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Quek GL, Rossion B, Liu-Shuang J. Critical information thresholds underlying generic and familiar face categorisation at the same face encounter. Neuroimage 2021; 243:118481. [PMID: 34416398 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Seeing a face in the real world provokes a host of automatic categorisations related to sex, emotion, identity, and more. Such individual facets of human face recognition have been extensively examined using overt categorisation judgements, yet their relative informational dependencies during the same face encounter are comparatively unknown. Here we used EEG to assess how increasing access to sensory input governs two ecologically relevant brain functions elicited by seeing a face: Distinguishing faces and nonfaces, and recognising people we know. Observers viewed a large set of natural images that progressively increased in either image duration (experiment 1) or spatial frequency content (experiment 2). We show that in the absence of an explicit categorisation task, the human brain requires less sensory input to categorise a stimulus as a face than it does to recognise whether that face is familiar. Moreover, where sensory thresholds for distinguishing faces/nonfaces were remarkably consistent across observers, there was high inter-individual variability in the lower informational bound for familiar face recognition, underscoring the neurofunctional distinction between these categorisation functions. By i) indexing a form of face recognition that goes beyond simple low-level differences between categories, and ii) tapping multiple recognition functions elicited by the same face encounters, the information minima we report bear high relevance to real-world face encounters, where the same stimulus is categorised along multiple dimensions at once. Thus, our finding of lower informational requirements for generic vs. familiar face recognition constitutes some of the strongest evidence to date for the intuitive notion that sensory input demands should be lower for recognising face category than face identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genevieve L Quek
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY), University of Louvain, Louvain, Belgium; Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000 Nancy, France; Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, Lorraine F-54000, France
| | - Joan Liu-Shuang
- Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY), University of Louvain, Louvain, Belgium
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2
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Retter TL, Jiang F, Webster MA, Michel C, Schiltz C, Rossion B. Varying Stimulus Duration Reveals Consistent Neural Activity and Behavior for Human Face Individuation. Neuroscience 2021; 472:138-156. [PMID: 34333061 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.07.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Establishing consistent relationships between neural activity and behavior is a challenge in human cognitive neuroscience research. We addressed this issue using variable time constraints in an oddball frequency-sweep design for visual discrimination of complex images (face exemplars). Sixteen participants viewed sequences of ascending presentation durations, from 25 to 333 ms (40-3 Hz stimulation rate) while their electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Throughout each sequence, the same unfamiliar face picture was repeated with variable size and luminance changes while different unfamiliar facial identities appeared every 1 s (1 Hz). A neural face individuation response, tagged at 1 Hz and its unique harmonics, emerged over the occipito-temporal cortex at 50 ms stimulus duration (25-100 ms across individuals), with an optimal response reached at 170 ms stimulus duration. In a subsequent experiment, identity changes appeared non-periodically within fixed-frequency sequences while the same participants performed an explicit face individuation task. The behavioral face individuation response also emerged at 50 ms presentation time, and behavioral accuracy correlated with individual participants' neural response amplitude in a weighted middle stimulus duration range (50-125 ms). Moreover, the latency of the neural response peaking between 180 and 200 ms correlated strongly with individuals' behavioral accuracy in this middle duration range, as measured independently. These observations point to the minimal (50 ms) and optimal (170 ms) stimulus durations for human face individuation and provide novel evidence that inter-individual differences in the magnitude and latency of early, high-level neural responses are predictive of behavioral differences in performance at this function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia L Retter
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Institute of Neuroscience, UCLouvain, Belgium; Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Nevada, Reno, USA; Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Science & Assessment, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
| | - Fang Jiang
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | - Michael A Webster
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | - Caroline Michel
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Institute of Neuroscience, UCLouvain, Belgium
| | - Christine Schiltz
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Science & Assessment, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Institute of Neuroscience, UCLouvain, Belgium; 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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3
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Or CCF, Goh BK, Lee ALF. The roles of gaze and head orientation in face categorization during rapid serial visual presentation. Vision Res 2021; 188:65-73. [PMID: 34293612 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Little is known about how perceived gaze direction and head orientation may influence human categorization of visual stimuli as faces. To address this question, a sequence of unsegmented natural images, each containing a random face or a non-face object, was presented in rapid succession (stimulus duration: 91.7 ms per image) during which human observers were instructed to respond immediately to every face presentation. Faces differed in gaze and head orientation in 7 combinations - full-front views with perceived gaze (1) directed to the observer, (2) averted to the left, or (3) averted to the right, left ¾ side views with (4) direct gaze or (5) averted gaze, and right ¾ side views with (6) direct gaze or (7) averted gaze - were presented randomly throughout the sequence. We found highly accurate and rapid behavioural responses to all kinds of faces. Crucially, both perceived gaze direction and head orientation had comparable, non-interactive effects on response times, where direct gaze was responded faster than averted gaze by 48 ms and full-front view faster than ¾ side view also by 48 ms on average. Presentations of full-front faces with direct gaze led to an additive speed advantage of 96 ms to ¾ faces with averted gaze. The results reveal that the effects of perceived gaze direction and head orientation on the speed of face categorization probably depend on the degree of social relevance of the face to the viewer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles C-F Or
- Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
| | - Benjamin K Goh
- Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Alan L F Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
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4
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Sama MA, Nestor A, Cant JS. Independence of viewpoint and identity in face ensemble processing. J Vis 2019; 19:2. [DOI: 10.1167/19.5.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Marco A. Sama
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
| | - Adrian Nestor
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
| | - Jonathan S. Cant
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
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5
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Gur M. Very small faces are easily discriminated under long and short exposure times. J Neurophysiol 2018; 119:1599-1607. [DOI: 10.1152/jn.00622.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Acuity measures related to overall face size that can be perceived have not been studied quantitatively. Consequently, experimenters use a wide range of sizes (usually large) without always providing a rationale for their choices. I studied thresholds for face discrimination by presenting both long (500 ms)- and short (17, 33, 50 ms)-duration stimuli. Face width threshold for the long presentation was ~0.2°, and thresholds for the flashed stimuli ranged from ~0.3° for the 17-ms flash to ~0.23° for the 33- and 50-ms flashes. Such thresholds indicate that face stimuli used in physiological or psychophysical experiments are often too large to tap human fine spatial capabilities, and thus interpretations of such experiments should take into account face discrimination acuity. The 0.2° threshold found in this study is incompatible with the prevalent view that faces are represented by a population of specialized “face cells” because those cells do not respond to <1° stimuli and are optimally tuned to >4° faces. Also, the ability to discriminate small, high-spatial frequency flashed face stimuli is inconsistent with models suggesting that fixational drift transforms retinal spatial patterns into a temporal code. It seems therefore that the small image motions occurring during fixation do not disrupt our perception, because all relevant processing is over with before those motions can have significant effects. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although face perception is central to human behavior, the minimally perceived face size is not known. This study shows that humans can discriminate very small (~0.2°) faces. Furthermore, even when flashed for tens of milliseconds, ~0.25° faces can be discriminated. Such fine acuity should impact modeling of physiological mechanisms of face perception. The ability to discriminate flashed faces where there is almost no eye movement indicates that eye drift is not essential for visibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moshe Gur
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel
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Meissner TW, Prüfer H, Nordt M, Semmelmann K, Weigelt S. Development of face detection in preschool children. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/0165025417738058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the ability to detect a face among other visual objects in a complex visual array in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children, as well as in adults. To this end, we used a visual search paradigm implemented on a touch-tablet device. Subjects ( N = 100) saw up to eighty 3 × 3 visual search arrays and had to find and tap upon a target—a face or a car—among eight objects that served as distractors. Our data revealed a relative face detection advantage, which did not differ in its extent between children and adults. This suggests that, beginning in young childhood and ending in adulthood, face detection performance advances as a consequence of other cognitive functions such as a general advance in visual search performance. Our study closes a gap in the knowledge about the development of face detection—as a prototype for social stimuli and their capacity to attract attention—from early to middle childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Helen Prüfer
- These authors contributed equally to this article
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7
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Faces are special, but facial expressions aren’t: Insights from an oculomotor capture paradigm. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:1438-1452. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1313-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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8
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Person perception involves functional integration between the extrastriate body area and temporal pole. Neuropsychologia 2017; 96:52-60. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2016] [Revised: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 01/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Nestor A, Vettel JM, Tarr MJ. Internal representations for face detection: an application of noise-based image classification to BOLD responses. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 34:3101-15. [PMID: 22711230 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2011] [Revised: 04/22/2012] [Accepted: 04/23/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
What basic visual structures underlie human face detection and how can we extract such structures directly from the amplitude of neural responses elicited by face processing? Here, we address these issues by investigating an extension of noise-based image classification to BOLD responses recorded in high-level visual areas. First, we assess the applicability of this classification method to such data and, second, we explore its results in connection with the neural processing of faces. To this end, we construct luminance templates from white noise fields based on the response of face-selective areas in the human ventral cortex. Using behaviorally and neurally-derived classification images, our results reveal a family of simple but robust image structures subserving face representation and detection. Thus, we confirm the role played by classical face selective regions in face detection and we help clarify the representational basis of this perceptual function. From a theory standpoint, our findings support the idea of simple but highly diagnostic neurally-coded features for face detection. At the same time, from a methodological perspective, our work demonstrates the ability of noise-based image classification in conjunction with fMRI to help uncover the structure of high-level perceptual representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Nestor
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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The influence of social comparison on visual representation of one's face. PLoS One 2012; 7:e36742. [PMID: 22662124 PMCID: PMC3360758 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2011] [Accepted: 04/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Can the effects of social comparison extend beyond explicit evaluation to visual self-representation—a perceptual stimulus that is objectively verifiable, unambiguous, and frequently updated? We morphed images of participants' faces with attractive and unattractive references. With access to a mirror, participants selected the morphed image they perceived as depicting their face. Participants who engaged in upward comparison with relevant attractive targets selected a less attractive morph compared to participants exposed to control images (Study 1). After downward comparison with relevant unattractive targets compared to control images, participants selected a more attractive morph (Study 2). Biased representations were not the products of cognitive accessibility of beauty constructs; comparisons did not influence representations of strangers' faces (Study 3). We discuss implications for vision, social comparison, and body image.
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12
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Sugase-Miyamoto Y, Matsumoto N, Kawano K. Role of temporal processing stages by inferior temporal neurons in facial recognition. Front Psychol 2011; 2:141. [PMID: 21734904 PMCID: PMC3124819 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2011] [Accepted: 06/12/2011] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In this review, we focus on the role of temporal stages of encoded facial information in the visual system, which might enable the efficient determination of species, identity, and expression. Facial recognition is an important function of our brain and is known to be processed in the ventral visual pathway, where visual signals are processed through areas V1, V2, V4, and the inferior temporal (IT) cortex. In the IT cortex, neurons show selective responses to complex visual images such as faces, and at each stage along the pathway the stimulus selectivity of the neural responses becomes sharper, particularly in the later portion of the responses. In the IT cortex of the monkey, facial information is represented by different temporal stages of neural responses, as shown in our previous study: the initial transient response of face-responsive neurons represents information about global categories, i.e., human vs. monkey vs. simple shapes, whilst the later portion of these responses represents information about detailed facial categories, i.e., expression and/or identity. This suggests that the temporal stages of the neuronal firing pattern play an important role in the coding of visual stimuli, including faces. This type of coding may be a plausible mechanism underlying the temporal dynamics of recognition, including the process of detection/categorization followed by the identification of objects. Recent single-unit studies in monkeys have also provided evidence consistent with the important role of the temporal stages of encoded facial information. For example, view-invariant facial identity information is represented in the response at a later period within a region of face-selective neurons. Consistent with these findings, temporally modulated neural activity has also been observed in human studies. These results suggest a close correlation between the temporal processing stages of facial information by IT neurons and the temporal dynamics of face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuko Sugase-Miyamoto
- Human Technology Research Institute, The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan
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