing network and the DMN. Our study also demonstrates the utility of combined TMS/fMRI studies for revealing the dynamic interactions between different functional brain networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Pitcher
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York YO105DD, UK
| | | | - Daniel Kaiser
- Mathematical Institute, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Geography, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen 35392, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behaviour, Philipps-Universität Marburg, and Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Marburg 35032, Germany
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106
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Lesinger K, Rosenthal G, Pierce K, Courchesne E, Dinstein I, Avidan G. Functional connectivity of the human face network exhibits right hemispheric lateralization from infancy to adulthood. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20831. [PMID: 38012206 PMCID: PMC10682179 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47581-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Adults typically exhibit right hemispheric dominance in the processing of faces. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated age-dependent changes in face processing lateralization from infancy to adulthood (1-48 years old; N = 194). We co-registered anatomical and resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans of toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults into a common space and examined functional connectivity across the face, as well as place, and object-selective regions identified in adults. As expected, functional connectivity between core face-selective regions was stronger in the right compared to the left hemisphere in adults. Most importantly, the same lateralization was evident in all other age groups (infants, children, adolescents) and appeared only in face-selective regions, and not in place or object-selective regions. These findings suggest that the physiological development of face-selective brain areas may differ from that of object and place-selective areas. Specifically, the functional connectivity of the core-face selective regions exhibits rightward lateralization from infancy, years before these areas develop mature face-selective responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keren Lesinger
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Gideon Rosenthal
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Karen Pierce
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, USA
| | - Eric Courchesne
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, USA
| | - Ilan Dinstein
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel.
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107
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Plaza PL, Renier L, Rosemann S, De Volder AG, Rauschecker JP. Sound-encoded faces activate the left fusiform face area in the early blind. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286512. [PMID: 37992062 PMCID: PMC10664868 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Face perception in humans and nonhuman primates is accomplished by a patchwork of specialized cortical regions. How these regions develop has remained controversial. In sighted individuals, facial information is primarily conveyed via the visual modality. Early blind individuals, on the other hand, can recognize shapes using auditory and tactile cues. Here we demonstrate that such individuals can learn to distinguish faces from houses and other shapes by using a sensory substitution device (SSD) presenting schematic faces as sound-encoded stimuli in the auditory modality. Using functional MRI, we then asked whether a face-selective brain region like the fusiform face area (FFA) shows selectivity for faces in the same subjects, and indeed, we found evidence for preferential activation of the left FFA by sound-encoded faces. These results imply that FFA development does not depend on experience with visual faces per se but may instead depend on exposure to the geometry of facial configurations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula L. Plaza
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Laurent Renier
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Neural Rehabilitation Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Stephanie Rosemann
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Anne G. De Volder
- Neural Rehabilitation Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Josef P. Rauschecker
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
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108
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Dai J, Jorgensen NA, Duell N, Capella J, Maza MT, Kwon SJ, Prinstein MJ, Lindquist KA, Telzer EH. Neural tracking of social hierarchies in adolescents' real-world social networks. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:nsad064. [PMID: 37978845 PMCID: PMC10656574 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsad064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In the current study, we combined sociometric nominations and neuroimaging techniques to examine adolescents' neural tracking of peers from their real-world social network that varied in social preferences and popularity. Adolescent participants from an entire school district (N = 873) completed peer sociometric nominations of their grade at school, and a subset of participants (N = 117, Mage = 13.59 years) completed a neuroimaging task in which they viewed peer faces from their social networks. We revealed two neural processes by which adolescents track social preference: (1) the fusiform face area, an important region for early visual perception and social categorization, simultaneously represented both peers high in social preference and low in social preference; (2) the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which was differentially engaged in tracking peers high and low in social preference. No regions specifically tracked peers high in popularity and only the inferior parietal lobe, temporoparietal junction, midcingulate cortex and insula were involved in tracking unpopular peers. This is the first study to examine the neural circuits that support adolescents' perception of peer-based social networks. These findings identify the neural processes that allow youths to spontaneously keep track of peers' social value within their social network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junqiang Dai
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Nathan A Jorgensen
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Natasha Duell
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Jimmy Capella
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Maria T Maza
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Seh-Joo Kwon
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Mitchell J Prinstein
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Kristen A Lindquist
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Eva H Telzer
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
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109
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Coutanche MN, Sauter J, Akpan E, Buckser R, Vincent A, Caulfield MK. Novel approaches to functional lateralization: Assessing information in activity patterns across hemispheres and more accurately identifying structural homologues. Neuropsychologia 2023; 190:108684. [PMID: 37741550 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 09/25/2023]
Abstract
Functional lateralization is typically measured by comparing activation levels across the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Significant additional information, however, exists within distributed multi-voxel patterns of activity - a format not detectable by traditional activation-based analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. We introduce and test two methods -one anatomical, one functional- that allow hemispheric information asymmetries to be detected. We first introduce and apply a novel tool that draws on brain 'surface fingerprints' to pair every location in one hemisphere with its hemispheric homologue. We use anatomical data to show that this approach is more accurate than the common distance-from-midline method for comparing bilateral regions. Next, we introduce a complementary analysis method that quantifies multivariate laterality in functional data. This new 'multivariate Laterality Index' (mLI) reflects both quantitative and qualitative information-differences across homologous activity patterns. We apply the technique here to functional data collected as participants viewed faces and non-faces. Using the previously generated surface fingerprints to pair-up homologous searchlights in each hemisphere, we use the novel multivariate laterality technique to identify face-information asymmetries across right and left counterparts of the fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and early visual areas. The typical location of the fusiform face area has greater information asymmetry for faces than for shapes. More generally, we argue that the field should consider an information-based approach to lateralization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc N Coutanche
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA; Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA; Brain Institute, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
| | - Jake Sauter
- State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY, USA
| | - Essang Akpan
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA; Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA
| | - Rae Buckser
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA; Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA
| | - Augusta Vincent
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA; Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA
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110
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Narganes-Pineda C, Paz-Alonso PM, Marotta A, Lupiáñez J, Chica AB. Neural basis of social attention: common and distinct mechanisms for social and nonsocial orienting stimuli. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:11010-11024. [PMID: 37782936 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Social and nonsocial directional stimuli (such as gaze and arrows, respectively) share their ability to trigger attentional processes, although the issue of whether social stimuli generate other additional (and unique) attentional effects is still under debate. In this study, we used the spatial interference paradigm to explore, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, shared and dissociable brain activations produced by gaze and arrows. Results showed a common set of regions (right parieto-temporo-occipital) similarly involved in conflict resolution for gaze and arrows stimuli, which showed stronger co-activation for incongruent than congruent trials. The frontal eye field showed stronger functional connectivity with occipital regions for congruent as compared with incongruent trials, and this effect was enhanced for gaze as compared with arrow stimuli in the right hemisphere. Moreover, spatial interference produced by incongruent (as compared with congruent) arrows was associated with increased functional coupling between the right frontal eye field and a set of regions in the left hemisphere. This result was not observed for incongruent (as compared with congruent) gaze stimuli. The right frontal eye field also showed greater coupling with left temporo-occipital regions for those conditions in which larger conflict was observed (arrow incongruent vs. gaze incongruent trials, and gaze congruent vs. arrow congruent trials). These findings support the view that social and nonsocial stimuli share some attentional mechanisms, while at the same time highlighting other differential effects. Highlights Attentional orienting triggered by social (gaze) and nonsocial (arrow) cues is comparable. When social and nonsocial stimuli are used as targets, qualitatively different behavioral effects are observed. This study explores the neural bases of shared and dissociable neural mechanisms for social and nonsocial stimuli. Shared mechanisms were found in the functional coupling between right parieto-temporo-occipital regions. Dissociable mechanisms were found in the functional coupling between right frontal eye field and ipsilateral and contralateral occipito-temporal regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Narganes-Pineda
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Pedro M Paz-Alonso
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, Mikeletegi Pasealekua 69, 20009 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbo, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Andrea Marotta
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Ana B Chica
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain
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111
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Wang A, Sliwinska MW, Watson DM, Smith S, Andrews TJ. Distinct patterns of neural response to faces from different races in humans and deep networks. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:nsad059. [PMID: 37837305 PMCID: PMC10634630 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsad059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Social categories such as the race or ethnicity of an individual are typically conveyed by the visual appearance of the face. The aim of this study was to explore how these differences in facial appearance are represented in human and artificial neural networks. First, we compared the similarity of faces from different races using a neural network trained to discriminate identity. We found that the differences between races were most evident in the fully connected layers of the network. Although these layers were also able to predict behavioural judgements of face identity from human participants, performance was biased toward White faces. Next, we measured the neural response in face-selective regions of the human brain to faces from different races in Asian and White participants. We found distinct patterns of response to faces from different races in face-selective regions. We also found that the spatial pattern of response was more consistent across participants for own-race compared to other-race faces. Together, these findings show that faces from different races elicit different patterns of response in human and artificial neural networks. These differences may underlie the ability to make categorical judgements and explain the behavioural advantage for the recognition of own-race faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ao Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Magdalena W Sliwinska
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L2 2QP, UK
| | - David M Watson
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sam Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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112
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Zaragoza-Jimenez N, Niehaus H, Thome I, Vogelbacher C, Ende G, Kamp-Becker I, Endres D, Jansen A. Modeling face recognition in the predictive coding framework: A combined computational modeling and functional imaging study. Cortex 2023; 168:203-225. [PMID: 37832490 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2022] [Revised: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
The learning of new facial identities and the recognition of familiar faces are crucial processes for social interactions. Recently, a combined computational modeling and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used predictive coding as a biologically plausible framework to model face identity learning and to relate specific model parameters with brain activity (Apps and Tsakiris, Nat Commun 4, 2698, 2013). On the one hand, it was shown that behavioral responses on a two-option face recognition task could be predicted by the level of contextual and facial familiarity in a computational model derived from predictive-coding principles. On the other hand, brain activity in specific brain regions was associated with these parameters. More specifically, brain activity in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) varied with contextual familiarity, whereas activity in the fusiform face area (FFA) covaried with the prediction error parameter that updated facial familiarity. Literature combining fMRI assessments and computational modeling in humans still needs to be expanded. Furthermore, prior results are largely not replicated. The present study was, therefore, specifically set up to replicate these previous findings. Our results support the original findings in two critical aspects. First, on a group level, the behavioral responses were modeled best by the same computational model reported by the original authors. Second, we showed that estimates of these model parameters covary with brain activity in specific, face-sensitive brain regions. Our results thus provide further evidence that the functional properties of the face perception network conform to central principles of predictive coding. However, our study yielded diverging findings on specific computational model parameters reflected in brain activity. On the one hand, we did not find any evidence of a computational involvement of the STS. On the other hand, our results showed that activity in the right FFA was associated with multiple computational model parameters. Our data do not provide evidence for functional segregation between particular face-sensitive brain regions, as previously proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nestor Zaragoza-Jimenez
- Laboratory for Multimodal Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Hauke Niehaus
- Theoretical Cognitive Science Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Germany.
| | - Ina Thome
- Laboratory for Multimodal Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Christoph Vogelbacher
- Laboratory for Multimodal Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Gabriele Ende
- Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Inge Kamp-Becker
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Germany
| | - Dominik Endres
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Theoretical Cognitive Science Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Jansen
- Laboratory for Multimodal Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Core-Facility Brainimaging, Faculty of Medicine, University of Marburg, Germany.
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113
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Sun S, Yu H, Yu R, Wang S. Functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex underlies processing of emotion ambiguity. Transl Psychiatry 2023; 13:334. [PMID: 37898626 PMCID: PMC10613296 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02625-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Processing facial expressions of emotion draws on a distributed brain network. In particular, judging ambiguous facial emotions involves coordination between multiple brain areas. Here, we applied multimodal functional connectivity analysis to achieve network-level understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying perceptual ambiguity in facial expressions. We found directional effective connectivity between the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and ventromedial PFC, supporting both bottom-up affective processes for ambiguity representation/perception and top-down cognitive processes for ambiguity resolution/decision. Direct recordings from the human neurosurgical patients showed that the responses of amygdala and dmPFC neurons were modulated by the level of emotion ambiguity, and amygdala neurons responded earlier than dmPFC neurons, reflecting the bottom-up process for ambiguity processing. We further found parietal-frontal coherence and delta-alpha cross-frequency coupling involved in encoding emotion ambiguity. We replicated the EEG coherence result using independent experiments and further showed modulation of the coherence. EEG source connectivity revealed that the dmPFC top-down regulated the activities in other brain regions. Lastly, we showed altered behavioral responses in neuropsychiatric patients who may have dysfunctions in amygdala-PFC functional connectivity. Together, using multimodal experimental and analytical approaches, we have delineated a neural network that underlies processing of emotion ambiguity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sai Sun
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University 6-3 Aramaki aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan.
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Rongjun Yu
- Department of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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Jiahui G, Feilong M, Visconti di Oleggio Castello M, Nastase SA, Haxby JV, Gobbini MI. Modeling naturalistic face processing in humans with deep convolutional neural networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2304085120. [PMID: 37847731 PMCID: PMC10614847 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304085120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) trained for face identification can rival and even exceed human-level performance. The ways in which the internal face representations in DCNNs relate to human cognitive representations and brain activity are not well understood. Nearly all previous studies focused on static face image processing with rapid display times and ignored the processing of naturalistic, dynamic information. To address this gap, we developed the largest naturalistic dynamic face stimulus set in human neuroimaging research (700+ naturalistic video clips of unfamiliar faces). We used this naturalistic dataset to compare representational geometries estimated from DCNNs, behavioral responses, and brain responses. We found that DCNN representational geometries were consistent across architectures, cognitive representational geometries were consistent across raters in a behavioral arrangement task, and neural representational geometries in face areas were consistent across brains. Representational geometries in late, fully connected DCNN layers, which are optimized for individuation, were much more weakly correlated with cognitive and neural geometries than were geometries in late-intermediate layers. The late-intermediate face-DCNN layers successfully matched cognitive representational geometries, as measured with a behavioral arrangement task that primarily reflected categorical attributes, and correlated with neural representational geometries in known face-selective topographies. Our study suggests that current DCNNs successfully capture neural cognitive processes for categorical attributes of faces but less accurately capture individuation and dynamic features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guo Jiahui
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH03755
| | - Ma Feilong
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH03755
| | | | - Samuel A. Nastase
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
| | - James V. Haxby
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH03755
| | - M. Ida Gobbini
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna40138, Italy
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna40139, Italia
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115
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Suk JW, Blair RJR, Vaughan B, Lerdahl A, Garvey WF, Edwards R, Leibenluft E, Hwang S. Mediating effect of amygdala activity on response to fear vs. happiness in youth with significant levels of irritability and disruptive mood and behavior disorders. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1204574. [PMID: 37901308 PMCID: PMC10602729 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1204574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Irritability, characterized by a tendency to exhibit increased anger, is a common clinical problem in youth. Irritability is a significant clinical issue in youth with various psychiatric diagnoses, especially disruptive behavior, and mood disorders (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder). Although there have been previous studies focusing on functional alteration in the amygdala related to irritability, there is no comprehensive model between emotional, neuronal, and behavioral characteristics. Methods Using an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) procedure, we investigated the relationships between behavioral irritability, selective impairments in processing facial emotions and the amygdala neural response in youth with increased irritability. Fifty-nine youth with disruptive mood and behavior disorder completed a facial expression processing task with an event-related fMRI paradigm. The severity of irritability was evaluated using the Affective Reactivity Index. Results In the result of behavioral data, irritability, and reaction time (RT) differences between interpreting negative (fear) and positive (happiness) facial expressions were positively correlated. In the fMRI result, youth showed higher activation in the right cingulate gyrus, bilateral cerebellum, right amygdala, right precuneus, right superior frontal gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus, during the happiness condition vs. fear condition. No brain region exhibited greater activation in the fear than in the happiness conditions. In the result of the mediator analysis, increased irritability was associated with a longer RT toward positive vs. negative facial expressions. Irritability was also positively associated with the difference in amygdala blood oxygen level-dependent responses between the two emotional conditions (happiness > fear). This difference in amygdala activity mediated the interaction between irritability and the RT difference between negative and positive facial expressions. Discussion We suggest that impairment in the implicit processing of facial emotional expressions with different valences causes distinct patterns of amygdala response, which correlate with the level of irritability. These results broaden our understanding of the biological mechanism of irritability at the neural level and provide information for the future direction of the study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Woo Suk
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
- Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Robert J. R. Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Emotion and Development Branch, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Brigette Vaughan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Arica Lerdahl
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - William F. Garvey
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Ryan Edwards
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
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116
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Kho SK, Keeble DRT, Wong HK, Estudillo AJ. Investigating the role of the fusiform face area and occipital face area using multifocal transcranial direct current stimulation. Neuropsychologia 2023; 189:108663. [PMID: 37611740 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
The functional role of the occipital face area (OFA) and the fusiform face area (FFA) in face recognition is inconclusive to date. While some research has shown that the OFA and FFA are involved in early (i.e., featural processing) and late (i.e., holistic processing) stages of face recognition respectively, other research suggests that both regions are involved in both early and late stages of face recognition. Thus, the current study aims to further examine the role of the OFA and the FFA using multifocal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In Experiment 1, we used computer-generated faces. Thirty-five participants completed whole face and facial features (i.e., eyes, nose, mouth) recognition tasks after OFA and FFA stimulation in a within-subject design. No difference was found in recognition performance after either OFA or FFA stimulation. In Experiment 2 with 60 participants, we used real faces, provided stimulation following a between-subjects design and included a sham control group. Results showed that FFA stimulation led to enhanced efficiency of facial features recognition. Additionally, no effect of OFA stimulation was found for either facial feature or whole face recognition. These results suggest the involvement of FFA in the recognition of facial features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siew Kei Kho
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, UK; School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Malaysia.
| | | | - Hoo Keat Wong
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Malaysia
| | - Alejandro J Estudillo
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, UK; School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Malaysia.
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117
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Abubshait A, Weis PP, Momen A, Wiese E. Perceptual discrimination in the face perception of robots is attenuated compared to humans. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16708. [PMID: 37794045 PMCID: PMC10550918 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-42510-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023] Open
Abstract
When interacting with groups of robots, we tend to perceive them as a homogenous group where all group members have similar capabilities. This overgeneralization of capabilities is potentially due to a lack of perceptual experience with robots or a lack of motivation to see them as individuals (i.e., individuation). This can undermine trust and performance in human-robot teams. One way to overcome this issue is by designing robots that can be individuated such that each team member can be provided tasks based on its actual skills. In two experiments, we examine if humans can effectively individuate robots: Experiment 1 (n = 225) investigates how individuation performance of robot stimuli compares to that of human stimuli that either belong to a social ingroup or outgroup. Experiment 2 (n = 177) examines to what extent robots' physical human-likeness (high versus low) affects individuation performance. Results show that although humans are able to individuate robots, they seem to individuate them to a lesser extent than both ingroup and outgroup human stimuli (Experiment 1). Furthermore, robots that are physically more humanlike are initially individuated better compared to robots that are physically less humanlike; this effect, however, diminishes over the course of the experiment, suggesting that the individuation of robots can be learned quite quickly (Experiment 2). Whether differences in individuation performance with robot versus human stimuli is primarily due to a reduced perceptual experience with robot stimuli or due to motivational aspects (i.e., robots as potential social outgroup) should be examined in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdulaziz Abubshait
- Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy.
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
| | - Patrick P Weis
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
- Julius Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ali Momen
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
- Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
| | - Eva Wiese
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
- Berlin Institute of Technology, Berlin, Germany
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118
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Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Beyond facial expressions: A systematic review on effects of emotional relevance of faces on the N170. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105399. [PMID: 37734698 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
The N170 is the most prominent electrophysiological signature of face processing. While facial expressions reliably modulate the N170, there is considerable variance in N170 modulations by other sources of emotional relevance. Therefore, we systematically review and discuss this research area using different methods to manipulate the emotional relevance of inherently neutral faces. These methods were categorized into (1) existing pre-experimental affective person knowledge (e.g., negative attitudes towards outgroup faces), (2) experimentally instructed affective person knowledge (e.g., negative person information), (3) contingency-based affective learning (e.g., fear-conditioning), or (4) the immediate affective context (e.g., emotional information directly preceding the face presentation). For all categories except the immediate affective context category, the majority of studies reported significantly increased N170 amplitudes depending on the emotional relevance of faces. Furthermore, the potentiated N170 was observed across different attention conditions, supporting the role of the emotional relevance of faces on the early prioritized processing of configural facial information, regardless of low-level differences. However, we identified several open research questions and suggest venues for further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
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119
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van Dyck LE, Gruber WR. Modeling Biological Face Recognition with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1521-1537. [PMID: 37584587 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/17/2023]
Abstract
Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have become the state-of-the-art computational models of biological object recognition. Their remarkable success has helped vision science break new ground, and recent efforts have started to transfer this achievement to research on biological face recognition. In this regard, face detection can be investigated by comparing face-selective biological neurons and brain areas to artificial neurons and model layers. Similarly, face identification can be examined by comparing in vivo and in silico multidimensional "face spaces." In this review, we summarize the first studies that use DCNNs to model biological face recognition. On the basis of a broad spectrum of behavioral and computational evidence, we conclude that DCNNs are useful models that closely resemble the general hierarchical organization of face recognition in the ventral visual pathway and the core face network. In two exemplary spotlights, we emphasize the unique scientific contributions of these models. First, studies on face detection in DCNNs indicate that elementary face selectivity emerges automatically through feedforward processing even in the absence of visual experience. Second, studies on face identification in DCNNs suggest that identity-specific experience and generative mechanisms facilitate this particular challenge. Taken together, as this novel modeling approach enables close control of predisposition (i.e., architecture) and experience (i.e., training data), it may be suited to inform long-standing debates on the substrates of biological face recognition.
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120
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Griffin JW, Azu MA, Cramer-Benjamin S, Franke CJ, Herman N, Iqbal R, Keifer CM, Rosenthal LH, McPartland JC. Investigating the Face Inversion Effect in Autism Across Behavioral and Neural Measures of Face Processing: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis. JAMA Psychiatry 2023; 80:1026-1036. [PMID: 37405787 PMCID: PMC10323765 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.2105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/06/2023]
Abstract
Importance Face processing is foundational to human social cognition, is central to the hallmark features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and shapes neural systems and social behavior. Highly efficient and specialized, the face processing system is sensitive to inversion, demonstrated by reduced accuracy in recognition and altered neural response to inverted faces. Understanding at which mechanistic level the autistic face processing system may be particularly different, as measured by the face inversion effect, will improve overall understanding of brain functioning in autism. Objective To synthesize data from the extant literature to determine differences of the face processing system in ASD, as measured by the face inversion effect, across multiple mechanistic levels. Data Sources Systematic searches were conducted in the MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and PubMed databases from inception to August 11, 2022. Study Selection Original research that reported performance-based measures of face recognition to upright and inverted faces in ASD and neurotypical samples were included for quantitative synthesis. All studies were screened by at least 2 reviewers. Data Extraction and Synthesis This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline. Multiple effect sizes were extracted from studies to maximize information gain and statistical precision and used a random-effects, multilevel modeling framework to account for statistical dependencies within study samples. Main Outcomes and Measures Effect sizes were calculated as a standardized mean change score between ASD and neurotypical samples (ie, Hedges g). The primary outcome measure was performance difference between upright and inverted faces during face recognition tasks. Measurement modality, psychological construct, recognition demand, sample age, sample sex distribution, and study quality assessment scores were assessed as moderators. Results Of 1768 screened articles, 122 effect sizes from 38 empirical articles representing data from 1764 individual participants (899 ASD individuals and 865 neurotypical individuals) were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, face recognition performance differences between upright and inverted faces were reduced in autistic individuals compared with neurotypical individuals (g = -0.41; SE = 0.11; 95% credible interval [CrI], -0.63 to -0.18). However, there was considerable heterogeneity among effect sizes, which were explored with moderator analysis. The attenuated face inversion effect in autistic individuals was more prominent in emotion compared with identity recognition (b = 0.46; SE = 0.26; 95% CrI, -0.08 to 0.95) and in behavioral compared with electrophysiological measures (b = 0.23; SE = 0.24; 95% CrI, -0.25 to 0.70). Conclusions and Relevance This study found that on average, face recognition in autism is less impacted by inversion. These findings suggest less specialization or expertise of the face processing system in autism, particularly in recognizing emotion from faces as measured in behavioral paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason W. Griffin
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Margaret A. Azu
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | | | - Cassandra J. Franke
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Nicole Herman
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Reeda Iqbal
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Cara M. Keifer
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Lindsey H. Rosenthal
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - James C. McPartland
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
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121
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Caputo GB. Strange-face-in-the-mirror illusions: specific effects on derealization, depersonalization, and dissociative identity. J Trauma Dissociation 2023; 24:575-608. [PMID: 37006162 DOI: 10.1080/15299732.2023.2195394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023]
Abstract
Anomalous strange-face illusions (SFIs) are produced when mirror gazing under a low level of face illumination. In contrast to past studies in which an observer's task was to pay attention to the reflected face and to perceive potential facial changes, the present research used a mirror gazing task (MGT) that instructed participants to fixate their gaze on a 4-mm hole in a glass mirror. The participants' eye-blink rates were thus measured without priming any facial changes. Twenty-one healthy young individuals participated in the MGT and a control panel-fixation task (staring at a hole in a gray non-reflective panel). The Revised Strange-Face Questionnaire (SFQ-R) indexed derealization (deformations of facial features; FD), depersonalization (bodily face detachment; BD), and dissociative identity (new or unknown identities; DI) scales. Mirror-fixation increased FD, BD, and DI scores compared to panel-fixation. In mirror-fixation, FD scores revealed fading specific to facial features, distinct from "classical" Troxler- and Brewster-fading. In mirror-fixation, eye-blink rates correlated negatively with FD scores. Panel-fixation produced low BD scores, and, in a few participants, face pareidolias as detected on FD scores. Females were more prone to early derealization and males to compartmentalization of a dissociative identity. SFQ-R may be a valuable instrument for measuring face-specific dissociation (FD, BD, DI) produced by MGT. Use of MGT and panel-fixation task for differential diagnoses between schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni B Caputo
- Department of Humanistic Studies (DISTUM), University of Urbino, Urbino, Italy
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122
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Entzmann L, Guyader N, Kauffmann L, Peyrin C, Mermillod M. Detection of emotional faces: The role of spatial frequencies and local features. Vision Res 2023; 211:108281. [PMID: 37421829 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 06/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
Models of emotion processing suggest that threat-related stimuli such as fearful faces can be detected based on the rapid extraction of low spatial frequencies. However, this remains debated as other models argue that the decoding of facial expressions occurs with a more flexible use of spatial frequencies. The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of spatial frequencies and differences in luminance contrast between spatial frequencies, on the detection of facial emotions. We used a saccadic choice task in which emotional-neutral face pairs were presented and participants were asked to make a saccade toward the neutral or the emotional (happy or fearful) face. Faces were displayed either in low, high, or broad spatial frequencies. Results showed that participants were better to saccade toward the emotional face. They were also better for high or broad than low spatial frequencies, and the accuracy was higher with a happy target. An analysis of the eye and mouth saliency ofour stimuli revealed that the mouth saliency of the target correlates with participants' performance. Overall, this study underlines the importance of local more than global information, and of the saliency of the mouth region in the detection of emotional and neutral faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léa Entzmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France; Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000 Grenoble, France; Icelandic Vision Lab, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
| | - Nathalie Guyader
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Louise Kauffmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Carole Peyrin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Martial Mermillod
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
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Jayashankar A, Aziz-Zadeh L. Disgust Processing and Potential Relationships with Behaviors in Autism. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2023; 25:465-478. [PMID: 37672122 PMCID: PMC10627949 DOI: 10.1007/s11920-023-01445-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW While there are reports of differences in emotion processing in autism, it is less understood whether the emotion of disgust, in particular, plays a significant role in these effects. Here, we review literature on potential disgust processing differences in autism and its possible associations with autistic traits. RECENT FINDINGS In autism, there is evidence for differences in physical disgust processing, pica behaviors, attention away from other's disgust facial expressions, and differences in neural activity related to disgust processing. In typically developing individuals, disgust processing is related to moral processing, but modulated by individual differences in interoception and alexithymia. Autistic individuals may experience atypical disgust, which may lead to difficulty avoiding contaminants and affect socio-emotional processing. In autism, such outcomes may lead to increased occurrences of illness, contribute to gastrointestinal issues, diminish vicarious learning of disgust expression and behaviors, and potentially contribute to differences in processes related to moral reasoning, though further research is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditya Jayashankar
- USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
- Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
- Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
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124
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Kuhns L, Mies G, Kroon E, Willuhn I, Lesscher H, Cousijn J. Alcohol cue reactivity in the brain: Age-related differences in the role of social processes in addiction in male drinkers. J Neurosci Res 2023; 101:1521-1537. [PMID: 37401734 PMCID: PMC10538438 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Social attunement (SA)-the tendency to harmonize behavior with the social environment-has been proposed to drive the escalation of alcohol use in adolescence, while reducing use in adulthood. Little is known about how heightened social sensitivity in adolescence may interact with neural alcohol cue reactivity-a marker of alcohol use disorder-and its relationship to alcohol use severity over time. The aims of this study were to test whether (1) adolescents and adults differ in social alcohol cue reactivity in the nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate cortex, and right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and (2) age moderates the relationship between social alcohol cue reactivity and social attunement, measures of drinking at baseline, and changes in drinking over time. A sample of male adolescents (16-18 years) and adults (29-35 years) completed an fMRI social alcohol cue-exposure task at baseline and an online follow-up two to three years later. No main effects of age or drinking measures were observed in social alcohol cue reactivity. However, age significantly moderated associations of social alcohol cue reactivity in the mPFC and additional regions from exploratory whole-brain analyses with SA, with a positive association in adolescents and negative association in adults. Significant age interactions emerged only for SA in predicting drinking over time. Adolescents with higher SA scores escalated drinking, while adults with higher SA scores reduced drinking. These findings warrant further research on SA as a risk and protective factor and suggest that social processes influence cue reactivity differentially in male adolescents and adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Kuhns
- Neuroscience of Addiction (NofA) Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- The Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Gabry Mies
- Neuroscience of Addiction (NofA) Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Emese Kroon
- Neuroscience of Addiction (NofA) Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- The Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ingo Willuhn
- The Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands, Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Heidi Lesscher
- Department of Population Health Sciences, unit Animals in Science and Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Janna Cousijn
- Neuroscience of Addiction (NofA) Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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125
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Sommer W, Kotowski K, Shi Y, Switonski A, Hildebrandt A, Stapor K. Explicit face memory abilities are positively related to the non-intentional encoding of faces: Behavioral and ERP evidence. Biol Psychol 2023; 183:108672. [PMID: 37689176 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/11/2023]
Abstract
Individual differences in face memory abilities have been shown to be related to individual differences in brain activity. The present study investigated brain-behavior relationships for the N250 component in event-related brain potentials, which is taken as a neural sign of face familiarity. We used a task in which a designated, typical target face and several (high- and low-distinctive) nontarget faces had to be distinguished during multiple presentations across a session. Separately, face memory/recognition abilities were measured with easy versus difficult tasks. We replicated an increase of the N250 amplitude to the target face across the session and observed a similar increase for the non-target faces, indicating the build-up of memory representations also for these faces. On the interindividual level, larger across-session N250 amplitude increases to low-distinctive non-target faces were related to faster face recognition as measured in an easy task. These findings indicate that non-intentional encoding of non-target faces into memory is associated with the swift recognition of explicitly learned faces; that is, there is shared variance of incidental and intentional face memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Werner Sommer
- Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department of Psychology, Germany; Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jin Hua, China.
| | - Krzysztof Kotowski
- Silesian University of Technology, Department of Applied Informatics, Gliwice, Poland
| | - Yang Shi
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jin Hua, China
| | - Adam Switonski
- Silesian University of Technology, Department of Graphics, Computer Vision and Digital Systems, Gliwice, Poland
| | - Andrea Hildebrandt
- Department of Psychology and Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Katarzyna Stapor
- Silesian University of Technology, Department of Applied Informatics, Gliwice, Poland.
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126
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Cha WJ, Kim K. Diminished emotion recognition with reduced face gaze in complex situation in individuals with broad autism phenotype. Int J Clin Health Psychol 2023; 23:100399. [PMID: 37577162 PMCID: PMC10413062 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Background/objective Individuals with broad autism phenotype (BAP) showed a diminished ability to recognize emotion. This study aims to examine whether their decline in emotion recognition ability could be more clearly identified as task complexity increased and whether their decline could be influenced by their eye-gaze patterns. Method 41 individuals with BAP and 40 healthy controls performed two types of emotion recognition tasks. After confirming conditions wherein the BAP group did not perform well compared to the control group, we compared gaze proportion on faces and context between groups when performing the conditions. Results The more difficult the task, the clearer the significant relationships between the level of autistic traits and emotion recognition ability. The BAP group showed lower accuracy compared to the control group when a face with mild emotional intensity was presented with context. In terms of gaze proportion, the BAP group looked less at faces when recognizing emotions compared to the control group. Conclusion These findings indicate that diminished emotion recognition ability in individuals with BAP may be influenced by face gaze.
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Affiliation(s)
- Woo-Jin Cha
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, 84, Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Kiho Kim
- Department of Psychology of Counseling, Sejong Cyber University, Cheonho-daero 680, Gwangjingu, Seoul 04992, Republic of Korea
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127
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Ziereis A, Schacht A. Motivated attention and task relevance in the processing of cross-modally associated faces: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:1244-1266. [PMID: 37353712 PMCID: PMC10545602 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01112-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
It has repeatedly been shown that visually presented stimuli can gain additional relevance by their association with affective stimuli. Studies have shown effects of associated affect in event-related potentials (ERP) like the early posterior negativity (EPN), late positive complex (LPC), and even earlier components as the P1 or N170. However, findings are mixed as to the extent associated affect requires directed attention to the emotional quality of a stimulus and which ERP components are sensitive to task instructions during retrieval. In this preregistered study ( https://osf.io/ts4pb ), we tested cross-modal associations of vocal affect-bursts (positive, negative, neutral) to faces displaying neutral expressions in a flash-card-like learning task, in which participants studied face-voice pairs and learned to correctly assign them to each other. In the subsequent EEG test session, we applied both an implicit ("old-new") and explicit ("valence-classification") task to investigate whether the behavior at retrieval and neurophysiological activation of the affect-based associations were dependent on the type of motivated attention. We collected behavioral and neurophysiological data from 40 participants who reached the preregistered learning criterium. Results showed EPN effects of associated negative valence after learning and independent of the task. In contrast, modulations of later stages (LPC) by positive and negative associated valence were restricted to the explicit, i.e., valence-classification, task. These findings highlight the importance of the task at different processing stages and show that cross-modal affect can successfully be associated to faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Ziereis
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Anne Schacht
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
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Manippa V, Palmisano A, Ventura M, Rivolta D. The Neural Correlates of Developmental Prosopagnosia: Twenty-Five Years on. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1399. [PMID: 37891769 PMCID: PMC10605188 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13101399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces play a crucial role in social interactions. Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) refers to the lifelong difficulty in recognizing faces despite the absence of obvious signs of brain lesions. In recent decades, the neural substrate of this condition has been extensively investigated. While early neuroimaging studies did not reveal significant functional and structural abnormalities in the brains of individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DPs), recent evidence identifies abnormalities at multiple levels within DPs' face-processing networks. The current work aims to provide an overview of the convergent and contrasting findings by examining twenty-five years of neuroimaging literature on the anatomo-functional correlates of DP. We included 55 original papers, including 63 studies that compared the brain structure (MRI) and activity (fMRI, EEG, MEG) of healthy control participants and DPs. Despite variations in methods, procedures, outcomes, sample selection, and study design, this scoping review suggests that morphological, functional, and electrophysiological features characterize DPs' brains, primarily within the ventral visual stream. Particularly, the functional and anatomical connectivity between the Fusiform Face Area and the other face-sensitive regions seems strongly impaired. The cognitive and clinical implications as well as the limitations of these findings are discussed in light of the available knowledge and challenges in the context of DP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerio Manippa
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy; (V.M.); (A.P.); (M.V.)
| | - Annalisa Palmisano
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy; (V.M.); (A.P.); (M.V.)
- Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, TUD Dresden University of Technology, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - Martina Ventura
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy; (V.M.); (A.P.); (M.V.)
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney 2145, Australia
| | - Davide Rivolta
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy; (V.M.); (A.P.); (M.V.)
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129
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Pitcher D, Ianni GR, Holiday K, Ungerleider LG. Identifying the cortical face network with dynamic face stimuli: A large group fMRI study. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.26.559583. [PMID: 37886588 PMCID: PMC10602036 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.26.559583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified a network of face-selective regions distributed across the human brain. In the present study, we analyzed data from a large group of gender-balanced participants to investigate how reliably these face-selective regions could be identified across both cerebral hemispheres. Participants ( N =52) were scanned with fMRI while viewing short videos of faces, bodies, and objects. Results revealed that five face-selective regions: the fusiform face area (FFA), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), anterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the amygdala were all larger in the right than in the left hemisphere. The occipital face area (OFA) was larger in the right hemisphere as well, but the difference between the hemispheres was not significant. The neural response to moving faces was also greater in face-selective regions in the right than in the left hemisphere. An additional analysis revealed that the pSTS and IFG were significantly larger in the right hemisphere compared to other face-selective regions. This pattern of results demonstrates that moving faces are preferentially processed in the right hemisphere and that the pSTS and IFG appear to be the strongest drivers of this laterality. An analysis of gender revealed that face-selective regions were typically larger in females ( N =26) than males ( N =26), but this gender difference was not statistically significant.
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130
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Sueur C, Piermattéo A, Pelé M. Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study. F1000Res 2023; 11:218. [PMID: 37822956 PMCID: PMC10562793 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.76062.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Human behavior is influenced by the presence of others, which scientists also call 'the audience effect'. The use of social control to produce more cooperative behaviors may positively influence road use and safety. This study uses an online questionnaire to test how eyes images affect the behavior of pedestrians when crossing a road. Different eyes images of men, women and a child with different facial expressions -neutral, friendly and angry- were presented to participants who were asked what they would feel by looking at these images before crossing a signalized road. Participants completed a questionnaire of 20 questions about pedestrian behaviors (PBQ). The questionnaire was received by 1,447 French participants, 610 of whom answered the entire questionnaire. Seventy-one percent of participants were women, and the mean age was 35 ± 14 years. Eye images give individuals the feeling they are being observed at 33%, feared at 5% and surprised at 26%, and thus seem to indicate mixed results about avoiding crossing at the red light. The expressions shown in the eyes are also an important factor: feelings of being observed increased by about 10-15% whilst feelings of being scared or inhibited increased by about 5% as the expression changed from neutral to friendly to angry. No link was found between the results of our questionnaire and those of the Pedestrian Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ). This study shows that the use of eye images could reduce illegal crossings by pedestrians, and is thus of key interest as a practical road safety tool. However, the effect is limited and how to increase this nudge effect needs further consideration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Sueur
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
- IPHC, UMR7178, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg, France
| | | | - Marie Pelé
- ETHICS EA7446, Lille Catholic University, Lille, France
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131
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Quian Quiroga R, Boscaglia M, Jonas J, Rey HG, Yan X, Maillard L, Colnat-Coulbois S, Koessler L, Rossion B. Single neuron responses underlying face recognition in the human midfusiform face-selective cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5661. [PMID: 37704636 PMCID: PMC10499913 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41323-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces are critical for social interactions and their recognition constitutes one of the most important and challenging functions of the human brain. While neurons responding selectively to faces have been recorded for decades in the monkey brain, face-selective neural activations have been reported with neuroimaging primarily in the human midfusiform gyrus. Yet, the cellular mechanisms producing selective responses to faces in this hominoid neuroanatomical structure remain unknown. Here we report single neuron recordings performed in 5 human subjects (1 male, 4 females) implanted with intracerebral microelectrodes in the face-selective midfusiform gyrus, while they viewed pictures of familiar and unknown faces and places. We observed similar responses to faces and places at the single cell level, but a significantly higher number of neurons responding to faces, thus offering a mechanistic account for the face-selective activations observed in this region. Although individual neurons did not respond preferentially to familiar faces, a population level analysis could consistently determine whether or not the faces (but not the places) were familiar, only about 50 ms after the initial recognition of the stimuli as faces. These results provide insights into the neural mechanisms of face processing in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Quian Quiroga
- Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain.
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
- Ruijin hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong university school of medicine, Shanghai, China.
| | - Marta Boscaglia
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Jacques Jonas
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Hernan G Rey
- Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Xiaoqian Yan
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Louis Maillard
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Sophie Colnat-Coulbois
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurochirurgie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Laurent Koessler
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, Nancy, France.
- Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, F-54000, Nancy, France.
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132
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Ai H, Cui Y, Chen N. A "Bandwidth" in cortical representations of multiple faces. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10028-10035. [PMID: 37522262 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The human ability to process multiple items simultaneously can be constrained by the extent to which those items are represented by distinct neural populations. In the current study, we used fMRI to investigate the cortical representation of multiple faces. We found that the addition of a second face to occupy both visual hemifields led to an increased response, whereas a further addition of faces within the same visual hemifield resulted in a decreased response. This pattern was widely observed in the occipital visual cortex, the intraparietal sulcus, and extended to the posterior inferotemporal cortex. A parallel trend was found in a behavioral change-detection task, revealing a perceptual "bandwidth" of multiface processing. The sensitivity to face clutter gradually decreased along the ventral pathway, supporting the notion of a buildup of clutter-tolerance representation. These cortical response patterns to face clutters suggest that adding signals with nonoverlapping cortical representation enhanced perception, while adding signals that competed for representation resources impaired perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hailin Ai
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
| | - Yuwei Cui
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
| | - Nihong Chen
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
- THU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
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133
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Şentürk YD, Tavacioglu EE, Duymaz İ, Sayim B, Alp N. The Sabancı University Dynamic Face Database (SUDFace): Development and validation of an audiovisual stimulus set of recited and free speeches with neutral facial expressions. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:3078-3099. [PMID: 36018484 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01951-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Faces convey a wide range of information, including one's identity, and emotional and mental states. Face perception is a major research topic in many research fields, such as cognitive science, social psychology, and neuroscience. Frequently, stimuli are selected from a range of available face databases. However, even though faces are highly dynamic, most databases consist of static face stimuli. Here, we introduce the Sabancı University Dynamic Face (SUDFace) database. The SUDFace database consists of 150 high-resolution audiovisual videos acquired in a controlled lab environment and stored with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels at a frame rate of 60 Hz. The multimodal database consists of three videos of each human model in frontal view in three different conditions: vocalizing two scripted texts (conditions 1 and 2) and one Free Speech (condition 3). The main focus of the SUDFace database is to provide a large set of dynamic faces with neutral facial expressions and natural speech articulation. Variables such as face orientation, illumination, and accessories (piercings, earrings, facial hair, etc.) were kept constant across all stimuli. We provide detailed stimulus information, including facial features (pixel-wise calculations of face length, eye width, etc.) and speeches (e.g., duration of speech and repetitions). In two validation experiments, a total number of 227 participants rated each video on several psychological dimensions (e.g., neutralness and naturalness of expressions, valence, and the perceived mental states of the models) using Likert scales. The database is freely accessible for research purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - İlker Duymaz
- Psychology, Sabancı University, Orta Mahalle, Tuzla, İstanbul, 34956, Turkey
| | - Bilge Sayim
- SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Université de Lille, CNRS, Lille, France
- Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Nihan Alp
- Psychology, Sabancı University, Orta Mahalle, Tuzla, İstanbul, 34956, Turkey.
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Gogan T, Beaudry J, Oldmeadow J. Knowledge of identity reduces variability in trait judgements across face images. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:2053-2067. [PMID: 36259873 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221136118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Faces vary from image to image, eliciting different judgements of traits and often different judgements of identity. Knowledge that two face images belong to the same person facilitates the processing of identity information across images, but it is unclear if this also applies to trait judgements. In this preregistered study, participants (N = 100) rated the same 340 face images on perceived trustworthiness, dominance, or attractiveness presented in randomised order and again later presented in sets consisting of the same identity. We also explored the role of implicit person theory beliefs in the variability of social judgements across images. We found that judgements of trustworthiness varied less when images were presented in sets consisting of the same identity than in randomised order and were more consistent for images presented later in a set than those presented earlier. However, knowledge of identity had little effect on perceptions of dominance and attractiveness. Finally, implicit person theory beliefs were not associated with variability in social judgements and did not account for effects of knowledge of identity. Our findings suggest that knowledge of identity and perceptual familiarity stabilises judgements of trustworthiness, but not perceptions of dominance and attractiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor Gogan
- Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Jennifer Beaudry
- Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
- Research Development and Support, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia
| | - Julian Oldmeadow
- Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
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135
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Bell L, Duchaine B, Susilo T. Dissociations between face identity and face expression processing in developmental prosopagnosia. Cognition 2023; 238:105469. [PMID: 37216847 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DPs) experience severe and lifelong deficits recognising faces, but whether their deficits are selective to the processing of face identity or extend to the processing of face expression remains unclear. Clarifying this issue is important for understanding DP impairments and advancing theories of face processing. We compared identity and expression processing in a large sample of DPs (N = 124) using three different matching tasks that each assessed identity and expression processing with identical experimental formats. We ran each task in upright and inverted orientations and we measured inversion effects to assess the integrity of upright-specific face processes. We report three main results. First, DPs showed large deficits at discriminating identity but only subtle deficits at discriminating expression. Second, DPs showed a reduced inversion effect for identity but a normal inversion effect for expression. Third, DPs' performance on the expression tasks were linked to autism traits, but their performance on the identity tasks were not. These results constitute several dissociations between identity and expression processing in DP, and they are consistent with the view that the core impairment in DP is highly selective to identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Bell
- Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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136
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Schroeger A, Ficco L, Wuttke SJ, Kaufmann JM, Schweinberger SR. Differences between high and low performers in face recognition in electrophysiological correlates of face familiarity and distance-to-norm. Biol Psychol 2023; 182:108654. [PMID: 37549807 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
Valentine's influential norm-based multidimensional face-space model (nMDFS) predicts that perceived distinctiveness of a face increases with its distance to the norm. Occipito-temporal event-related potentials (ERPs) have been recently shown to respond selectively to variations in distance-to-norm (P200) or familiarity (N250, late negativity), respectively (Wuttke & Schweinberger, 2019). Despite growing evidence on interindividual differences in face perception skills at the behavioral level, little research has focused on their electrophysiological correlates. To reveal potential interindividual differences in face spaces, we contrasted high and low performers in face recognition in regards to distance-to-norm (P200) and familiarity (N250). We replicated both the P200 distance-to-norm and the N250 familiarity effect. Importantly, we observed: i) reduced responses in low compared to high performers of face recognition, especially in terms of smaller distance-to-norm effects in the P200, possibly indicating less 'expanded' face spaces in low compared to high performers; ii) increased N250 responses to familiar original faces in high performers, suggesting more robust face identity representations. In summary, these findings suggest the contribution of both early norm-based face coding and robust face representations to individual face recognition skills, and indicate that ERPs can offer a promising route to understand individual differences in face perception and their neurocognitive correlates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Schroeger
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; Department for the Psychology of Human Movement and Sport, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; Department of Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
| | - Linda Ficco
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for the Science of Human History, Max-Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany.
| | - Stella J Wuttke
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; Infinite Potential Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Jürgen M Kaufmann
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
| | - Stefan R Schweinberger
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for the Science of Human History, Max-Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Site Jena-Magdeburg-Halle, Germany
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137
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Kotlewska I, Panek B, Nowicka A, Asanowicz D. Posterior theta activity reveals an early signal of self-face recognition. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13823. [PMID: 37620563 PMCID: PMC10449829 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41071-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-related visual information, especially one's own face and name, are processed in a specific, prioritized way. However, the spatio-temporal brain dynamics of self-prioritization have remained elusive. Moreover, it has been unclear whether this prioritization is an effect of enhancement and amplification, or rather a facilitating automatization of processing self-referential information. In this EEG study, 25 married women (who changed their surnames after marriage, so that their past and present surnames could be used as stimuli) performed a detection task with faces and names from five categories: self, self from the past, friend, famous, and unknown person. The aim was to determine the temporal and spatial characteristics of early electrophysiological markers of self-referential processing. We report results of event-related component (ERP) and time-frequency analyses. In the ERPs, the earliest self-relevance effect was displayed only 300 ms after stimulus onset in the midfrontal N2, and later in the parietal P3b, independently of the stimulus type. No self-relevance effect was found on the N170 component. However, local theta power at the occipito-temporal (visual) areas and inter-regional theta phase coherence between the visual and midfrontal areas showed that self-relevance differentiation of faces began already about 100-300 ms after stimulus onset. No such early effects were found for names. The results are discussed in terms of the time-course, functional localization, stimulus-specificity, and automatization of self-prioritization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Kotlewska
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Bartłomiej Panek
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Pasteura 3, 02-093, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Dariusz Asanowicz
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland
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138
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Tarchi P, Lanini MC, Frassineti L, Lanatà A. Real and Deepfake Face Recognition: An EEG Study on Cognitive and Emotive Implications. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1233. [PMID: 37759834 PMCID: PMC10526392 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13091233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The human brain's role in face processing (FP) and decision making for social interactions depends on recognizing faces accurately. However, the prevalence of deepfakes, AI-generated images, poses challenges in discerning real from synthetic identities. This study investigated healthy individuals' cognitive and emotional engagement in a visual discrimination task involving real and deepfake human faces expressing positive, negative, or neutral emotions. Electroencephalographic (EEG) data were collected from 23 healthy participants using a 21-channel dry-EEG headset; power spectrum and event-related potential (ERP) analyses were performed. Results revealed statistically significant activations in specific brain areas depending on the authenticity and emotional content of the stimuli. Power spectrum analysis highlighted a right-hemisphere predominance in theta, alpha, high-beta, and gamma bands for real faces, while deepfakes mainly affected the frontal and occipital areas in the delta band. ERP analysis hinted at the possibility of discriminating between real and synthetic faces, as N250 (200-300 ms after stimulus onset) peak latency decreased when observing real faces in the right frontal (LF) and left temporo-occipital (LTO) areas, but also within emotions, as P100 (90-140 ms) peak amplitude was found higher in the right temporo-occipital (RTO) area for happy faces with respect to neutral and sad ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pietro Tarchi
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy; (P.T.); (M.C.L.); (L.F.)
| | - Maria Chiara Lanini
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy; (P.T.); (M.C.L.); (L.F.)
| | - Lorenzo Frassineti
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy; (P.T.); (M.C.L.); (L.F.)
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa, 56122 Pisa, Italy
| | - Antonio Lanatà
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy; (P.T.); (M.C.L.); (L.F.)
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139
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Jia H, Wang Q, Feng X, Hu Z. Face mask reduces gaze-cueing effect. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13160. [PMID: 37573401 PMCID: PMC10423210 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40195-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have found that face masks affect social cognition and behaviour in the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The eyes, the only part of the face not covered by face masks, are an important spatial attention cue that can trigger social attention orienting. Here, we adopted a spatial gaze-cueing task to investigate whether face masks affect social attention orienting triggered by eye gaze cues. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to determine the orientation of a target line under two types of cues-masked and non-masked faces-and two stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) conditions (300 ms and 1000 ms). The results showed that masked faces induced a smaller gaze-cueing effect (GCE) compared to non-masked faces at 300 ms SOA, while two face types induced similar GCEs at 1000 ms SOA. Experiment 2 used mouth-obscured faces and non-masked faces as cues and found that no significant difference in GCE between the two types at either 300 ms or 1000 ms SOA, indicating that the reduction of GCE caused by the masked face was due to the social meaning expressed by the mask rather than a physical effect of masking. The present study extends previous findings to support the idea that high-level social information affects the processing of eye gaze direction and provides evidence that face masks affect social cognition and behaviour in the context of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Jia
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China
| | - Qi Wang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China
| | - Xinghe Feng
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhonghua Hu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China.
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140
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Fan Z, Liu Z, Yang J, Yang J, Sun F, Tang S, Wu G, Guo S, Ouyang X, Tao H. Hypoactive Visual Cortex, Prefrontal Cortex and Insula during Self-Face Recognition in Adults with First-Episode Major Depressive Disorder. Biomedicines 2023; 11:2200. [PMID: 37626697 PMCID: PMC10452386 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11082200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-face recognition is a vital aspect of self-referential processing, which is closely related to affective states. However, neuroimaging research on self-face recognition in adults with major depressive disorder is lacking. This study aims to investigate the alteration of brain activation during self-face recognition in adults with first-episode major depressive disorder (FEMDD) via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); FEMDD (n = 59) and healthy controls (HC, n = 36) who performed a self-face-recognition task during the fMRI scan. The differences in brain activation signal values between the two groups were analyzed, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the brain activation of significant group differences and the severity of depressive symptoms and negative self-evaluation; FEMDD showed significantly decreased brain activation in the bilateral occipital cortex, bilateral fusiform gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right insula during the task compared with HC. No significant correlation was detected between brain activation with significant group differences and the severity of depression and negative self-evaluation in FEMDD or HC. The results suggest the involvement of the malfunctioning visual cortex, prefrontal cortex, and insula in the pathophysiology of self-face recognition in FEMDD, which may provide a novel therapeutic target for adults with FEMDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zebin Fan
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Zhening Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Jie Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Jun Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Fuping Sun
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Shixiong Tang
- Department of Radiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China
| | - Guowei Wu
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Shuixia Guo
- Key Laboratory of Computing and Stochastic Mathematics (Ministry of Education), School of Mathematics and Statistics, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410006, China
- Key Laboratory of Applied Statistics and Data Science, College of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410006, China
| | - Xuan Ouyang
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
| | - Haojuan Tao
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, China; (Z.F.)
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141
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Awad D, Emery NJ, Mareschal I. Role of facial familiarity and emotional expression intensity in ensemble emotion perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:1990-2003. [PMID: 37217820 PMCID: PMC10202360 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02720-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
When looking at groups of people, we can extract information from the different faces to derive properties of the group, such as its average facial emotion, although how this average is computed remains a matter of debate. Here, we examined whether our participants' personal familiarity with the faces in the group, as well as the intensity of the facial expressions, biased ensemble perception. Participants judged the average emotional expression of ensembles of four different identities whose expressions depicted either neutral, angry, or happy emotions. For the angry and happy expressions, the intensity of the emotion could be either low (e.g., slightly happy) or high (very happy). When all the identities in the ensemble were unfamiliar, the presence of any high intensity emotional face biased ensemble perception towards its emotion. However, when a familiar face was present in the ensemble, perception was biased towards the familiar face's emotion regardless of its intensity. These findings reveal that how we perceive the average emotion of a group is influenced by both the emotional intensity and familiarity of the faces comprising the group, supporting the idea that different faces may be weighted differently in ensemble perception. These findings have important implications for the judgements we make about a group's overall emotional state may be biased by individuals within the group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deema Awad
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics, Houghton St, London, London, WC2A 2AE UK
| | - Nathan J. Emery
- Department of Biological & Experimental Psychology, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS UK
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- Department of Biological & Experimental Psychology, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS UK
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142
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Juuse L, Kreegipuu K, Põldver N, Kask A, Mogom T, Anbarjafari G, Allik J. Processing emotions from faces and words measured by event-related brain potentials. Cogn Emot 2023; 37:959-972. [PMID: 37338015 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2223906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Affective aspects of a stimulus can be processed rapidly and before cognitive attribution, acting much earlier for verbal stimuli than previously considered. Aimed for specific mechanisms, event-related brain potentials (ERPs), expressed in facial expressions or word meaning and evoked by six basic emotions - anger, disgust, fear, happy, sad, and surprise - relative to emotionally neutral stimuli were analysed in a sample of 116 participants. Brain responses in the occipital and left temporal regions elicited by the sadness in facial expressions or words were indistinguishable from responses evoked by neutral faces or words. Confirming previous findings, facial fear elicited an early and strong posterior negativity. Instead of expected parietal positivity, both the happy faces and words produced significantly more negative responses compared to neutral. Surprise in facial expressions and words elicited a strong early response in the left temporal cortex, which could be a signature of appraisal. The results of this study are consistent with the view that both types of affective stimuli, facial emotions and word meaning, set off rapid processing and responses occur very early in the processing stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liina Juuse
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Doctoral School of Behavioural, Social and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kairi Kreegipuu
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Nele Põldver
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Annika Kask
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Doctoral School of Behavioural, Social and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Tiit Mogom
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | | | - Jüri Allik
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
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143
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Becker C, Laycock R. Embracing deepfakes and AI-generated images in neuroscience research. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:2657-2661. [PMID: 37282741 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The rise of deepfakes and AI-generated images has raised concerns regarding their potential misuse. However, this commentary highlights the valuable opportunities these technologies offer for neuroscience research. Deepfakes deliver accessible, realistic and customisable dynamic face stimuli, while generative adversarial networks (GANs) can generate and modify diverse and high-quality static content. These advancements can enhance the variability and ecological validity of research methods and enable the creation of previously unattainable stimuli. When AI-generated images are informed by brain responses, they provide unique insights into the structure and function of visual systems. The authors argue that experimental psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists stay informed about these emerging tools and embrace their potential to advance the field of visual neuroscience.
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144
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van Engelen MPE, Verfaillie SCJ, Dols A, Oudega ML, Boellaard R, Golla SSV, den Hollander M, Ossenkoppele R, Scheltens P, van Berckel BNM, Pijnenburg YAL, Vijverberg EGB. Altered brain metabolism in frontotemporal dementia and psychiatric disorders: involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex. EJNMMI Res 2023; 13:71. [PMID: 37493827 PMCID: PMC10371967 DOI: 10.1186/s13550-023-01020-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Behavioural symptoms and frontotemporal hypometabolism overlap between behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and primary psychiatric disorders (PPD), hampering diagnostic distinction. Voxel-wise comparisons of brain metabolism might identify specific frontotemporal-(hypo)metabolic regions between bvFTD and PPD. We investigated brain metabolism in bvFTD and PPD and its relationship with behavioural symptoms, social cognition, severity of depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning. RESULTS Compared to controls, bvFTD showed decreased metabolism in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) (p < 0.001), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), temporal pole, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and caudate, whereas PPD showed no hypometabolism. Compared to PPD, bvFTD showed decreased metabolism in the dACC (p < 0.001, p < 0.05FWE), insula, Broca's area, caudate, thalamus, OFC and temporal cortex (p < 0.001), whereas PPD showed decreased metabolism in the motor cortex (p < 0.001). Across bvFTD and PPD, decreased metabolism in the temporal cortex (p < 0.001, p < 0.05FWE), dACC and frontal cortex was associated with worse social cognition. Decreased metabolism in the dlPFC was associated with compulsiveness (p < 0.001). Across bvFTD, PPD and controls, decreased metabolism in the PFC and motor cortex was associated with executive dysfunctioning (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate subtle but distinct metabolic patterns in bvFTD and PPD, most strongly in the dACC. The degree of frontotemporal and cingulate hypometabolism was related to impaired social cognition, compulsiveness and executive dysfunctioning. Our findings suggest that the dACC might be an important region to differentiate between bvFTD and PPD but needs further validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Paule E van Engelen
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Sander C J Verfaillie
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- GGZ inGeest Specialized Mental Health Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Annemieke Dols
- Department of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Mardien L Oudega
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- GGZ inGeest Specialized Mental Health Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Mood, Anxiety, Psychosis, Sleep & Stress Program, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ronald Boellaard
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sandeep S V Golla
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Marijke den Hollander
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Philip Scheltens
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- EQT Life Sciences Partners, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Bart N M van Berckel
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yolande A L Pijnenburg
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Everard G B Vijverberg
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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145
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Deen B, Schwiedrzik CM, Sliwa J, Freiwald WA. Specialized Networks for Social Cognition in the Primate Brain. Annu Rev Neurosci 2023; 46:381-401. [PMID: 37428602 PMCID: PMC11115357 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-102522-121410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
Primates have evolved diverse cognitive capabilities to navigate their complex social world. To understand how the brain implements critical social cognitive abilities, we describe functional specialization in the domains of face processing, social interaction understanding, and mental state attribution. Systems for face processing are specialized from the level of single cells to populations of neurons within brain regions to hierarchically organized networks that extract and represent abstract social information. Such functional specialization is not confined to the sensorimotor periphery but appears to be a pervasive theme of primate brain organization all the way to the apex regions of cortical hierarchies. Circuits processing social information are juxtaposed with parallel systems involved in processing nonsocial information, suggesting common computations applied to different domains. The emerging picture of the neural basis of social cognition is a set of distinct but interacting subnetworks involved in component processes such as face perception and social reasoning, traversing large parts of the primate brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Deen
- Psychology Department & Tulane Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Caspar M Schwiedrzik
- Neural Circuits and Cognition Lab, European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen, A Joint Initiative of the University Medical Center Göttingen and the Max Planck Society; Perception and Plasticity Group, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research; and Leibniz-Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julia Sliwa
- Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Winrich A Freiwald
- Laboratory of Neural Systems and The Price Family Center for the Social Brain, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA;
- The Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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146
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Lim C, Inagaki M, Shinozaki T, Fujita I. Analysis of convolutional neural networks reveals the computational properties essential for subcortical processing of facial expression. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10908. [PMID: 37407668 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37995-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Perception of facial expression is crucial for primate social interactions. This visual information is processed through the ventral cortical pathway and the subcortical pathway. However, the subcortical pathway exhibits inaccurate processing, and the responsible architectural and physiological properties remain unclear. To investigate this, we constructed and examined convolutional neural networks with three key properties of the subcortical pathway: a shallow layer architecture, concentric receptive fields at the initial processing stage, and a greater degree of spatial pooling. These neural networks achieved modest accuracy in classifying facial expressions. By replacing these properties, individually or in combination, with corresponding cortical features, performance gradually improved. Similar to amygdala neurons, some units in the final processing layer exhibited sensitivity to retina-based spatial frequencies (SFs), while others were sensitive to object-based SFs. Replacement of any of these properties affected the coordinates of the SF encoding. Therefore, all three properties limit the accuracy of facial expression information and are essential for determining the SF representation coordinate. These findings characterize the role of the subcortical computational processes in facial expression recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chanseok Lim
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Perceptual and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Mikio Inagaki
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Takashi Shinozaki
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, Faculty of Informatics, Kindai University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashiosaka, Osaka, 577-8502, Japan
| | - Ichiro Fujita
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan.
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147
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Moreau Q, Parrotta E, Pesci UG, Era V, Candidi M. Early categorization of social affordances during the visual encoding of bodily stimuli. Neuroimage 2023; 274:120151. [PMID: 37191657 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Interpersonal interactions rely on various communication channels, both verbal and non-verbal, through which information regarding one's intentions and emotions are perceived. Here, we investigated the neural correlates underlying the visual processing of hand postures conveying social affordances (i.e., hand-shaking), compared to control stimuli such as hands performing non-social actions (i.e., grasping) or showing no movement at all. Combining univariate and multivariate analysis on electroencephalography (EEG) data, our results indicate that occipito-temporal electrodes show early differential processing of stimuli conveying social information compared to non-social ones. First, the amplitude of the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN, an Event-Related Potential related to the perception of body parts) is modulated differently during the perception of social and non-social content carried by hands. Moreover, our multivariate classification analysis (MultiVariate Pattern Analysis - MVPA) expanded the univariate results by revealing early (<200 ms) categorization of social affordances over occipito-parietal sites. In conclusion, we provide new evidence suggesting that the encoding of socially relevant hand gestures is categorized in the early stages of visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Q Moreau
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
| | - E Parrotta
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - U G Pesci
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - V Era
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - M Candidi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
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148
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Sacu S, Wackerhagen C, Erk S, Romanczuk-Seiferth N, Schwarz K, Schweiger JI, Tost H, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Heinz A, Razi A, Walter H. Effective connectivity during face processing in major depression - distinguishing markers of pathology, risk, and resilience. Psychol Med 2023; 53:4139-4151. [PMID: 35393001 PMCID: PMC10317809 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291722000824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 02/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aberrant brain connectivity during emotional processing, especially within the fronto-limbic pathway, is one of the hallmarks of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the methodological heterogeneity of previous studies made it difficult to determine the functional and etiological implications of specific alterations in brain connectivity. We previously reported alterations in psychophysiological interaction measures during emotional face processing, distinguishing depressive pathology from at-risk/resilient and healthy states. Here, we extended these findings by effective connectivity analyses in the same sample to establish a refined neural model of emotion processing in depression. METHODS Thirty-seven patients with MDD, 45 first-degree relatives of patients with MDD and 97 healthy controls performed a face-matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used dynamic causal modeling to estimate task-dependent effective connectivity at the subject level. Parametric empirical Bayes was performed to quantify group differences in effective connectivity. RESULTS MDD patients showed decreased effective connectivity from the left amygdala and left lateral prefrontal cortex to the fusiform gyrus compared to relatives and controls, whereas patients and relatives showed decreased connectivity from the right orbitofrontal cortex to the left insula and from the left orbitofrontal cortex to the right fusiform gyrus compared to controls. Relatives showed increased connectivity from the anterior cingulate cortex to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the depressive state alters top-down control of higher visual regions during face processing. Alterations in connectivity within the cognitive control network present potential risk or resilience mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seda Sacu
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Carolin Wackerhagen
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Susanne Erk
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nina Romanczuk-Seiferth
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kristina Schwarz
- Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Janina I. Schweiger
- Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Heike Tost
- Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Heinz
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Adeel Razi
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health & Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
| | - Henrik Walter
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
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149
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Gou XY, Li YX, Guo LX, Zhao J, Zhong DL, Liu XB, Xia HS, Fan J, Zhang Y, Ai SC, Huang JX, Li HR, Li J, Jin RJ. The conscious processing of emotion in depression disorder: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1099426. [PMID: 37448490 PMCID: PMC10338122 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1099426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Depression is generally accompanied by a disturbed conscious processing of emotion, which manifests as a negative bias to facial/voice emotion information and a decreased accuracy in emotion recognition tasks. Several studies have proved that abnormal brain activation was responsible for the deficit function of conscious emotion recognition in depression. However, the altered brain activation related to the conscious processing of emotion in depression was incongruent among studies. Therefore, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis to better understand the underlying neurophysiological mechanism of conscious processing of emotion in depression. Method Electronic databases were searched using the search terms "depression," "emotion recognition," and "neuroimaging" from inceptions to April 10th, 2023. We retrieved trials which explored the neuro-responses of depressive patients to explicit emotion recognition tasks. Two investigators independently performed literature selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. The spatial consistency of brain activation in conscious facial expressions recognition was calculated using ALE. The robustness of the results was examined by Jackknife sensitivity analysis. Results We retrieved 11,365 articles in total, 28 of which were included. In the overall analysis, we found increased activity in the middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cuneus, and decreased activity in the superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, insula, and superior frontal gyrus. In response to positive stimuli, depressive patients showed hyperactivity in the medial frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and insula (uncorrected p < 0.001). When receiving negative stimuli, a higher activation was found in the precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, precuneus, and superior temporal gyrus (uncorrected p < 0.001). Conclusion Among depressive patients, a broad spectrum of brain areas was involved in a deficit of conscious emotion processing. The activation of brain regions was different in response to positive or negative stimuli. Due to potential clinical heterogeneity, the findings should be treated with caution. Systematic review registration https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-11-0057/, identifier: 2022110057.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin-yun Gou
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Yu-xi Li
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Liu-xue Guo
- Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Jing Zhao
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Dong-ling Zhong
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiao-bo Liu
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Hai-sha Xia
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Jin Fan
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Yue Zhang
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Shuang-chun Ai
- Department of Rehabilitation, Mianyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mianyang, China
| | - Jia-xi Huang
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hong-ru Li
- Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Juan Li
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Rong-jiang Jin
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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150
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Levakov G, Sporns O, Avidan G. Fine-scale dynamics of functional connectivity in the face-processing network during movie watching. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112585. [PMID: 37285265 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Mapping the human face-processing network is typically done during rest or using isolated, static face images, overlooking widespread cortical interactions obtained in response to naturalistic face dynamics and context. To determine how inter-subject functional correlation (ISFC) relates to face recognition scores, we measure cortical connectivity patterns in response to a dynamic movie in typical adults (N = 517). We find a positive correlation with recognition scores in edges connecting the occipital visual and anterior temporal regions and a negative correlation in edges connecting the attentional dorsal, frontal default, and occipital visual regions. We measure the inter-subject stimulus-evoked response at a single TR resolution and demonstrate that co-fluctuations in face-selective edges are related to activity in core face-selective regions and that the ISFC patterns peak during boundaries between movie segments rather than during the presence of faces. Our approach demonstrates how face processing is linked to fine-scale dynamics in attentional, memory, and perceptual neural circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gidon Levakov
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
| | - Olaf Sporns
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
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