1
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Morsi AY, Goffaux V, Greenwood JA. The resolution of face perception varies systematically across the visual field. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303400. [PMID: 38739635 PMCID: PMC11090322 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303400] [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: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual abilities tend to vary predictably across the visual field-for simple low-level stimuli, visibility is better along the horizontal vs. vertical meridian and in the lower vs. upper visual field. In contrast, face perception abilities have been reported to show either distinct or entirely idiosyncratic patterns of variation in peripheral vision, suggesting a dissociation between the spatial properties of low- and higher-level vision. To assess this link more clearly, we extended methods used in low-level vision to develop an acuity test for face perception, measuring the smallest size at which facial gender can be reliably judged in peripheral vision. In 3 experiments, we show the characteristic inversion effect, with better acuity for upright faces than inverted, demonstrating the engagement of high-level face-selective processes in peripheral vision. We also observe a clear advantage for gender acuity on the horizontal vs. vertical meridian and a smaller-but-consistent lower- vs. upper-field advantage. These visual field variations match those of low-level vision, indicating that higher-level face processing abilities either inherit or actively maintain the characteristic patterns of spatial selectivity found in early vision. The commonality of these spatial variations throughout the visual hierarchy means that the location of faces in our visual field systematically influences our perception of them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anisa Y. Morsi
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Valérie Goffaux
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, UCLouvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - John A. Greenwood
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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2
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Schuurmans JP, Bennett MA, Petras K, Goffaux V. Backward masking reveals coarse-to-fine dynamics in human V1. Neuroimage 2023; 274:120139. [PMID: 37137434 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120139] [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: 12/23/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Natural images exhibit luminance variations aligned across a broad spectrum of spatial frequencies (SFs). It has been proposed that, at early stages of processing, the coarse signals carried by the low SF (LSF) of the visual input are sent rapidly from primary visual cortex (V1) to ventral, dorsal and frontal regions to form a coarse representation of the input, which is later sent back to V1 to guide the processing of fine-grained high SFs (i.e., HSF). We used functional resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the role of human V1 in the coarse-to-fine integration of visual input. We disrupted the processing of the coarse and fine content of full-spectrum human face stimuli via backward masking of selective SF ranges (LSFs: <1.75cpd and HSFs: >1.75cpd) at specific times (50, 83, 100 or 150ms). In line with coarse-to-fine proposals, we found that (1) the selective masking of stimulus LSF disrupted V1 activity in the earliest time window, and progressively decreased in influence, while (2) an opposite trend was observed for the masking of stimulus' HSF. This pattern of activity was found in V1, as well as in ventral (i.e. the Fusiform Face area, FFA), dorsal and orbitofrontal regions. We additionally presented subjects with contrast negated stimuli. While contrast negation significantly reduced response amplitudes in the FFA, as well as coupling between FFA and V1, coarse-to-fine dynamics were not affected by this manipulation. The fact that V1 response dynamics to strictly identical stimulus sets differed depending on the masked scale adds to growing evidence that V1 role goes beyond the early and quasi-passive transmission of visual information to the rest of the brain. It instead indicates that V1 may yield a 'spatially registered common forum' or 'blackboard' that integrates top-down inferences with incoming visual signals through its recurrent interaction with high-level regions located in the inferotemporal, dorsal and frontal regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jolien P Schuurmans
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
| | - Matthew A Bennett
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IONS), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Kirsten Petras
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Valérie Goffaux
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IONS), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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3
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Canoluk MU, Moors P, Goffaux V. Contributions of low- and high-level contextual mechanisms to human face perception. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285255. [PMID: 37130144 PMCID: PMC10153715 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Contextual modulations at primary stages of visual processing depend on the strength of local input. Contextual modulations at high-level stages of (face) processing show a similar dependence to local input strength. Namely, the discriminability of a facial feature determines the amount of influence of the face context on that feature. How high-level contextual modulations emerge from primary mechanisms is unclear due to the scarcity of empirical research systematically addressing the functional link between the two. We tested (62) young adults' ability to process local input independent of the context using contrast detection and (upright and inverted) morphed facial feature matching tasks. We first investigated contextual modulation magnitudes across tasks to address their shared variance. A second analysis focused on the profile of performance across contextual conditions. In upright eye matching and contrast detection tasks, contextual modulations only correlated at the level of their profile (averaged Fisher-Z transformed r = 1.18, BF10 > 100), but not magnitude (r = .15, BF10 = .61), suggesting the functional independence but similar working principles of the mechanisms involved. Both the profile (averaged Fisher-Z transformed r = .32, BF10 = 9.7) and magnitude (r = .28, BF10 = 4.58) of the contextual modulations correlated between inverted eye matching and contrast detection tasks. Our results suggest that non-face-specialized high-level contextual mechanisms (inverted faces) work in connection to primary contextual mechanisms, but that the engagement of face-specialized mechanisms for upright faces obscures this connection. Such combined study of low- and high-level contextual modulations sheds new light on the functional relationship between different levels of the visual processing hierarchy, and thus on its functional organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehmet Umut Canoluk
- Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Pieter Moors
- Department of Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Valerie Goffaux
- Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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4
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Faghel-Soubeyrand S, Kloess JA, Gosselin F, Charest I, Woodhams J. Diagnostic Features for Human Categorisation of Adult and Child Faces. Front Psychol 2021; 12:775338. [PMID: 34867686 PMCID: PMC8640236 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowing how humans differentiate children from adults has useful implications in many areas of both forensic and cognitive psychology. Yet, how we extract age from faces has been surprisingly underexplored in both disciplines. Here, we used a novel data-driven experimental technique to objectively measure the facial features human observers use to categorise child and adult faces. Relying on more than 35,000 trials, we used a reverse correlation technique that enabled us to reveal how specific features which are known to be important in face-perception - position, spatial-frequency (SF), and orientation - are associated with accurate child and adult discrimination. This showed that human observers relied on evidence in the nasal bone and eyebrow area for accurate adult categorisation, while they relied on the eye and jawline area to accurately categorise child faces. For orientation structure, only facial information of vertical orientation was linked to face-adult categorisation, while features of horizontal and, to a lesser extent oblique orientations, were more diagnostic of a child face. Finally, we found that SF diagnosticity showed a U-shaped pattern for face-age categorisation, with information in low and high SFs being diagnostic of child faces, and mid SFs being diagnostic of adult faces. Through this first characterisation of the facial features of face-age categorisation, we show that important information found in psychophysical studies of face-perception in general (i.e., the eye area, horizontals, and mid-level SFs) is crucial to the practical context of face-age categorisation, and present data-driven procedures through which face-age classification training could be implemented for real-world challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Faghel-Soubeyrand
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Juliane A Kloess
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Frédéric Gosselin
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Ian Charest
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Woodhams
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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5
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Topography of Visual Features in the Human Ventral Visual Pathway. Neurosci Bull 2021; 37:1454-1468. [PMID: 34215969 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-021-00734-4] [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: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual object recognition in humans and nonhuman primates is achieved by the ventral visual pathway (ventral occipital-temporal cortex, VOTC), which shows a well-documented object domain structure. An on-going question is what type of information is processed in the higher-order VOTC that underlies such observations, with recent evidence suggesting effects of certain visual features. Combining computational vision models, fMRI experiment using a parametric-modulation approach, and natural image statistics of common objects, we depicted the neural distribution of a comprehensive set of visual features in the VOTC, identifying voxel sensitivities with specific feature sets across geometry/shape, Fourier power, and color. The visual feature combination pattern in the VOTC is significantly explained by their relationships to different types of response-action computation (fight-or-flight, navigation, and manipulation), as derived from behavioral ratings and natural image statistics. These results offer a comprehensive visual feature map in the VOTC and a plausible theoretical explanation as a mapping onto different types of downstream response-action systems.
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6
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Jacobs C, Petras K, Moors P, Goffaux V. Contrast versus identity encoding in the face image follow distinct orientation selectivity profiles. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229185. [PMID: 32187178 PMCID: PMC7080280 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Orientation selectivity is a fundamental property of primary visual encoding. High-level processing stages also show some form of orientation dependence, with face identification preferentially relying on horizontally-oriented information. How high-level orientation tuning emerges from primary orientation biases is unclear. In the same group of participants, we derived the orientation selectivity profile at primary and high-level visual processing stages using a contrast detection and an identity matching task. To capture the orientation selectivity profile, we calculated the difference in performance between all tested orientations (0, 45, 90, and 135°) for each task and for upright and inverted faces, separately. Primary orientation selectivity was characterized by higher sensitivity to oblique as compared to cardinal orientations. The orientation profile of face identification showed superior horizontal sensitivity to face identity. In each task, performance with upright and inverted faces projected onto qualitatively similar a priori models of orientation selectivity. Yet the fact that the orientation selectivity profiles of contrast detection in upright and inverted faces correlated significantly while such correlation was absent for identification indicates a progressive dissociation of orientation selectivity profiles from primary to high-level stages of orientation encoding. Bayesian analyses further indicate a lack of correlation between the orientation selectivity profiles in the contrast detection and face identification tasks, for upright and inverted faces. From these findings, we conclude that orientation selectivity shows distinct profiles at primary and high-level stages of face processing and that a transformation must occur from general cardinal attenuation when processing basic properties of the face image to horizontal tuning when encoding more complex properties such as identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christianne Jacobs
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Kirsten Petras
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Pieter Moors
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Valerie Goffaux
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
- Department of Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- * E-mail:
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7
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Different neural representations for detection of symmetry in dot-patterns and in faces: A state-dependent TMS study. Neuropsychologia 2020; 138:107333. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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8
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Hashemi A, Pachai MV, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB. The role of horizontal facial structure on the N170 and N250. Vision Res 2019; 157:12-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2017] [Revised: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 02/03/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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9
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Fixed or flexible? Orientation preference in identity and gaze processing in humans. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0210503. [PMID: 30682035 PMCID: PMC6347268 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2018] [Accepted: 12/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision begins with the encoding of contrast at specific orientations. Several works showed that humans identify their conspecifics best based on the horizontally-oriented information contained in the face image; this range conveys the main morphological features of the face. In contrast, the vertical structure of the eye region seems to deliver optimal cues to gaze direction. The present work investigates whether the human face processing system flexibly tunes to vertical information contained in the eye region when processing gaze direction. Alternatively, face processing may invariantly rely on the horizontal range, supporting the domain specificity of orientation tuning for faces and the gateway role of horizontal content to access any type of facial information. Participants judged the gaze direction of faces staring at a range of lateral positions. They additionally performed an identification task with upright and inverted face stimuli. Across tasks, stimuli were filtered to selectively reveal horizontal (H), vertical (V), or combined (HV) information. Most participants identified faces better based on horizontal than vertical information confirming the horizontal tuning of face identification. In contrast, they showed a vertically-tuned sensitivity to gaze direction. The logistic functions fitting the “left” and “right” response proportion as a function of gaze direction were indeed steeper when based on vertical than on horizontal information. The finding of a vertically-tuned processing of gaze direction favours the hypothesis that visual encoding of face information flexibly switches to the orientation channel carrying the cues most relevant to the task at hand. It suggests that horizontal structure, though predominant in the face stimulus, is not a mandatory gateway for efficient face processing. The present evidence may help better understand how visual signals travel the visual system to enable rich and complex representations of naturalistic stimuli such as faces.
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10
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Coggan DD, Baker DH, Andrews TJ. Selectivity for mid-level properties of faces and places in the fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area. Eur J Neurosci 2019; 49:1587-1596. [PMID: 30589482 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Revised: 12/04/2018] [Accepted: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Regions in the ventral visual pathway, such as the fusiform face area (FFA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA) are selective for images from specific object categories. Yet images from different object categories differ in their image properties. To investigate how these image properties are represented in the FFA and PPA, we compared neural responses to locally-SCRAMBLED images (in which mid-level, spatial properties are preserved) and globally-SCRAMBLED images (in which mid-level, spatial properties are not preserved). There was a greater response in the FFA and PPA to images from the preferred CATEGORY relative to their non-preferred category for the scrambled conditions. However, there was a greater selectivity for locally-scrambled compared to globally-scrambled images. Next, we compared the magnitude of fMR-adaptation to intact and scrambled images. fMR-adaptation was evident to locally-scrambled images from the preferred category. However, there was no adaptation to globally-scrambled images from the preferred category. These results show that the selectivity to faces and places in the FFA and PPA is dependent on mid-level properties of the image that are preserved by local-scrambling.
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11
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Kalpadakis-Smith AV, Goffaux V, Greenwood JA. Crowding for faces is determined by visual (not holistic) similarity: Evidence from judgements of eye position. Sci Rep 2018; 8:12556. [PMID: 30135454 PMCID: PMC6105622 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30900-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Crowding (the disruption of object recognition in clutter) presents the fundamental limitation on peripheral vision. For simple objects, crowding is strong when target/flanker elements are similar and weak when they differ - a selectivity for target-flanker similarity. In contrast, the identification of upright holistically-processed face stimuli is more strongly impaired by upright than inverted flankers, whereas inverted face-targets are impaired by both - a pattern attributed to an additional stage of crowding selective for "holistic similarity" between faces. We propose instead that crowding is selective for target-flanker similarity in all stimuli, but that this selectivity is obscured by task difficulty with inverted face-targets. Using judgements of horizontal eye-position that are minimally affected by inversion, we find that crowding is strong when target-flanker orientations match and weak when they differ for both upright and inverted face-targets. By increasing task difficulty, we show that this selectivity for target-flanker similarity is obscured even for upright face-targets. We further demonstrate that this selectivity follows differences in the spatial order of facial features, rather than "holistic similarity" per se. There is consequently no need to invoke a distinct stage of holistic crowding for faces - crowding is selective for target-flanker similarity, even with complex stimuli such as faces.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Valérie Goffaux
- Research Institute for Psychological Science, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - John A Greenwood
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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12
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Quek GL, Liu-Shuang J, Goffaux V, Rossion B. Ultra-coarse, single-glance human face detection in a dynamic visual stream. Neuroimage 2018; 176:465-476. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2017] [Revised: 04/09/2018] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
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13
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Weibert K, Flack TR, Young AW, Andrews TJ. Patterns of neural response in face regions are predicted by low-level image properties. Cortex 2018; 103:199-210. [PMID: 29655043 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2017] [Revised: 01/26/2018] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Models of face processing suggest that the neural response in different face regions is selective for higher-level attributes of the face, such as identity and expression. However, it remains unclear to what extent the response in these regions can also be explained by more basic organizing principles. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging multivariate pattern analysis (fMRI-MVPA) to ask whether spatial patterns of response in the core face regions (occipital face area - OFA, fusiform face area - FFA, superior temporal sulcus - STS) can be predicted across different participants by lower level properties of the stimulus. First, we compared the neural response to face identity and viewpoint, by showing images of different identities from different viewpoints. The patterns of neural response in the core face regions were predicted by the viewpoint, but not the identity of the face. Next, we compared the neural response to viewpoint and expression, by showing images with different expressions from different viewpoints. Again, viewpoint, but not expression, predicted patterns of response in face regions. Finally, we show that the effect of viewpoint in both experiments could be explained by changes in low-level image properties. Our results suggest that a key determinant of the neural representation in these core face regions involves lower-level image properties rather than an explicit representation of higher-level attributes in the face. The advantage of a relatively image-based representation is that it can be used flexibly in the perception of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Weibert
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Tessa R Flack
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew W Young
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Timothy J Andrews
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
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14
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Dobs K, Schultz J, Bülthoff I, Gardner JL. Task-dependent enhancement of facial expression and identity representations in human cortex. Neuroimage 2018; 172:689-702. [PMID: 29432802 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2017] [Revised: 02/02/2018] [Accepted: 02/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
What cortical mechanisms allow humans to easily discern the expression or identity of a face? Subjects detected changes in expression or identity of a stream of dynamic faces while we measured BOLD responses from topographically and functionally defined areas throughout the visual hierarchy. Responses in dorsal areas increased during the expression task, whereas responses in ventral areas increased during the identity task, consistent with previous studies. Similar to ventral areas, early visual areas showed increased activity during the identity task. If visual responses are weighted by perceptual mechanisms according to their magnitude, these increased responses would lead to improved attentional selection of the task-appropriate facial aspect. Alternatively, increased responses could be a signature of a sensitivity enhancement mechanism that improves representations of the attended facial aspect. Consistent with the latter sensitivity enhancement mechanism, attending to expression led to enhanced decoding of exemplars of expression both in early visual and dorsal areas relative to attending identity. Similarly, decoding identity exemplars when attending to identity was improved in dorsal and ventral areas. We conclude that attending to expression or identity of dynamic faces is associated with increased selectivity in representations consistent with sensitivity enhancement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Dobs
- Department Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max-Planck-Ring 8, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Laboratory for Human Systems Neuroscience, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Johannes Schultz
- Department Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max-Planck-Ring 8, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Division of Medical Psychology and Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund Freud Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Department Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max-Planck-Ring 8, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Justin L Gardner
- Laboratory for Human Systems Neuroscience, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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15
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Balas B, van Lamsweerde AE, Saville A, Schmidt J. School‐age children's neural sensitivity to horizontal orientation energy in faces. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:899-909. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.21546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 06/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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16
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Goffaux V, Greenwood JA. The orientation selectivity of face identification. Sci Rep 2016; 6:34204. [PMID: 27677359 PMCID: PMC5039756 DOI: 10.1038/srep34204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent work demonstrates that human face identification is most efficient when based on horizontal, rather than vertical, image structure. Because it is unclear how this specialization for upright (compared to inverted) face processing emerges in the visual system, the present study aimed to systematically characterize the orientation sensitivity profile for face identification. With upright faces, identification performance in a delayed match-to-sample task was highest for horizontally filtered images and declined sharply with oblique and vertically filtered images. Performance was well described by a Gaussian function with a bandwidth around 25°. Face inversion reshaped this sensitivity profile dramatically, with a downward shift of the entire tuning curve as well as a reduction in the amplitude of the horizontal peak and a doubling in bandwidth. The use of naturalistic outer contours (vs. a common outline mask) was also found to reshape this sensitivity profile by increasing sensitivity to oblique information in the near-horizontal range. Altogether, although face identification is sharply tuned to horizontal angles, both inversion and outline masking can profoundly reshape this orientation sensitivity profile. This combination of image- and observer-driven effects provides an insight into the functional relationship between orientation-selective processes within primary and high-level stages of the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie Goffaux
- Research Institute for Psychological Science, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
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17
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Taubert J, Goffaux V, Van Belle G, Vanduffel W, Vogels R. The impact of orientation filtering on face-selective neurons in monkey inferior temporal cortex. Sci Rep 2016; 6:21189. [PMID: 26879148 PMCID: PMC4754760 DOI: 10.1038/srep21189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2015] [Accepted: 01/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Faces convey complex social signals to primates. These signals are tolerant of some image transformations (e.g. changes in size) but not others (e.g. picture-plane rotation). By filtering face stimuli for orientation content, studies of human behavior and brain responses have shown that face processing is tuned to selective orientation ranges. In the present study, for the first time, we recorded the responses of face-selective neurons in monkey inferior temporal (IT) cortex to intact and scrambled faces that were filtered to selectively preserve horizontal or vertical information. Guided by functional maps, we recorded neurons in the lateral middle patch (ML), the lateral anterior patch (AL), and an additional region located outside of the functionally defined face-patches (CONTROL). We found that neurons in ML preferred horizontal-passed faces over their vertical-passed counterparts. Neurons in AL, however, had a preference for vertical-passed faces, while neurons in CONTROL had no systematic preference. Importantly, orientation filtering did not modulate the firing rate of neurons to phase-scrambled face stimuli in any recording region. Together these results suggest that face-selective neurons found in the face-selective patches are differentially tuned to orientation content, with horizontal tuning in area ML and vertical tuning in area AL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Valerie Goffaux
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Goedele Van Belle
- Face Categorization Lab, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
- MGH Martinos Center, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rufin Vogels
- Laboratorium voor Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
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de Heering A, Goffaux V, Dollion N, Godard O, Durand K, Baudouin JY. Three-month-old infants' sensitivity to horizontal information within faces. Dev Psychobiol 2016; 58:536-42. [PMID: 26857944 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2015] [Accepted: 01/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Horizontal information is crucial to face processing in adults. Yet the ontogeny of this preferential type of processing remains unknown. To clarify this issue, we tested 3-month-old infants' sensitivity to horizontal information within faces. Specifically, infants were exposed to the simultaneous presentation of a face and a car presented in upright or inverted orientation while their looking behavior was recorded. Face and car images were either broadband (UNF) or filtered to only reveal horizontal (H), vertical (V) or this combined information (HV). As expected, infants looked longer at upright faces than at upright cars, but critically, only when horizontal information was preserved in the stimulus (UNF, HV, H). These results first indicate that horizontal information already drives upright face processing at 3 months of age. They also recall the importance, for infants, of some facial features, arranged in a top-heavy configuration, particularly revealed by this band of information. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 58: 536-542, 2016.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adélaïde de Heering
- Institute of Research in Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
| | - Valérie Goffaux
- Institute of Research in Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Dollion
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Center for Smell, Taste, and Food Science, UMR 6265 CNRS - UMR 1324 INRA - Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Ornella Godard
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Center for Smell, Taste, and Food Science, UMR 6265 CNRS - UMR 1324 INRA - Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Karine Durand
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Center for Smell, Taste, and Food Science, UMR 6265 CNRS - UMR 1324 INRA - Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Jean-Yves Baudouin
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Center for Smell, Taste, and Food Science, UMR 6265 CNRS - UMR 1324 INRA - Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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