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Rossion B. Twenty years of investigation with the case of prosopagnosia PS to understand human face identity recognition. Part I: Function. Neuropsychologia 2022; 173:108278. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Abstract
Face perception is a socially important but complex process with many stages and many facets. There is substantial evidence from many sources that it involves a large extent of the temporal lobe, from the ventral occipitotemporal cortex and superior temporal sulci to anterior temporal regions. While early human neuroimaging work suggested a core face network consisting of the occipital face area, fusiform face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus, studies in both humans and monkeys show a system of face patches stretching from posterior to anterior in both the superior temporal sulcus and inferotemporal cortex. Sophisticated techniques such as fMRI adaptation have shown that these face-activated regions show responses that have many of the attributes of human face processing. Lesions of some of these regions in humans lead to variants of prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize the identity of a face. Lesion, imaging, and electrophysiologic data all suggest that there is a segregation between identity and expression processing, though some suggest this may be better characterized as a distinction between static and dynamic facial information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- Division of Neuro-ophthalmology, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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3
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Marzi T, Gronchi G, Turano MT, Giovannelli F, Giganti F, Rebai M, Viggiano MP. Mapping the Featural and Holistic Face Processing of Bad and Good Face Recognizers. Behav Sci (Basel) 2021; 11:bs11050075. [PMID: 34068256 PMCID: PMC8153130 DOI: 10.3390/bs11050075] [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: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Individual abilities in face recognition (good versus bad recognizers) were explored by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). The adaptation response profile of the N170 component to whole faces, eyes and mouths was used in order to highlight the crucial role of individual abilities in identity repetition processes for unfamiliar faces. The main point of this study is to underline the importance of characterizing the performance (bad or good) of the participants and to show that behaviorally selected groups might reveal neural differences. Good recognizers showed selective right hemisphere N170 repetition effects for whole faces and not for features. On the contrary, bad recognizers showed a general repetition effect not specifically related to faces and more pronounced processing for features. These findings suggest a different contribution of holistic and featural analysis in bad and good performers. In conclusion, we propose that the N170 might be used as a tool to tease apart face encoding processes as a function of individual differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa Marzi
- Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, 50135 Firenze, Italy; (T.M.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Giorgio Gronchi
- Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, 50135 Firenze, Italy; (T.M.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (F.G.)
| | | | - Fabio Giovannelli
- Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, 50135 Firenze, Italy; (T.M.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Fiorenza Giganti
- Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, 50135 Firenze, Italy; (T.M.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Mohamed Rebai
- Department of Psychology, University of Rouen, 76130 Mont-Saint-Aignan, France;
| | - Maria Pia Viggiano
- Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, 50135 Firenze, Italy; (T.M.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (F.G.)
- Correspondence:
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4
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Barton JJS, Davies-Thompson J, Corrow SL. Prosopagnosia and disorders of face processing. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2021; 178:175-193. [PMID: 33832676 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-821377-3.00006-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Face recognition is a form of expert visual processing. Acquired prosopagnosia is the loss of familiarity for facial identity and has several functional variants, namely apperceptive, amnestic, and associative forms. Acquired forms are usually caused by either occipitotemporal or anterior temporal lesions, right or bilateral in most cases. In addition, there is a developmental form, whose functional and structural origins are still being elucidated. Despite their difficulties with recognizing faces, some of these subjects still show signs of covert recognition, which may have a number of explanations. Other aspects of face perception can be spared in prosopagnosic subjects. Patients with other types of face processing difficulties have been described, including impaired expression processing, impaired lip-reading, false familiarity for faces, and a people-specific amnesia. Recent rehabilitative studies have shown some modest ability to improve face perception in prosopagnosic subjects through perceptual training protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| | - Jodie Davies-Thompson
- Face Research Swansea, Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Sketty, United Kingdom
| | - Sherryse L Corrow
- Visual Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN, United States
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Kramer, Duran, Soder, Applegate, Youssef, Criscione, Keenan. The Special Brain: Subclinical Grandiose Narcissism and Self-Face Recognition in the Right Prefrontal Cortex. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.5406/amerjpsyc.133.4.0487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Rosenthal G, Sporns O, Avidan G. Stimulus Dependent Dynamic Reorganization of the Human Face Processing Network. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:4823-4834. [PMID: 27620978 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Using the "face inversion effect", a hallmark of face perception, we examined network mechanisms supporting face representation by tracking functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) stimulus-dependent dynamic functional connectivity within and between brain networks associated with the processing of upright and inverted faces. We developed a novel approach adapting the general linear model (GLM) framework classically used for univariate fMRI analysis to capture stimulus-dependent fMRI dynamic connectivity of the face network. We show that under the face inversion manipulation, the face and non-face networks have complementary roles that are evident in their stimulus-dependent dynamic connectivity patterns as assessed by network decomposition into components or communities. Moreover, we show that connectivity patterns are associated with the behavioral face inversion effect. Thus, we establish "a network-level signature" of the face inversion effect and demonstrate how a simple physical transformation of the face stimulus induces a dramatic functional reorganization across related brain networks. Finally, we suggest that the dynamic GLM network analysis approach, developed here for the face network, provides a general framework for modeling the dynamics of blocked stimulus-dependent connectivity experimental designs and hence can be applied to a host of neuroimaging studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gideon Rosenthal
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.,The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Olaf Sporns
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.,The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.,Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
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7
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Ramon M, Busigny T, Gosselin F, Rossion B. All new kids on the block? Impaired holistic processing of personally familiar faces in a kindergarten teacher with acquired prosopagnosia. VISUAL COGNITION 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2016.1273985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Meike Ramon
- Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Busigny
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Frederic Gosselin
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
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8
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Davies-Thompson J, Fletcher K, Hills C, Pancaroglu R, Corrow SL, Barton JJS. Perceptual Learning of Faces: A Rehabilitative Study of Acquired Prosopagnosia. J Cogn Neurosci 2016; 29:573-591. [PMID: 28139958 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Despite many studies of acquired prosopagnosia, there have been only a few attempts at its rehabilitation, all in single cases, with a variety of mnemonic or perceptual approaches, and of variable efficacy. In a cohort with acquired prosopagnosia, we evaluated a perceptual learning program that incorporated variations in view and expression, which was aimed at training perceptual stages of face processing with an emphasis on ecological validity. Ten patients undertook an 11-week face training program and an 11-week control task. Training required shape discrimination between morphed facial images, whose similarity was manipulated by a staircase procedure to keep training near a perceptual threshold. Training progressed from blocks of neutral faces in frontal view through increasing variations in view and expression. Whereas the control task did not change perception, training improved perceptual sensitivity for the trained faces and generalized to new untrained expressions and views of those faces. There was also a significant transfer to new faces. Benefits were maintained over a 3-month period. Training efficacy was greater for those with more perceptual deficits at baseline. We conclude that perceptual learning can lead to persistent improvements in face discrimination in acquired prosopagnosia. This reflects both acquisition of new skills that can be applied to new faces as well as a degree of overlearning of the stimulus set at the level of 3-D expression-invariant representations.
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Abstract
Prosopagnosia is a selective visual agnosia characterized by the inability to recognize the identity of faces. There are both acquired forms secondary to brain damage and developmental forms without obvious structural lesions. In this review, we first discuss the diagnosis of acquired and developmental prosopagnosia, and the challenges present in the latter case. Second, we discuss the evidence regarding the selectivity of the prosopagnosic defect, particularly in relation to the recognition of other objects, written words (another visual object category requiring high expertise), and voices. Third, we summarize recent findings about the structural and functional basis of prosopagnosia from studies using magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and event-related potentials. Finally, we discuss recent attempts at rehabilitation of face recognition in prosopagnosia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherryse L Corrow
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Neurology Division, Department of Medicine
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Kirsten A Dalrymple
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Jason JS Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Neurology Division, Department of Medicine
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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10
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Parks CL, Monson KL. Automated facial recognition and candidate list rank change of computer generated facial approximations generated with multiple eye orb positions. Forensic Sci Int 2016; 266:396-398. [PMID: 27416268 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.06.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Expanding on research previously reported by the authors, this study further examines the recognizability of ReFace facial approximations generated with the following eye orb positions: (i) centrally within the bony eye socket, (ii) 1.0mm superior and 2.0mm lateral relative to center, and (iii) 1.0mm superior and 2.5mm lateral relative to center. Overall, 81% of the test subjects' approximation ranks improved with the use of either of the two supero-lateral eye orbs. Highly significant performance differences (p<0.01) were observed between the approximations with centrally positioned eye orbs (i) and approximations with the eye orbs placed in the supero-laterally positions (ii and iii). Noteworthy was the observation that in all cases when the best rank for an approximation was obtained with the eye orbs in position (iii), the second best rank was achieved with the eye orbs in position (ii). A similar pattern was also observed when the best rank was obtained with the eye orbs in position (ii), with 60% of the second best ranks observed in position (iii). It is argued, therefore, that an approximation constructed with the eye orbs placed in either of the two supero-lateral positions may be more effective and operationally informative than centrally positioned orbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connie L Parks
- Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit, Visiting Scientist Program, FBI Laboratory Division, 2501 Investigation Parkway, Quantico, VA 22135, United States
| | - Keith L Monson
- Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit, FBI Laboratory Division, 2501 Investigation Parkway, Quantico, VA 22135, United States.
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Malcolm GL, Leung C, Barton JJS. Regional Variation in the Inversion Effect for Faces: Differential Effects for Feature Shape, Feature Configuration, and External Contour. Perception 2016; 33:1221-31. [PMID: 15693667 DOI: 10.1068/p5372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Faces are perceived via an orientation-dependent expert mechanism. We previously showed that inversion impaired perception of the spatial relations of features more in the lower face than in the (more salient) upper face, suggests a failure to rapidly process this type of structural data from the entire face. In this study we wished to determine if this interaction between inversion and regional salience, which we consider a marker for efficient whole-face processing, was specific to second-order (coordinate) spatial relations or also affected other types of structural information in faces. We used an oddity paradigm to test the ability of seventeen subjects to discriminate changes in feature size, feature spatial relations, and external contour in both the upper and lower face. We also tested fourteen subjects on perception of two different types of spatial relations: second-order changes that create plausible alternative faces, and illegal spatial changes that transgress normal rules of facial geometry. In both experiments we examined for asymmetries between upper-face and lower-face perceptual accuracy with brief stimulus presentations. While all structural changes were less easily discerned in inverted faces, only changes to spatial relations showed a marked asymmetry between the upper and lower face, with far worse performance in the mouth region. Furthermore, this asymmetry was found only for second-order spatial relations and not illegal spatial changes. These results suggest that the orientation-dependent face mechanism has a rapid whole-face processing capacity specific to the internal second-order (coordinate) spatial relations of facial features.
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Affiliation(s)
- George L Malcolm
- Department of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JU, Scotland, UK
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12
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Pancaroglu R, Hills CS, Sekunova A, Viswanathan J, Duchaine B, Barton JJS. Seeing the eyes in acquired prosopagnosia. Cortex 2016; 81:251-65. [PMID: 27288649 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2015] [Revised: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Case reports have suggested that perception of the eye region may be impaired more than that of other facial regions in acquired prosopagnosia. However, it is unclear how frequently this occurs, whether such impairments are specific to a certain anatomic subtype of prosopagnosia, and whether these impairments are related to changes in the scanning of faces. We studied a large cohort of 11 subjects with this rare disorder, who had a variety of occipitotemporal or anterior temporal lesions, both unilateral and bilateral. Lesions were characterized by functional and structural imaging. Subjects performed a perceptual discrimination test in which they had to discriminate changes in feature position, shape, or external contour. Test conditions were manipulated to stress focused or divided attention across the whole face. In a second experiment we recorded eye movements while subjects performed a face memory task. We found that greater impairment for eye processing was more typical of subjects with occipitotemporal lesions than those with anterior temporal lesions. This eye selectivity was evident for both eye position and shape, with no evidence of an upper/lower difference for external contour. A greater impairment for eye processing was more apparent under attentionally more demanding conditions. Despite these perceptual deficits, most subjects showed a normal tendency to scan the eyes more than the mouth. We conclude that occipitotemporal lesions are associated with a partially selective processing loss for eye information and that this deficit may be linked to loss of the right fusiform face area, which has been shown to have activity patterns that emphasize the eye region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raika Pancaroglu
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | - Charlotte S Hills
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Alla Sekunova
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jayalakshmi Viswanathan
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Brad Duchaine
- Department of Psychology, Dartmouth University, Dartmouth, USA
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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Barton JJS, Corrow SL. Recognizing and identifying people: A neuropsychological review. Cortex 2015; 75:132-150. [PMID: 26773237 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.11.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2015] [Revised: 10/13/2015] [Accepted: 11/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Recognizing people is a classic example of a cognitive function that involves multiple processing stages and parallel routes of information. Neuropsychological data have provided important evidence for models of this process, particularly from case reports; however, the quality and extent of the data varies widely between studies. In this review we first discuss the requirements and logical basis of the types of neuropsychological evidence to support conclusions about the modules in this process. We then survey the adequacy of the current body of reports to address two key issues. First is the question of which cognitive operation generates a sense of familiarity: the current debate revolves around whether familiarity arises in modality-specific recognition units or later amodal processes. Key evidence on this point comes from the search for dissociations between familiarity for faces, voices and names. The second question is whether lesions can differentially affect the abilities to link diverse sources of person information (e.g., face, voice, name, biographic data). Dissociations of these linkages may favor a 'distributed-only' model of the organization of semantic knowledge, whereas a 'person-hub' model would predict uniform impairments of all linkages. While we conclude that there is reasonable evidence for dissociations in name, voice and face familiarity in regards to the first question, the evidence for or against dissociated linkages between information stores in regards to the second question is tenuous at best. We identify deficiencies in the current literature that should motivate and inform the design of future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Department of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | - Sherryse L Corrow
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Department of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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Jansari A, Miller S, Pearce L, Cobb S, Sagiv N, Williams AL, Tree JJ, Hanley JR. The man who mistook his neuropsychologist for a popstar: when configural processing fails in acquired prosopagnosia. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:390. [PMID: 26236212 PMCID: PMC4505628 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2014] [Accepted: 06/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We report the case of an individual with acquired prosopagnosia who experiences extreme difficulties in recognizing familiar faces in everyday life despite excellent object recognition skills. Formal testing indicates that he is also severely impaired at remembering pre-experimentally unfamiliar faces and that he takes an extremely long time to identify famous faces and to match unfamiliar faces. Nevertheless, he performs as accurately and quickly as controls at identifying inverted familiar and unfamiliar faces and can recognize famous faces from their external features. He also performs as accurately as controls at recognizing famous faces when fracturing conceals the configural information in the face. He shows evidence of impaired global processing but normal local processing of Navon figures. This case appears to reflect the clearest example yet of an acquired prosopagnosic patient whose familiar face recognition deficit is caused by a severe configural processing deficit in the absence of any problems in featural processing. These preserved featural skills together with apparently intact visual imagery for faces allow him to identify a surprisingly large number of famous faces when unlimited time is available. The theoretical implications of this pattern of performance for understanding the nature of acquired prosopagnosia are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashok Jansari
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLondon, UK
| | - Scott Miller
- School of Psychology, University of East LondonLondon, UK
| | - Laura Pearce
- School of Psychology, University of East LondonLondon, UK
| | - Stephanie Cobb
- School of Psychology, University of East LondonLondon, UK
| | - Noam Sagiv
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging, Brunel UniversityLondon, UK
| | - Adrian L. Williams
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging, Brunel UniversityLondon, UK
| | - Jeremy J. Tree
- Department of Psychology, College of Health and Human Sciences, Swansea UniversitySwansea, UK
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15
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Ramon M. Perception of global facial geometry is modulated through experience. PeerJ 2015; 3:e850. [PMID: 25825678 PMCID: PMC4375970 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2014] [Accepted: 03/03/2015] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Identification of personally familiar faces is highly efficient across various viewing conditions. While the presence of robust facial representations stored in memory is considered to aid this process, the mechanisms underlying invariant identification remain unclear. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that facial representations stored in memory are associated with differential perceptual processing of the overall facial geometry. Subjects who were personally familiar or unfamiliar with the identities presented discriminated between stimuli whose overall facial geometry had been manipulated to maintain or alter the original facial configuration (see Barton, Zhao & Keenan, 2003). The results demonstrate that familiarity gives rise to more efficient processing of global facial geometry, and are interpreted in terms of increased holistic processing of facial information that is maintained across viewing distances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meike Ramon
- Institute of Research in Psychology, Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain , Louvain-La-Neuve , Belgium
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16
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Retter TL, Rossion B. Global Shape Information Increases but Color Information Decreases the Composite Face Effect. Perception 2015; 44:511-28. [DOI: 10.1068/p7826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The separation of visual shape and surface information may be useful for understanding holistic face perception—that is, the perception of a face as a single unit (Jiang, Blanz, & Rossion, 2011, Visual Cognition, 19, 1003–1034). A widely used measure of holistic face perception is the composite face effect (CFE), in which identical top face halves appear different when aligned with bottom face halves from different identities. In the present study the influences of global face shape (ie contour of the face) and color information on the CFE are investigated, with the hypothesis that global face shape supports but color impairs holistic face perception as measured in this paradigm. In experiment 1 the CFE is significantly increased when face stimuli possess natural global shape information than when cropped to a generic (ie oval) global shape; this effect is not found when the stimuli are presented inverted. In experiment 2 the CFE is significantly decreased when face stimuli are presented with color information than when presented in grayscale. These findings indicate that grayscale stimuli maintaining natural global face shape information provide the most adept measure of holistic face perception in the behavioral composite face paradigm. More generally, they show that reducing different types of information diagnostic for individual face perception can have opposite effects on the CFE, illustrating the functional dissociation between shape and surface information in face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia L Retter
- Psychological Science Research Institute (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), University of Louvain, 10 Place Cardinal Mercier, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Psychological Science Research Institute (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), University of Louvain, 10 Place Cardinal Mercier, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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Liu RR, Pancaroglu R, Hills CS, Duchaine B, Barton JJS. Voice Recognition in Face-Blind Patients. Cereb Cortex 2014; 26:1473-1487. [PMID: 25349193 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Right or bilateral anterior temporal damage can impair face recognition, but whether this is an associative variant of prosopagnosia or part of a multimodal disorder of person recognition is an unsettled question, with implications for cognitive and neuroanatomic models of person recognition. We assessed voice perception and short-term recognition of recently heard voices in 10 subjects with impaired face recognition acquired after cerebral lesions. All 4 subjects with apperceptive prosopagnosia due to lesions limited to fusiform cortex had intact voice discrimination and recognition. One subject with bilateral fusiform and anterior temporal lesions had a combined apperceptive prosopagnosia and apperceptive phonagnosia, the first such described case. Deficits indicating a multimodal syndrome of person recognition were found only in 2 subjects with bilateral anterior temporal lesions. All 3 subjects with right anterior temporal lesions had normal voice perception and recognition, 2 of whom performed normally on perceptual discrimination of faces. This confirms that such lesions can cause a modality-specific associative prosopagnosia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran R Liu
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Raika Pancaroglu
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Charlotte S Hills
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Brad Duchaine
- Department of Psychology, Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,Neuro-ophthalmology Section K, VGH Eye Care Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 3N9
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Hills C, Romano K, Davies-Thompson J, Barton JJ. An adaptation study of internal and external features in facial representations. Vision Res 2014; 100:18-28. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Revised: 03/16/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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19
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Busigny T, Van Belle G, Jemel B, Hosein A, Joubert S, Rossion B. Face-specific impairment in holistic perception following focal lesion of the right anterior temporal lobe. Neuropsychologia 2014; 56:312-33. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 01/21/2014] [Accepted: 01/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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20
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Tanzer M, Freud E, Ganel T, Avidan G. General holistic impairment in congenital prosopagnosia: evidence from Garner's speeded-classification task. Cogn Neuropsychol 2014; 30:429-45. [PMID: 24460391 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2013.873715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a lifelong impairment in face processing in the absence of brain damage, is often ascribed to impairment in holistic processing. It is still debated whether such difficulties are restricted to faces or whether they can also be observed for nonfacial stimuli. Here, we investigate this issue by examining CP individuals and their controls on two variations of the Garner speeded classification task tailored to assess holistic processing of nonfacial stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge the width of visually presented rectangles while ignoring their irrelevant height, or to judge changes in width while height remained constant. Critically, while controls exhibited the expected Garner interference, no such interference was observed for the CPs, indicating impaired holistic processing of integral, nonfacial shape dimensions. Experiment 2, utilized the same Garner paradigm, but here participants were asked to judge integral dimensions that are unrelated to shape (colour). Importantly, both CPs and controls exhibited the same level of Garner interference, indicating intact integral processing of colour dimensions. This dissociation between the performance on the two Garner tasks indicates that CPs do not exhibit a general local processing bias or impaired integration of any perceptual dimensions, but rather a deficit that is restricted to tasks requiring holistic integral perception of shape dimensions. Taken together, these results provide evidence for the existence of a general impairment in holistic shape perception in CP, which may be related to the mechanisms underlying this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Tanzer
- a Department of Psychology , Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer Sheva , Israel
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21
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Rossion B. The composite face illusion: A whole window into our understanding of holistic face perception. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.772929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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22
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Huis in 't Veld E, Van den Stock J, de Gelder B. Configuration perception and face memory, and face context effects in developmental prosopagnosia. Cogn Neuropsychol 2012. [DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2012.732051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jan Van den Stock
- b Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences , KU Leuven, Leuven , Belgium
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- a Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory , Tilburg University , Tilburg , The Netherlands
- b Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences , KU Leuven, Leuven , Belgium
- c Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience , Maastricht University , Maastricht , The Netherlands
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23
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Perceptual and anatomic patterns of selective deficits in facial identity and expression processing. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:3188-200. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2011] [Revised: 05/16/2011] [Accepted: 07/08/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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24
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Stollhoff R, Kennerknecht I, Elze T, Jost J. A computational model of dysfunctional facial encoding in congenital prosopagnosia. Neural Netw 2011; 24:652-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2011.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2010] [Revised: 02/14/2011] [Accepted: 03/06/2011] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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25
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Pichler P, Dosani M, Oruç I, Barton JJS. The nature of upright and inverted face representations: an adaptation-transfer study of configuration. Cortex 2011; 48:725-36. [PMID: 21396633 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2010] [Revised: 11/04/2010] [Accepted: 12/10/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
It is considered that whole-face processing of spatial structure may only be possible in upright faces, with only local feature processing in inverted faces. We asked whether this was due to impoverished representations of inverted faces. We performed two experiments. In the first, we divided faces into segments to create 'exploded' faces with disrupted second-order structures, and 'scrambled' faces with altered first-order relations; in the second we shifted features within intact facial outlines to create equivalent disruptions of spatial structure. In both we assessed the transfer of adaptation between faces with altered structure and intact faces. Scrambled adaptors did not adapt upright or inverted intact faces, indicating that a whole-face configuration is required at either orientation. Both upright and inverted faces showed a similar decline in aftereffect magnitude when adapting faces had altered second-order structure, implying that this structure is present in both upright and inverted face representations. We conclude that inverted faces are not represented simply as a collection of features, but have a whole-face configuration with second-order structure, similar to upright faces. Thus the qualitative impairments induced by inversion are not due to degraded inverted facial representations, but may reflect limitations in perceptual mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Pichler
- Department of Molecular Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
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26
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Stollhoff R, Jost J, Elze T, Kennerknecht I. Deficits in long-term recognition memory reveal dissociated subtypes in congenital prosopagnosia. PLoS One 2011; 6:e15702. [PMID: 21283572 PMCID: PMC3026793 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2010] [Accepted: 11/22/2010] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The study investigates long-term recognition memory in congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a lifelong impairment in face identification that is present from birth. Previous investigations of processing deficits in CP have mostly relied on short-term recognition tests to estimate the scope and severity of individual deficits. We firstly report on a controlled test of long-term (one year) recognition memory for faces and objects conducted with a large group of participants with CP. Long-term recognition memory is significantly impaired in eight CP participants (CPs). In all but one case, this deficit was selective to faces and didn't extend to intra-class recognition of object stimuli. In a test of famous face recognition, long-term recognition deficits were less pronounced, even after accounting for differences in media consumption between controls and CPs. Secondly, we combined test results on long-term and short-term recognition of faces and objects, and found a large heterogeneity in severity and scope of individual deficits. Analysis of the observed heterogeneity revealed a dissociation of CP into subtypes with a homogeneous phenotypical profile. Thirdly, we found that among CPs self-assessment of real-life difficulties, based on a standardized questionnaire, and experimentally assessed face recognition deficits are strongly correlated. Our results demonstrate that controlled tests of long-term recognition memory are needed to fully assess face recognition deficits in CP. Based on controlled and comprehensive experimental testing, CP can be dissociated into subtypes with a homogeneous phenotypical profile. The CP subtypes identified align with those found in prosopagnosia caused by cortical lesions; they can be interpreted with respect to a hierarchical neural system for face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer Stollhoff
- Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
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Holistic perception of the individual face is specific and necessary: evidence from an extensive case study of acquired prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:4057-92. [PMID: 20875437 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.09.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 113] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2010] [Revised: 08/05/2010] [Accepted: 09/16/2010] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
We present an extensive investigation (24 experiments) of a new case of prosopagnosia following right unilateral damage, GG, with the aim of addressing two classical issues: (1) Can a visual recognition impairment truly be specific to faces? (2) What is the nature of acquired prosopagnosia? We show that GG recognizes nonface objects perfectly and quickly, even when it requires fine-grained analysis to individualize these objects. He is also capable of perceiving objects and faces as integrated wholes, as indicated by normal Navon effect, 3D-figures perception and perception of Mooney and Arcimboldo face stimuli. However, the patient could not perceive individual faces holistically, showing no inversion, composite, or whole-part advantage effects for faces. We conclude that an occipito-temporal right hemisphere lesion may lead to a specific impairment of holistic perception of individual items, a function that appears critical for normal face recognition but not for object recognition.
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29
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Acquired prosopagnosia abolishes the face inversion effect. Cortex 2010; 46:965-81. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2009.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2008] [Revised: 07/06/2009] [Accepted: 07/07/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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30
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Stollhoff R, Jost J, Elze T, Kennerknecht I. The early time course of compensatory face processing in congenital prosopagnosia. PLoS One 2010; 5:e11482. [PMID: 20657764 PMCID: PMC2908115 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2010] [Accepted: 06/10/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Prosopagnosia is a selective deficit in facial identification which can be either acquired, (e.g., after brain damage), or present from birth (congenital). The face recognition deficit in prosopagnosia is characterized by worse accuracy, longer reaction times, more dispersed gaze behavior and a strong reliance on featural processing. Methods/Principal Findings We introduce a conceptual model of an apperceptive/associative type of congenital prosopagnosia where a deficit in holistic processing is compensated by a serial inspection of isolated, informative features. Based on the model proposed we investigated performance differences in different face and shoe identification tasks between a group of 16 participants with congenital prosopagnosia and a group of 36 age-matched controls. Given enough training and unlimited stimulus presentation prosopagnosics achieved normal face identification accuracy evincing longer reaction times. The latter increase was paralleled by an equally-sized increase in stimulus presentation times needed achieve an accuracy of 80%. When the inspection time of stimuli was limited (50ms to 750ms), prosopagnosics only showed worse accuracy but no difference in reaction time. Tested for the ability to generalize from frontal to rotated views, prosopagnosics performed worse than controls across all rotation angles but the magnitude of the deficit didn't change with increasing rotation. All group differences in accuracy, reaction or presentation times were selective to face stimuli and didn't extend to shoes. Conclusions/Significance Our study provides a characterization of congenital prosopagnosia in terms of early processing differences. More specifically, compensatory processing in congenital prosopagnosia requires an inspection of faces that is sufficiently long to allow for sequential focusing on informative features. This characterization of dysfunctional processing in prosopagnosia further emphasizes fast and holistic information encoding as two defining characteristics of normal face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer Stollhoff
- Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
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31
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Ramon M, Busigny T, Rossion B. Impaired holistic processing of unfamiliar individual faces in acquired prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 2009; 48:933-44. [PMID: 19944710 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2009] [Revised: 11/11/2009] [Accepted: 11/19/2009] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Prosopagnosia is an impairment at individualizing faces that classically follows brain damage. Several studies have reported observations supporting an impairment of holistic/configural face processing in acquired prosopagnosia. However, this issue may require more compelling evidence as the cases reported were generally patients suffering from integrative visual agnosia, and the sensitivity of the paradigms used to measure holistic/configural face processing in normal individuals remains unclear. Here we tested a well-characterized case of acquired prosopagnosia (PS) with no object recognition impairment, in five behavioral experiments (whole/part and composite face paradigms with unfamiliar faces). In all experiments, for normal observers we found that processing of a given facial feature was affected by the location and identity of the other features in a whole face configuration. In contrast, the patient's results over these experiments indicate that she encodes local facial information independently of the other features embedded in the whole facial context. These observations and a survey of the literature indicate that abnormal holistic processing of the individual face may be a characteristic hallmark of prosopagnosia following brain damage, perhaps with various degrees of severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meike Ramon
- Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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32
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Why does picture-plane inversion sometimes dissociate perception of features and spacing in faces, and sometimes not? Toward a new theory of holistic processing. Psychon Bull Rev 2009; 16:778-97. [DOI: 10.3758/pbr.16.5.778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 199] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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33
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Hudson M, Liu CH, Jellema T. Anticipating intentional actions: the effect of eye gaze direction on the judgment of head rotation. Cognition 2009; 112:423-34. [PMID: 19615675 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2008] [Revised: 06/11/2009] [Accepted: 06/19/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Using a representational momentum paradigm, this study investigated the hypothesis that judgments of how far another agent's head has rotated are influenced by the perceived gaze direction of the head. Participants observed a video-clip of a face rotating 60 degrees towards them starting from the left or right profile view. The gaze direction of the face was either congruent with, ahead of, or lagging behind the angle of rotation. Following this, two static faces, at varying angles of rotation with respect to the end-point angle of the face in the video-clip, were presented simultaneously. The task of the participants was to decide which of the two heads was at an angle best resembling the angle of the end-point of the moving face. The critical test condition consisted of one test face oriented at 10 degrees before, and the other at 10 degrees after the end-point. The 'lagging behind' gaze condition elicited a significant underestimation of the rotation compared to the 'congruent' and 'ahead' gaze conditions. Participants did not exhibit similar biases when judging the rotation of several non-face control stimuli with visual features that mimicked different aspects of gaze direction. The findings suggest that when the gaze direction of a perceived agent is incongruent with the direction of the agent's head motion observers automatically utilise this discrepancy to adjust their inferences about the agent's intended heading direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Hudson
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Adeilad Brigantia, Penrallt Road, Bangor, United Kingdom
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34
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Barton JJS. Structure and function in acquired prosopagnosia: lessons from a series of 10 patients with brain damage. J Neuropsychol 2009; 2:197-225. [PMID: 19334311 DOI: 10.1348/174866407x214172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 220] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Acquired prosopagnosia varies in both behavioural manifestations and the location and extent of underlying lesions. We studied 10 patients with adult-onset lesions on a battery of face-processing tests. Using signal detection methods, we found that discriminative power for the familiarity of famous faces was most reduced by bilateral occipitotemporal lesions that involved the fusiform gyri, and better preserved with unilateral right-sided lesions. Tests of perception of facial structural configuration showed severe deficits with lesions that included the right fusiform gyrus, whether unilateral or bilateral. This deficit was most consistent for eye configuration, with some patients performing normally for mouth configuration. Patients with anterior temporal lesions had better configuration perception, though at least one patient showed a more subtle failure to integrate configural data from different facial regions. Facial imagery, an index of facial memories, was severely impaired by bilateral lesions that included the right anterior temporal lobe and marginally impaired by fusiform lesions alone; unilateral right fusiform lesions tended to spare imagery for facial features. These findings suggest that (I) prosopagnosia is more severe with bilateral than unilateral lesions, indicating a minor contribution of the left hemisphere to face recognition, (2) perception of facial configuration critically involves the right fusiform gyrus and (3) access to facial memories is most disrupted by bilateral lesions that also include the right anterior temporal lobe. This supports assertions that more apperceptive variants of prosopagnosia are linked to fusiform damage, whereas more associative variants are linked to anterior temporal damage. Next, we found that behavioural indices of covert recognition correlated with measures of overt familiarity, consistent with theories that covert behaviour emerges from the output of damaged neural networks, rather than alternative pathways. Finally, to probe the face specificity of the prosopagnosic defect, we tested recognition of fruits and vegetables: While face specificity was not found in most of our patients, the data of one patient suggested that this may be possible with more focal lesions of the right fusiform gyrus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- Neurology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
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35
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Spatial interactions in upright and inverted faces: re-exploration of spatial scale influence. Vision Res 2009; 49:774-81. [PMID: 19236892 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2009.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2008] [Revised: 01/20/2009] [Accepted: 02/13/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Face features are hardly processed in isolation; they rather strongly interact over space. Spatial interactions are strong at upright, but not inverted orientation. Recent evidence indicated spatial interactions root in the low spatial frequencies (LSF) of face stimulus. Here, a balanced congruency paradigm was employed with upright and inverted filtered faces to circumvent the limits of previous investigations. Results confirm the LSF predominant contribution to spatial interactions and exclude lesser local information availability or methodological confounds as alternative accounts. Results further show that spatial interactions are driven by LSF, independently of the spectral properties of the attended face region.
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36
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Barton JJS. What is Meant by Impaired Configural Processing in Acquired Prosopagnosia? Perception 2009; 38:242-60. [DOI: 10.1068/p6099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Apperceptive prosopagnosia is supposedly characterised by impaired configural processing, which could refer to either perception of spatial structure or holistic mechanisms. Ten prosopagnosic patients were tested with (i) dot patterns, to determine if manipulations of complexity, size, orientation, or the regularity of global structure generated effects consistent with the holistic hypothesis; and (ii) hierarchical letters, to probe for a global ‘whole-object’ processing deficit. With dot patterns (experiment 1) patients were impaired even for simple two-dot stimuli, but did better with more complex patterns, when size or orientation varied, or with a regular global structure. In experiment 2, they demonstrated normal latency effects of global-level processing. Apperceptive prosopagnosia, including that from lesions encompassing the right fusiform gyrus, is thus associated with a ‘configural deficit’ that impairs perception of spatial structure, not just for faces but also for non-facial patterns. While it cannot be concluded that holistic processing is entirely normal in these subjects, their performance shows significant modulation by whole-object structure, indicating that some whole-object processing is occurring in these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA; also Division of Neurology, Departments of Psychology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z 3N7, Canada
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37
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Mondloch CJ, Thomson K. Limitations in 4-Year-Old Children’s Sensitivity to the Spacing Among Facial Features. Child Dev 2008; 79:1513-23. [PMID: 18826539 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01202.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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38
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Iaria G, Fox CJ, Waite CT, Aharon I, Barton JJS. The contribution of the fusiform gyrus and superior temporal sulcus in processing facial attractiveness: neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence. Neuroscience 2008; 155:409-22. [PMID: 18590800 PMCID: PMC2605709 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.05.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2008] [Revised: 05/27/2008] [Accepted: 05/29/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Current cognitive models suggest that the processing of dynamic facial attributes, including social signals such as gaze direction and facial expression, involves the superior temporal sulcus, whereas the processing of invariant facial structure such as the individuals' identity involves the fusiform face area. Where facial attractiveness, a social signal that may emerge from invariant facial structure, is processed within this dual-route model of face perception is uncertain. Here, we present two studies. First, we investigated the explicit judgments of facial attractiveness and attractiveness-motivated behavior in patients with acquired prosopagnosia, a deficit in familiar face recognition usually associated with damage to medial occipitotemporal cortex. We found that both abilities were impaired in these patients, with some weak residual ability for attractiveness judgments found only in those patients with unilateral right occipitotemporal or bilateral anterior temporal lesions. Importantly, deficits in attractiveness perception correlated with the severity of the face recognition deficit. Second, we performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in healthy subjects that included an implicit and explicit processing of facial attractiveness. We found increased neural activity when explicitly judging facial attractiveness within a number of cortical regions including the fusiform face area, but not the superior temporal sulcus, indicating a potential contribution of the fusiform face area to this judgment. Thus, converging neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence points to a critical role of the inferior occipitotemporal cortex in the processing of facial attractiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Iaria
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Division of Neurology and Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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39
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Rossion B. Picture-plane inversion leads to qualitative changes of face perception. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2008; 128:274-89. [PMID: 18396260 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 359] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2007] [Revised: 02/16/2008] [Accepted: 02/18/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Presenting a face stimulus upside-down generally causes a larger deficit in perceiving metric distances between facial features ("configuration") than local properties of these features. This effect supports a qualitative account of face inversion: the same transformation affects the processing of different kinds of information differently. However, this view has been recently challenged by studies reporting equal inversion costs of performance for discriminating featural and configural manipulations on faces. In this paper I argue that these studies did not replicate previous results due to methodological factors rather than largely irrelevant parameters such as having equal performance for configural and featural conditions at upright orientation, or randomizing trials across conditions. I also argue that identifying similar diagnostic features (eyes and eyebrows) for discriminating individual faces at upright and inverted orientations by means of response classification methods does not dismiss at all the qualitative view of face inversion. Considering these elements as well as both behavioral and neuropsychological evidence, I propose that the generally larger effect of inversion for processing configural than featural cues is a mere consequence of the disruption of holistic face perception. That is, configural relations necessarily involve two or more distant features on the face, such that their perception is most dependent on the ability to perceive simultaneously multiple features of a face as a whole.
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40
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Bentin S, Degutis JM, D'Esposito M, Robertson LC. Too Many Trees to See the Forest: Performance, Event-related Potential, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Manifestations of Integrative Congenital Prosopagnosia. J Cogn Neurosci 2007; 19:132-46. [PMID: 17214570 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.1.132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Neuropsychological, event-related potential (ERP), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods were combined to provide a comprehensive description of performance and neurobiological profiles for K.W., a case of congenital prosopagnosia. We demonstrate that K.W.'s visual perception is characterized by almost unprecedented inability to identify faces, a large bias toward local features, and an extreme deficit in global/configural processing that is not confined to faces. This pattern could be appropriately labeled congenital integrative prosopagnosia, and accounts for some, albeit not all, cases of face recognition impairments without identifiable brain lesions. Absence of face selectivity is evident in both biological markers of face processing, fMRI (the fusiform face area [FFA]), and ERPs (N170). Nevertheless, these two neural signatures probably manifest different perceptual mechanisms. Whereas the N170 is triggered by the occurrence of physiognomic stimuli in the visual field, the deficient face-selective fMRI activation in the caudal brain correlates with the severity of global processing deficits. This correlation suggests that the FFA might be associated with global/configural computation, a crucial part of face identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shlomo Bentin
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. mscc.huji.ac.il
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41
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Stephan BCM, Breen N, Caine D. The recognition of emotional expression in prosopagnosia: decoding whole and part faces. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2006; 12:884-95. [PMID: 17064450 DOI: 10.1017/s1355617706061066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2006] [Revised: 05/31/2006] [Accepted: 06/08/2006] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Prosopagnosia is currently viewed within the constraints of two competing theories of face recognition, one highlighting the analysis of features, the other focusing on configural processing of the whole face. This study investigated the role of feature analysis versus whole face configural processing in the recognition of facial expression. A prosopagnosic patient, SC made expression decisions from whole and incomplete (eyes-only and mouth-only) faces where features had been obscured. SC was impaired at recognizing some (e.g., anger, sadness, and fear), but not all (e.g., happiness) emotional expressions from the whole face. Analyses of his performance on incomplete faces indicated that his recognition of some expressions actually improved relative to his performance on the whole face condition. We argue that in SC interference from damaged configural processes seem to override an intact ability to utilize part-based or local feature cues.
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Williams MA, Savage G, Halmagyi M. Abnormal configural face perception in a patient with right anterior temporal lobe atrophy. Neurocase 2006; 12:286-91. [PMID: 17190749 DOI: 10.1080/13554790601026379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Face perception is a vital aspect of human social functioning and involves specialized cognitive and neural mechanisms. For example, configural face processing involves determining the relationship between the parts of the face, and this process enables us to differentiate between different faces. Here, we report an unusual case in which right anterior temporal lobe atrophy resulted in a profound deficit in the ability to recognize faces. We demonstrate that this patient is not able to process faces via configural information, raising the possibility that the right anterior temporal lobe has a role in configural face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark A Williams
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
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Bukach CM, Bub DN, Gauthier I, Tarr MJ. Perceptual Expertise Effects Are Not All or None: Spatially Limited Perceptual Expertise for Faces in a Case of Prosopagnosia. J Cogn Neurosci 2006; 18:48-63. [PMID: 16417682 DOI: 10.1162/089892906775250094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We document a seemingly unique case of severe prosopagnosia, L. R., who suffered damage to his anterior and inferior right temporal lobe as a result of a motor vehicle accident. We systematically investigated each of three factors associated with expert face recognition: fine-level discrimination, holistic processing, and configural processing (Experiments 1-3). Surprisingly, L. R. shows preservation of all three of these processes; that is, his performance in these experiments is comparable to that of normal controls. However, L. R. is only able to apply these processes over a limited spatial extent to the fine-level detail within faces. Thus, when the location of a given change is unpredictable (Experiment 3), L. R. exhibits normal detection of features and spatial configurations only for the lower half of each face. Similarly, when required to divide his attention over multiple face features, L. R. is able to determine the identity of only a single feature (Experiment 4). We discuss these results in the context of forming a better understanding of prosopagnosia and the mechanisms used in face recognition and visual expertise. We conclude that these mechanisms are not “all-or-none”, but rather can be impaired incrementally, such that they may remain functional over a restricted spatial area. This conclusion is consistent with previous research suggesting that perceptual expertise is acquired in a spatially incremental manner [Gauthier, I., & Tarr, M. J. Unraveling mechanisms for expert object recognition: Bridging brain activity and behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 28, 431-446, 2002].
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Affiliation(s)
- Cindy M Bukach
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
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Behrmann M, Avidan G, Marotta JJ, Kimchi R. Detailed Exploration of Face-related Processing in Congenital Prosopagnosia: 1. Behavioral Findings. J Cogn Neurosci 2005; 17:1130-49. [PMID: 16102241 DOI: 10.1162/0898929054475154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 176] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We show that five individuals with congenital prosopagnosia (CP) are impaired at face recognition and discrimination and do not exhibit the normal superiority for upright over inverted faces despite intact visual acuity, low-level vision and intelligence, and in the absence of any obvious neural concomitant. Interestingly, the deficit is not limited to faces: The CP individuals were also impaired at discriminating common objects and novel objects although to a lesser extent than discriminating faces. The perceptual deficit may be attributable to a more fundamental visual processing disorder; the CP individuals exhibited difficulty in deriving global configurations from simple visual stimuli, even with extended exposure duration and considerable perceptual support in the image. Deriving a global configuration from local components is more critical for faces than for other objects, perhaps accounting for the exaggerated deficit in face processing. These findings elucidate the psychological mechanisms underlying CP and support the link between configural and face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Behrmann
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA.
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