The development of face expertise

A biologically inspired computational model of human ventral temporal cortex

Our minds represent miscellaneous objects in the physical world metaphorically in an abstract and complex high-dimensional object space, which is implemented in a two-dimensional surface of the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) with topologically organized object selectivity. Here we investigated principles guiding the topographical organization of object selectivities in the VTC by constructing a hybrid Self-Organizing Map (SOM) model that harnesses a biologically inspired algorithm of wiring cost minimization and adheres to the constraints of the lateral wiring span of human VTC neurons. In a series of in silico experiments with functional brain neuroimaging and neurophysiological single-unit data from humans and non-human primates, the VTC-SOM predicted the topographical structure of fine-scale category-selective regions (face-, tool-, body-, and place-selective regions) and the boundary in large-scale abstract functional maps (animate vs. inanimate, real-word small-size vs. big-size, central vs. peripheral), with no significant loss in functionality (e.g., categorical selectivity and view-invariant representations). In addition, when the same principle was applied to V1 orientation preferences, a pinwheel-like topology emerged, suggesting the model's broad applicability. In summary, our study illustrates that the simple principle of wiring cost minimization, coupled with the appropriate biological constraint of lateral wiring span, is able to implement the high-dimensional object space in a two-dimensional cortical surface.

Representational Dissimilarity of Faces and Places during a Working Memory Task is Associated with Subsequent Recognition Memory during Development

Nearly 50 years of research has focused on faces as a special visual category, especially during development. Yet it remains unclear how spatial patterns of neural similarity of faces and places relate to how information processing supports subsequent recognition of items from these categories. The current study uses representational similarity analysis and functional imaging data from 9- and 10-year-old youth during an emotional n-back task from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study 3.0 data release to relate spatial patterns of neural similarity during working memory to subsequent out-of-scanner performance on a recognition memory task. Specifically, we examine how similarities in representations within face categories (neutral, happy, and fearful faces) and representations between visual categories (faces and places) relate to subsequent recognition memory of these visual categories. Although working memory performance was higher for faces than places, subsequent recognition memory was greater for places than faces. Representational similarity analysis revealed category-specific patterns in face-and place-sensitive brain regions (fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus) compared with a nonsensitive visual region (pericalcarine cortex). Similarity within face categories and dissimilarity between face and place categories in the parahippocampus was related to better recognition of places from the n-back task. Conversely, in the fusiform, similarity within face categories and their relative dissimilarity from places was associated with better recognition of new faces, but not old faces. These findings highlight how the representational distinctiveness of visual categories influence what information is subsequently prioritized in recognition memory during development.

An ERP Study of Face Processing in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Socially Isolated Individuals from the Community

People with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) have impairments in processing social information, including faces. The neural correlates of face processing are widely studied with the N170 ERP component. However, it is unclear whether N170 deficits reflect neural abnormalities associated with these clinical conditions or differences in social environments. The goal of this study was to determine whether N170 deficits would still be present in SCZ and BD when compared with socially isolated community members. Participants included 66 people with SCZ, 37 with BD, and 125 community members (76 "Community-Isolated"; 49 "Community-Connected"). Electroencephalography was recorded during a face processing task in which participants identified the gender of a face, the emotion of a face (angry, happy, neutral), or the number of stories in a building. We examined group differences in the N170 face effect (greater amplitudes for faces vs buildings) and the N170 emotion effect (greater amplitudes for emotional vs neutral expressions). Groups significantly differed in levels of social isolation (Community-Isolated > SCZ > BD = Community-Connected). SCZ participants had significantly reduced N170 amplitudes to faces compared with both community groups, which did not differ from each other. The BD group was intermediate and did not differ from any group. There were no significant group differences in the processing of specific emotional facial expressions. The N170 is abnormal in SCZ even when compared to socially isolated community members. Hence, the N170 seems to reflect a social processing impairment in SCZ that is separate from level of social isolation.

Investigating Social Competence in a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Theatre-Based Intervention Enhanced for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by challenges in social competence that persist in adulthood, yet few treatment options exist. A pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) of a peer-mediated, theatre-based intervention with established efficacy in youth with ASD was examined in autistic adults. The final sample consisted of forty-seven 18-to-40-year-old participants randomized to the experimental (EXP N = 23) or waitlist control (WLC N = 24) condition. A multimodal, social interdependent model was employed to examine social competence changes in brain (incidental face memory (IFM) using event-related potentials), cognition (Wechsler Memory Scale-III), behavior (Contextual Assessment of Social Skills) and function (Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS); Adaptive Behavior Assessment Scale (ABAS) Social Composite). Using analysis of covariance in which pretest was controlled in the model, posttest between-group differences were observed on IFM (p = 0.016, η2 = 0.139, d = 0.79) and several social and adaptive functional (SRS, ABAS) outcomes in social communication and interaction (SCI) (p = 0.019, η2 = 0.121, d = -00.45), communication (p = 0.044 η2 = 0.09, d = -00.31), and motivation (p = 0.001, η2 = 0.229, d = -0.79) domains. At two-month follow-up, gains in social motivation remained (p = 0.041, η2 = 0.100, d = -0.77). The results offer preliminary support for a unique theatre-based social skills intervention for autistic adults who have few treatment options to enhance social competence. The trial was pre-registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04349644).

Asynchrony enhances uncanniness in human, android, and virtual dynamic facial expressions

OBJECTIVE

Uncanniness plays a vital role in interactions with humans and artificial agents. Previous studies have shown that uncanniness is caused by a higher sensitivity to deviation or atypicality in specialized categories, such as faces or facial expressions, marked by configural processing. We hypothesized that asynchrony, understood as a temporal deviation in facial expression, could cause uncanniness in the facial expression. We also hypothesized that the effect of asynchrony could be disrupted through inversion.

RESULTS

Sixty-four participants rated the uncanniness of synchronous or asynchronous dynamic face emotion expressions of human, android, or computer-generated (CG) actors, presented either upright or inverted. Asynchrony vs. synchrony expressions increased uncanniness for all upright expressions except for CG angry expressions. Inverted compared with upright presentations produced less evident asynchrony effects for human angry and android happy expressions. These results suggest that asynchrony can cause dynamic expressions to appear uncanny, which is related to configural processing but different across agents.

Differences in configural processing for human versus android dynamic facial expressions

Humanlike androids can function as social agents in social situations and in experimental research. While some androids can imitate facial emotion expressions, it is unclear whether their expressions tap the same processing mechanisms utilized in human expression processing, for example configural processing. In this study, the effects of global inversion and asynchrony between facial features as configuration manipulations were compared in android and human dynamic emotion expressions. Seventy-five participants rated (1) angry and happy emotion recognition and (2) arousal and valence ratings of upright or inverted, synchronous or asynchronous, android or human agent dynamic emotion expressions. Asynchrony in dynamic expressions significantly decreased all ratings (except valence in angry expressions) in all human expressions, but did not affect android expressions. Inversion did not affect any measures regardless of agent type. These results suggest that dynamic facial expressions are processed in a synchrony-based configural manner for humans, but not for androids.

Modeling Biological Face Recognition with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have become the state-of-the-art computational models of biological object recognition. Their remarkable success has helped vision science break new ground, and recent efforts have started to transfer this achievement to research on biological face recognition. In this regard, face detection can be investigated by comparing face-selective biological neurons and brain areas to artificial neurons and model layers. Similarly, face identification can be examined by comparing in vivo and in silico multidimensional "face spaces." In this review, we summarize the first studies that use DCNNs to model biological face recognition. On the basis of a broad spectrum of behavioral and computational evidence, we conclude that DCNNs are useful models that closely resemble the general hierarchical organization of face recognition in the ventral visual pathway and the core face network. In two exemplary spotlights, we emphasize the unique scientific contributions of these models. First, studies on face detection in DCNNs indicate that elementary face selectivity emerges automatically through feedforward processing even in the absence of visual experience. Second, studies on face identification in DCNNs suggest that identity-specific experience and generative mechanisms facilitate this particular challenge. Taken together, as this novel modeling approach enables close control of predisposition (i.e., architecture) and experience (i.e., training data), it may be suited to inform long-standing debates on the substrates of biological face recognition.

Using representational similarity analysis to reveal category and process specificity in visual object recognition

Cross-condition comparisons on neurodevelopmental conditions are central in neurodiversity research. In the realm of visual perception, the performance of participants with different category-specific disorders such as developmental prosopagnosia (problems with faces) and dyslexia (problems with words) have contributed to understanding of perceptual processes involved in word and face recognition. Alterations in face and word recognition are present in several neurodiverse populations, and improved knowledge about their relationship may increase our understanding of this variability of impairment. The present study investigates organizing principles of visual object processing and their implications for developmental disorders of recognition. Some accounts suggest that distinct mechanisms are responsible for recognizing objects of different categories, while others propose that categories share or even compete for cortical resources. We took an individual differences approach to estimate the relationship between abilities in recognition. Neurotypical participants (N = 97 after outlier exclusion) performed a match-to-sample task with faces, houses, and pseudowords. Either individual features or feature configurations were manipulated. To estimate the separability of visual recognition mechanisms, we used representational similarity analysis (RSA) where correlational matrices for accuracy were compared to predicted data patterns. Recognition abilities separated into face recognition on one hand and house/pseudoword recognition on the other, indicating that face recognition may rely on relatively selective mechanisms in neurotypicals. We also found evidence for a general visual object recognition mechanism, while some combinations of category (faces, houses, words) and processing type (featural, configural) likely rely on additional mechanisms. Developmental conditions may therefore reflect combinations of impaired and intact aspects of specific and general visual object recognition mechanisms, where featural and configural processes for one object category separate from the featural or configural processing of another. More generally, RSA is a promising approach for advancing understanding of neurodiversity, including shared aspects and distinctions between neurodevelopmental conditions of visual recognition.

Electrophysiological Evidence for Interhemispheric Connectivity and Communication in Young Human Infants

Little is known empirically about connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life, and what theoretical opinion exists appears to be at variance with the meager extant anatomical evidence. To shed initial light on the question of interhemispheric connectivity and communication, this study investigated brain correlates of interhemispheric transmission of information in young human infants. We analyzed EEG data from 12 4-month-olds undergoing a face-related oddball ERP protocol. The activity in the contralateral hemisphere differed between odd-same and odd-difference trials, with the odd-different response being weaker than the response during odd-same trials. The infants' contralateral hemisphere "recognized" the odd familiar stimulus and "discriminated" the odd-different one. These findings demonstrate connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life and lead to a better understanding of the functional integrity of the developing human infant brain.

Age differences and brain maturation provide insight into heterogeneous results in autism spectrum disorder

Studies comparing individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to typically developing (TD) individuals have yielded inconsistent results. These inconsistencies reflect, in part, atypical trajectories of development in children and young adults with ASD compared to TD peers. These different trajectories alter group differences between children with and without ASD as they age. This paper first summarizes the disparate trajectories evident in our studies and, upon further investigation, laboratories using the same recruiting source. These studies indicated that cognition improves into adulthood typically, and is associated with the maturation of striatal, frontal, and temporal lobes, but these age-related improvements did not emerge in the young adults with ASD. This pattern - of improvement into adulthood in the TD group but not in the group with ASD - occurred in both social and non-social tasks. However, the difference between TD and ASD trajectories was most robust on a social task, face recognition. While tempting to ascribe this uneven deficit to the social differences in ASD, it may also reflect the prolonged typical development of social cognitive tasks such as face recognition into adulthood. This paper then reviews the evidence on age-related and developmental changes from other studies on ASD. The broader literature also suggests that individuals with ASD do not exhibit the typical improvements during adolescence on skills important for navigating the transition to adulthood. These skills include execution function, social cognition and communication, and emotional recognition and self-awareness. Relatedly, neuroimaging studies indicate arrested or atypical brain maturation in striatal, frontal, and temporal regions during adolescence in ASD. This review not only highlights the importance of a developmental framework and explicit consideration of age and/or stage when studying ASD, but also the potential importance of adolescence on outcomes in ASD.

Human voices escape the auditory attentional blink: Evidence from detections and pupil responses

Attentional selection of a second target in a rapid stream of stimuli embedding two targets tends to be briefly impaired when two targets are presented in close temporal proximity, an effect known as an attentional blink (AB). Two target sounds (T1 and T2) were embedded in a rapid serial auditory presentation of environmental sounds with a short (Lag 3) or long lag (Lag 9). Participants were to first identify T1 (bell or sine tone) and then to detect T2 (present or absent). Individual stimuli had durations of either 30 or 90 ms, and were presented in streams of 20 sounds. The T2 varied in category: human voice, cello, or dog sound. Previous research has introduced pupillometry as a useful marker of the intensity of cognitive processing and attentional allocation in the visual AB paradigm. Results suggest that the interplay of stimulus factors is critical for target detection accuracy and provides support for the hypothesis that the human voice is the least likely to show an auditory AB (in the 90 ms condition). For the other stimuli, accuracy for T2 was significantly worse at Lag 3 than at Lag 9 in the 90 ms condition, suggesting the presence of an auditory AB. When AB occurred (at Lag 3), we observed smaller pupil dilations, time-locked to the onset of T2, compared to Lag 9, reflecting lower attentional processing when 'blinking' during target detection. Taken together, these findings support the conclusion that human voices escape the AB and that the pupillary changes are consistent with the so-called T2 attentional deficit. In addition, we found some indication that salient stimuli like human voices could require a less intense allocation of attention, or noradrenergic potentiation, compared to other auditory stimuli.

Guiding visual attention in deep convolutional neural networks based on human eye movements

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) were originally inspired by principles of biological vision, have evolved into best current computational models of object recognition, and consequently indicate strong architectural and functional parallelism with the ventral visual pathway throughout comparisons with neuroimaging and neural time series data. As recent advances in deep learning seem to decrease this similarity, computational neuroscience is challenged to reverse-engineer the biological plausibility to obtain useful models. While previous studies have shown that biologically inspired architectures are able to amplify the human-likeness of the models, in this study, we investigate a purely data-driven approach. We use human eye tracking data to directly modify training examples and thereby guide the models’ visual attention during object recognition in natural images either toward or away from the focus of human fixations. We compare and validate different manipulation types (i.e., standard, human-like, and non-human-like attention) through GradCAM saliency maps against human participant eye tracking data. Our results demonstrate that the proposed guided focus manipulation works as intended in the negative direction and non-human-like models focus on significantly dissimilar image parts compared to humans. The observed effects were highly category-specific, enhanced by animacy and face presence, developed only after feedforward processing was completed, and indicated a strong influence on face detection. With this approach, however, no significantly increased human-likeness was found. Possible applications of overt visual attention in DCNNs and further implications for theories of face detection are discussed.

The deviation-from-familiarity effect: Expertise increases uncanniness of deviating exemplars

Humanlike entities deviating from the norm of human appearance are perceived as strange or uncanny. Explanations for the eeriness of deviating humanlike entities include ideas specific to human or animal stimuli like mate selection, avoidance of threat or disease, or dehumanization; however, deviation from highly familiar categories may provide a better explanation. Here it is tested whether experts and novices in a novel (greeble) category show different patterns of abnormality, attractiveness, and uncanniness responses to distorted and averaged greebles. Greeble-trained participants assessed the abnormality, attractiveness, uncanniness of normal, averaged, and distorted greebles and their responses were compared to participants who had not previously seen greebles. The data show that distorted greebles were more uncanny than normal greebles only in the training condition, and distorted greebles were more uncanny in the training compared to the control condition. In addition, averaged greebles were not more attractive than normal greebles regardless of condition. The results suggest uncanniness is elicited by deviations from stimulus categories of expertise rather than being a purely biological human- or animal-specific response.

The uncanniness of written text is explained by configural deviation and not by processing disfluency

Deviating from human norms in human-looking artificial entities can elicit uncanny sensations, described as the uncanny valley. This study investigates in three tasks whether configural deviation in written text also increases uncanniness. It further evaluates whether the uncanniness of text is better explained by perceptual disfluency and especially deviations from specialized categories, or conceptual disfluency caused by ambiguity. In the first task, lower sentence readability predicted uncanniness, but deviating sentences were more uncanny than typical sentences despite being just as readable. Furthermore, familiarity with a language increased the effect of configural deviation on uncanniness but not the effect of non-configural deviation (blur). In the second and third tasks, semantically ambiguous words and sentences were not uncannier than typical sentences, but deviating, non-ambiguous sentences were. Deviations from categories with specialized processing mechanisms thus better fit the observed results as an explanation of the uncanny valley than ambiguity-based explanations.

Featural and configural processing of faces and houses in matched dyslexic and typical readers

While dyslexia is typically described as a phonological deficit, recent evidence suggests that ventral stream regions, important for visual categorization and object recognition, are hypoactive in dyslexic readers who might accordingly show visual recognition deficits. By manipulating featural and configural information of faces and houses, we investigated whether dyslexic readers are disadvantaged at recognizing certain object classes or using particular visual processing mechanisms. Dyslexic readers found it harder to recognize objects (houses), suggesting that visual problems in dyslexia are not completely domain-specific. Face recognition accuracy was equivalent in the two groups. Lower recognition accuracy for houses was also related to reading difficulties even when accuracy for faces was kept constant, which could indicate a specific relationship between visual word processing and visual processing of non-face objects. Representational similarity analyses (RSA) revealed that featural and configural processes were clearly separable in typical readers, which was not the case for dyslexic readers who appear to rely on a single process. This was not restricted to particular visual categories, occurring for both faces and houses. We speculate that reading deficits in some dyslexic readers reflect their reliance on a single process for object recognition.

Similar use of shape and texture cues for own- and other-race faces during face learning and recognition

Although the other-race effect (ORE; superior recognition of own- relative to other-race faces) is well established, the mechanisms underlying it are not well understood. We examined whether the ORE is attributable to differential use of shape and texture cues for own- vs. other-race faces. Shape cues are particularly important for detecting that an own-race face is unfamiliar, whereas texture cues are more important for recognizing familiar and newly learned own-race faces. We compared the influence of shape and texture cues on Caucasian participants' recognition of Caucasian and East Asian faces using two complementary approaches. In Experiment 1, participants studied veridical, shape-caricatured, or texture-caricatured faces and then were asked to recognize them in an old/new recognition task. In Experiment 2, all study faces were veridical and we independently removed the diagnosticity of shape (or texture) cues in the test phase by replacing original shape (or texture) with average shape (or texture). Despite an overall own-race advantage, participants' use of shape and texture cues was comparable for own- and other-race faces. These results suggest that the other-race effect is not attributable to qualitative differences in the use of shape and texture cues.

Seeing through disguise: Getting to know you with a deep convolutional neural network

People use disguise to look unlike themselves (evasion) or to look like someone else (impersonation). Evasion disguise challenges human ability to see an identity across variable images; Impersonation challenges human ability to tell people apart. Personal familiarity with an individual face helps humans to see through disguise. Here we propose a model of familiarity based on high-level visual learning mechanisms that we tested using a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) trained for face identification. DCNNs generate a face space in which identities and images co-exist in a unified computational framework, that is categorically structured around identity, rather than retinotopy. This allows for simultaneous manipulation of mechanisms that contrast identities and cluster images. In Experiment 1, we measured the DCNN's baseline accuracy (unfamiliar condition) for identification of faces in no disguise and disguise conditions. Disguise affected DCNN performance in much the same way it affects human performance for unfamiliar faces in disguise (cf. Noyes & Jenkins, 2019). In Experiment 2, we simulated familiarity for individual identities by averaging the DCNN-generated representations from multiple images of each identity. Averaging improved DCNN recognition of faces in evasion disguise, but reduced the ability of the DCNN to differentiate identities of similar appearance. In Experiment 3, we implemented a contrast learning technique to simultaneously teach the DCNN appearance variation and identity contrasts between different individuals. This facilitated identification with both evasion and impersonation disguise. Familiar face recognition requires an ability to group images of the same identity together and separate different identities. The deep network provides a high-level visual representation for face recognition that supports both of these mechanisms of face learning simultaneously.

Individual recognition is associated with holistic face processing in Polistes paper wasps in a species-specific way

Most recognition is based on identifying features, but specialization for face recognition in primates relies on a different mechanism, termed 'holistic processing' where facial features are bound together into a gestalt which is more than the sum of its parts. Here, we test whether individual face recognition in paper wasps also involved holistic processing using a modification of the classic part-whole test in two related paper wasp species: Polistes fuscatus, which use facial patterns to individually identify conspecifics, and Polistes dominula, which lacks individual recognition. We show that P. fuscatus use holistic processing to discriminate between P. fuscatus face images but not P. dominula face images. By contrast, P. dominula do not rely on holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific or heterospecific face images. Therefore, P. fuscatus wasps have evolved holistic face processing, but this ability is highly specific and shaped by species-specific and stimulus-specific selective pressures. Convergence towards holistic face processing in distant taxa (primates, wasps) as well as divergence among closely related taxa with different recognition behaviour (P. dominula, P. fuscatus) suggests that holistic processing may be a universal adaptive strategy to facilitate expertise in face recognition.

A developmental investigation of the other-race categorization advantage in a multiracial population: Contrasting social categorization and perceptual expertise accounts

Most prior studies of the other-race categorization advantage have been conducted in predominantly monoracial societies. This limitation has left open the question of whether tendencies to more rapidly and accurately categorize other-race faces reflect social categorization (own-race vs. other-race) or perceptual expertise (frequent exposure vs. infrequent exposure). To address this question, we tested Malay and Malaysian Chinese children (9- and 10-year-olds) and adults on (a) own-race faces (i.e., Malay faces for Malay participants and Chinese faces for Malaysian Chinese participants), (b) high-frequency other-race faces (i.e., Chinese faces for Malay participants and Malay faces for Malaysian Chinese participants), and (c) low-frequency other-race faces (i.e., Caucasian faces). Whereas the other-race categorization advantage was in evidence in the accuracy data of Malay adults, other aspects of performance were supportive of either the social categorization or perceptual expertise accounts and were dependent on the race (Malay vs. Chinese) or age (child vs. adult) of the participants. Of particular significance is the finding that Malaysian Chinese children and adults categorized own-race Chinese faces more rapidly than high-frequency other-race Malay faces. Thus, in accord with a perceptual expertise account, the other-race categorization advantage seems to be more an advantage for racial categories of lesser experience regardless of whether these face categories are own-race or other-race.

Evidence of an Own-Age Bias in Facial Emotion Recognition for Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

A common interpretation of the face-processing deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is that they arise from a failure to develop normative levels of perceptual expertise. One indicator of perceptual expertise for faces is the own-age bias, operationalized as a processing advantage for faces of one's own age, presumably due to more frequent contact and experience. This effect is especially evident in domains of face recognition memory but less commonly investigated in social-emotional expertise (e.g., facial emotion recognition; FER), where individuals with ASD have shown consistent deficits. In the present study, we investigated whether a FER task would elicit an own-age bias for individuals with and without ASD and explored how the magnitude of an own-age bias may differ as a function of ASD status and symptoms. Ninety-two adolescents (63 male) between the ages of 11 and 14 years completed the child- and adult-face subtests of a standardized FER task. Overall FER accuracy was found to differ by ASD severity, reflecting poorer performance for those with increased symptoms. Results also indicated that an own-age bias was evident, reflecting greater FER performance for child compared to adult faces, for all adolescents regardless of ASD status or symptoms. However, the strength of the observed own-age bias did not differ by ASD status or severity. Findings suggest that face processing abilities of adolescents with ASD may be influenced by experience with specific categories of stimuli, similar to their typically developing peers.

Lay Beliefs About Interaction Quality: An Expertise Perspective on Individual Differences in Interpersonal Emotion Ability

Social interactions have long been a source of lay beliefs about the ways in which psychological constructs operate. Some of the most enduring psychological constructs to become common lay beliefs originated from research focused on social-emotional processes. "Emotional intelligence" and "social intelligence" are now mainstream notions, stemming from their appealing nature and depiction in popular media. However, empirical attempts at quantifying the quality of social interactions have not been nearly as successful as measures of individual differences such as social skills, theory of mind, or social/emotional intelligence. The subjective, lay ratings of the quality of interactions by naïve observers are nonetheless consistent both within and between observers. The goal of this paper is to describe recent empirical work surrounding lay beliefs about social interaction quality and ways in which those beliefs can be quantified. We will then argue that these lay impressions formed about the quality of an interaction, perhaps via affect induction, are consistent with an expertise framework. Affect induction, beginning in infancy and occurring over time, creates instances in memory that accumulate and are ultimately measurable as social-emotional expertise (SEE). The ways in which our lay beliefs about social interaction quality fit the definition of expertise, or the automatic, holistic processing of relevant stimuli, will be discussed. We will then describe the promise of future work in this area, with a focus on a) continued delineation of the thoughts, behaviors, and timing of behaviors that lead to high-quality social interactions; and b) the viability of expertise as the conceptual model for individual differences in social-emotional ability.

A Memory Computational Basis for the Other-Race Effect

People often recognize and remember faces of individuals within their own race more easily than those of other races. While behavioral research has long suggested that the Other-Race Effect (ORE) is due to extensive experience with one’s own race group, the neural mechanisms underlying the effect have remained elusive. Predominant theories of the ORE have argued that the effect is mainly caused by processing disparities between same and other-race faces during early stages of perceptual encoding. Our findings support an alternative view that the ORE is additionally shaped by mnemonic processing mechanisms beyond perception and attention. Using a “pattern separation” paradigm based on computational models of episodic memory, we report evidence that the ORE may be driven by differences in successful memory discrimination across races as a function of degree of interference or overlap between face stimuli. In contrast, there were no ORE-related differences on a comparable match-to-sample task with no long-term memory load, suggesting that the effect is not simply attributable to visual and attentional processes. These findings suggest that the ORE may emerge in part due to “tuned” memory mechanisms that may enhance same-race, at the expense of other-race face detection.

A Review of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Studies of Motor and Cognitive Function in Preterm Infants

Preterm infants are vulnerable to brain injuries, and have a greater chance of experiencing neurodevelopmental disorders throughout development. Early screening for motor and cognitive functions is critical to assessing the developmental trajectory in preterm infants, especially those who may have motor or cognitive deficits. The brain imaging technology functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable and low-cost method of assessing cerebral hemodynamics, making it suitable for large-scale use even in remote and underdeveloped areas. In this article, we review peer-reviewed, scientific fNIRS studies of motor performance, speech perception, and facial recognition in preterm infants. fNIRS provides a link between hemodynamic activity and the development of brain functions in preterm infants. Research using fNIRS has shown different patterns of hemoglobin change during some behavioral tasks in early infancy. fNIRS helps to promote our understanding of the developmental mechanisms of brain function in preterm infants when performing motor or cognitive tasks in a less-restricted environment.

Treatment Effects in Social Cognition and Behavior following a Theater-based Intervention for Youth with Autism

This randomized clinical trial ( www.clinicaltrials.gov ID# NCT02276534) examined the impact of a peer-mediated, theater-based social skills intervention, SENSE Theater®, on social cognition and behavior in 77 youth (ages 8-16) with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Analysis of Covariance models revealed that post-treatment, the experimental group (n = 44) performed significantly better than the controls (n = 33) on NEPSY theory of mind (verbal) subtest, demonstrated increased neural evidence of memory for faces, and engaged in more cooperative play and verbal interaction with novel peers. The study extends previous findings showing that SENSE Theater® contributes to improvement in social cognition and behavior.

Rapid Extraction of Emotion Regularities from Complex Scenes in the Human Brain

Adaptive behavior requires the rapid extraction of behaviorally relevant information in the environment, with particular emphasis on emotional cues. However, the speed of emotional feature extraction from complex visual environments is largely undetermined. Here we use objective electrophysiological recordings in combination with frequency tagging to demonstrate that the extraction of emotional information from neutral, pleasant, or unpleasant naturalistic scenes can be completed at a presentation speed of 167 ms (i.e., 6 Hz) under high perceptual load. Emotional compared to neutral pictures evoked enhanced electrophysiological responses with distinct topographical activation patterns originating from different neural sources. Cortical facilitation in early visual cortex was also more pronounced for scenes with pleasant compared to unpleasant or neutral content, suggesting a positivity offset mechanism dominating under conditions of rapid scene processing. These results significantly advance our knowledge of complex scene processing in demonstrating rapid integrative content identification, particularly for emotional cues relevant for adaptive behavior in complex environments.

Individual differences in object recognition

There is substantial evidence for individual differences in personality and cognitive abilities, but we lack clear intuitions about individual differences in visual abilities. Previous work on this topic has typically compared performance with only 2 categories, each measured with only 1 task. This approach is insufficient for demonstration of domain-general effects. Most previous work has used familiar object categories, for which experience may vary between participants and categories, thereby reducing correlations that would stem from a common factor. In Study 1, we adopted a latent variable approach to test for the first time whether there is a domain-general object recognition ability, o. We assessed whether shared variance between latent factors representing performance for each of 5 novel object categories could be accounted for by a single higher-order factor. On average, 89% of the variance of lower-order factors denoting performance on novel object categories could be accounted for by a higher-order factor, providing strong evidence for o. Moreover, o also accounted for a moderate proportion of variance in tests of familiar object recognition. In Study 2, we assessed whether the strong association across categories in object recognition is due to third-variable influences. We find that o has weak to moderate associations with a host of cognitive, perceptual, and personality constructs and that a clear majority of the variance in and covariance between performance on different categories is independent of fluid intelligence. This work provides the first demonstration of a reliable, specific, and domain-general object recognition ability, and suggest a rich framework for future work in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Face Processing in Infancy and Beyond: The Case of Social Categories

Prior reviews of infant face processing have emphasized how infants respond to faces in general. This review highlights how infants come to respond differentially to social categories of faces based on differential experience, with a focus on race and gender. We examine six different behaviors: preference, recognition, scanning, category formation, association with emotion, and selective learning. Although some aspects of infant responding to face race and gender may be accounted for by traditional models of perceptual development, other aspects suggest the need for a broader model that links perceptual development with social and emotional development. We also consider how responding to face race and gender in infancy may presage responding to these categories beyond infancy and discuss how social biases favoring own-race and female faces are formed.

The Fusiform and Occipital Face Areas Can Process a Nonface Category Equivalently to Faces

The fusiform and occipital face areas (FFA and OFA) are functionally defined brain regions in human ventral occipitotemporal cortex associated with face perception. There is an ongoing debate, however, whether these regions are face-specific or whether they also facilitate the perception of nonface object categories. Here, we present evidence that, under certain conditions, bilateral FFA and OFA respond to a nonface category equivalently to faces. In two fMRI sessions, participants performed same–different judgments on two object categories (faces and chairs). In one session, participants differentiated between distinct exemplars of each category, and in the other session, participants differentiated between exemplars that differed only in the shape or spatial configuration of their features (featural/configural differences). During the latter session, the within-category similarity was comparable for both object categories. When differentiating between distinct exemplars of each category, bilateral FFA and OFA responded more strongly to faces than to chairs. In contrast, during featural/configural difference judgments, bilateral FFA and OFA responded equivalently to both object categories. Importantly, during featural/configural difference judgments, the magnitude of activity within FFA and OFA evoked by the chair task predicted the participants' behavioral performance. In contrast, when participants differentiated between distinct chair exemplars, activity within these face regions did not predict the behavioral performance of the chair task. We conclude that, when the within-category similarity of a face and a nonface category is comparable and when the same cognitive strategies used to process a face are applied to a nonface category, the FFA and OFA respond equivalently to that nonface category and faces.

How faces (and cars) may become special

Recent reports have shown that individuals from small hometowns show relatively poor face recognition ability as measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test or CFMT (Balas & Saville, 2015, 2017), suggesting that the number of faces present in an individual's visual environment relates to that individual's face recognition ability. We replicate this finding in a sample from a different region (Nebraska) and with more variable age distribution. We extend the study by using another test of face recognition ability that does not require learning over trials, and with non-face object recognition tests that share the learning format with the CFMT. We find no hometown effect in these other tests, although more power would be required to show the CFMT effect is significantly larger. We use the same dataset to explore whether experience with more faces and cars in larger hometowns leads to specialization of these abilities. We find strong and substantial support for the hypothesis that the recognition abilities for faces and for cars are more independent from general object recognition in people from larger hometowns. This suggests that experience may be critical to the specialization of these abilities.

The Development of Attentional Biases for Faces in Infancy: A Developmental Systems Perspective

We present an integrative review of research and theory on major factors involved in the early development of attentional biases to faces. Research utilizing behavioral, eye-tracking, and neuroscience measures with infant participants as well as comparative research with animal subjects are reviewed. We begin with coverage of research demonstrating the presence of an attentional bias for faces shortly after birth, such as newborn infants' visual preference for face-like over non-face stimuli. The role of experience and the process of perceptual narrowing in face processing are examined as infants begin to demonstrate enhanced behavioral and neural responsiveness to mother over stranger, female over male, own- over other-race, and native over non-native faces. Next, we cover research on developmental change in infants' neural responsiveness to faces in multimodal contexts, such as audiovisual speech. We also explore the potential influence of arousal and attention on early perceptual preferences for faces. Lastly, the potential influence of the development of attention systems in the brain on social-cognitive processing is discussed. In conclusion, we interpret the findings under the framework of Developmental Systems Theory, emphasizing the combined and distributed influence of several factors, both internal (e.g., arousal, neural development) and external (e.g., early social experience) to the developing child, in the emergence of attentional biases that lead to enhanced responsiveness and processing of faces commonly encountered in the native environment.

Effects of Early Neglect Experience on Recognition and Processing of Facial Expressions: A Systematic Review

Background: Child neglect is highly prevalent and associated with a series of biological and social consequences. Early neglect may alter the recognition of emotional faces, but its precise impact remains unclear. We aim to review and analyze data from recent literature about recognition and processing of facial expressions in individuals with history of childhood neglect. Methods: We conducted a systematic review using PubMed, PsycINFO, ScIELO and EMBASE databases in the search of studies for the past 10 years. Results: In total, 14 studies were selected and critically reviewed. A heterogeneity was detected across methods and sample frames. Results were mixed across studies. Different forms of alterations to perception of facial expressions were found across 12 studies. There was alteration to the recognition and processing of both positive and negative emotions, but for emotional face processing there was predominance in alteration toward negative emotions. Conclusions: This is the first review to examine specifically the effects of early neglect experience as a prevalent condition of child maltreatment. The results of this review are inconclusive due to methodological diversity, implement of distinct instruments and differences in the composition of the samples. Despite these limitations, some studies support our hypothesis that individuals with history of early negligence may present alteration to the ability to perceive face expressions of emotions. The article brings relevant information that can help in the development of more effective therapeutic strategies to reduce the impact of neglect on the cognitive and emotional development of the child.

Face perception and learning in autism spectrum disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairment in social communication and restricted and repetitive interests. While not included in the diagnostic characterization, aspects of face processing and learning have shown disruptions at all stages of development in ASD, although the exact nature and extent of the impairment vary by age and level of functioning of the ASD sample as well as by task demands. In this review, we examine the nature of face attention, perception, and learning in individuals with ASD focusing on three broad age ranges (early development, middle childhood, and adolescence/adulthood). We propose that early delays in basic face processing contribute to the atypical trajectory of social communicative skills in individuals with ASD and contribute to poor social learning throughout development. Face learning is a life-long necessity, as the social world of individual only broadens with age, and thus addressing both the source of the impairment in ASD as well as the trajectory of ability throughout the lifespan, through targeted treatments, may serve to positively impact the lives of individuals who struggle with social information and understanding.

Development of Effective Connectivity during Own- and Other-Race Face Processing: A Granger Causality Analysis

Numerous developmental studies have suggested that other-race effect (ORE) in face recognition emerges as early as in infancy and develops steadily throughout childhood. However, there is very limited research on the neural mechanisms underlying this developmental ORE. The present study used Granger causality analysis (GCA) to examine the development of children's cortical networks in processing own- and other-race faces. Children were between 3 and 13 years. An old-new paradigm was used to assess their own- and other-race face recognition with ETG-4000 (Hitachi Medical Co., Japan) acquiring functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data. After preprocessing, for each participant and under each face condition, we obtained the causal map by calculating the weights of causal relations between the time courses of [oxy-Hb] of each pair of channels using GCA. To investigate further the differential causal connectivity for own-race faces and other-race faces at the group level, a repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the GCA weights for each pair of channels with the face race task (own-race face vs. other-race face) as the within-subject variable and the age as a between-subject factor (continuous variable). We found an age-related increase in functional connectivity, paralleling a similar age-related improvement in behavioral face processing ability. More importantly, we found that the significant differences in neural functional connectivity between the recognition of own-race faces and that of other-race faces were modulated by age. Thus, like the behavioral ORE, the neural ORE emerges early and undergoes a protracted developmental course.

Maternal parenting behavior and emotion processing in adolescents-An fMRI study

Parenting is an essential factor within a child's development, yet the impact of normative variations of parenting on neural emotion processing has not been studied to date. The present study investigated 83 healthy adolescents using functional magnetic resonance imaging and an emotional face-matching paradigm. The faces paradigm elicited an increased amygdala response towards negative facial expressions (fearful and angry each compared to neutral faces) and a significant activation of fusiform gyrus to all emotions separately (fearful, happy, angry faces) compared to neutral faces. Moreover, we investigated associations between neural responses towards emotional faces and mother's parenting behavior (maternal warmth and support, psychological pressure and control behavior). High maternal warmth and support correlated with lower activation to fearful faces in the amygdala. Maternal supportive rather than control behavior seems to have an impact on neural emotion processing, which could also be the key factor for brain functional abnormalities in maltreated children. These results expand existent findings in maltreated children to healthy populations.

Many faces, one rule: the role of perceptual expertise in infants' sequential rule learning

Rule learning is a mechanism that allows infants to recognize and generalize rule-like patterns, such as ABB or ABA. Although infants are better at learning rules from speech vs. non-speech, rule learning can be applied also to frequently experienced visual stimuli, suggesting that perceptual expertise with material to be learned is critical in enhancing rule learning abilities. Yet infants' rule learning has never been investigated using one of the most commonly experienced visual stimulus category available in infants' environment, i.e., faces. Here, we investigate 7-month-olds' ability to extract rule-like patterns from sequences composed of upright faces and compared their results to those of infants who viewed inverted faces, which presumably are encountered far less frequently than upright faces. Infants were habituated with face triads in either an ABA or ABB condition followed by a test phase with ABA and ABB triads composed of faces that differed from those showed during habituation. When upright faces were used, infants generalized the pattern presented during habituation to include the new face identities showed during testing, but when inverted faces were presented, infants failed to extract the rule. This finding supports the idea that perceptual expertise can modulate 7-month-olds' abilities to detect rule-like patterns.

Developmental changes in analytic and holistic processes in face perception

Although infants demonstrate sensitivity to some kinds of perceptual information in faces, many face capacities continue to develop throughout childhood. One debate is the degree to which children perceive faces analytically versus holistically and how these processes undergo developmental change. In the present study, school-aged children and adults performed a perceptual matching task with upright and inverted face and house pairs that varied in similarity of featural or 2(nd) order configural information. Holistic processing was operationalized as the degree of serial processing when discriminating faces and houses [i.e., increased reaction time (RT), as more features or spacing relations were shared between stimuli]. Analytical processing was operationalized as the degree of parallel processing (or no change in RT as a function of greater similarity of features or spatial relations). Adults showed the most evidence for holistic processing (most strongly for 2(nd) order faces) and holistic processing was weaker for inverted faces and houses. Younger children (6-8 years), in contrast, showed analytical processing across all experimental manipulations. Older children (9-11 years) showed an intermediate pattern with a trend toward holistic processing of 2(nd) order faces like adults, but parallel processing in other experimental conditions like younger children. These findings indicate that holistic face representations emerge around 10 years of age. In adults both 2(nd) order and featural information are incorporated into holistic representations, whereas older children only incorporate 2(nd) order information. Holistic processing was not evident in younger children. Hence, the development of holistic face representations relies on 2(nd) order processing initially then incorporates featural information by adulthood.

What is special about expertise? Visual expertise reveals the interactive nature of real-world object recognition

Ever since Diamond and Carey (1986. J. Exp. Psychol.: Gen., vol. 115, pp. 107-117) seminal work, the main model for studying expertise in visual object recognition ("visual expertise") has been face perception. The underlying assumption was that since faces may be considered the ultimate domain of visual expertise, any face-processing signature might actually be a general characteristic of visual expertise. However, while humans are clearly experts in face recognition, visual expertise is not restricted to faces and can be observed in a variety of domains. This raises the question of whether face recognition is in fact the right model to study visual expertise, and if not, what are the common cognitive and neural characteristics of visual expertise. The current perspective article addresses this question by revisiting past and recent neuroimaging and behavioural works on visual expertise. The view of visual expertise that emerges from these works is that expertise is a unique phenomenon, with distinctive neural and cognitive characteristics. Specifically, visual expertise is a controlled, interactive process that develops from the reciprocal interactions between the visual system and multiple top-down factors, including semantic knowledge, top-down attentional control, and task relevance. These interactions enable the ability to flexibly access domain-specific information at multiple scales and levels guided by multiple recognition goals. Extensive visual experience with a given object category culminates in the recruitment of these multiple systems, and is reflected in widespread neural activity, extending well beyond visual cortex, to include higher-level cortical areas.

Development of effective connectivity in the core network for face perception

This study measured effective connectivity within the core face network in young children using a paediatric magnetoencephalograph (MEG). Dynamic casual modeling (DCM) of brain responses was performed in a group of adults (N = 14) and a group of young children aged from 3 to 6 years (N = 15). Three candidate DCM models were tested, and the fits of the MEG data to the three models were compared at both individual and group levels. The results show that the connectivity structure of the core face network differs significantly between adults and children. Further, the relative strengths of face network connections were differentially modulated by experimental conditions in the two groups. These results support the interpretation that the core face network undergoes significant structural configuration and functional specialization between four years of age and adulthood.

The alien in the forest OR when temporal context dominates perception

Some German hunters came up with pictures taken from a wildlife camera and showing a strange humanoid-like object of about 10 cm size. Its puzzling appearance and a remarkable absence of wildlife in that area after its occurrence triggered paranormal explanations. After reexamination of the pictures, we found a more plausible conventional explanation. This case study serves as an interesting real-world example for the constructive nature of human perception. We discuss how the perceptual system uses spatial and temporal/memory factors to disambiguate ambiguous and restricted sensory information.

Parallel processing of face and house stimuli by V1 and specialized visual areas: a magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study

We used easily distinguishable stimuli of faces and houses constituted from straight lines, with the aim of learning whether they activate V1 on the one hand, and the specialized areas that are critical for the processing of faces and houses on the other, with similar latencies. Eighteen subjects took part in the experiment, which used magnetoencephalography (MEG) coupled to analytical methods to detect the time course of the earliest responses which these stimuli provoke in these cortical areas. Both categories of stimuli activated V1 and areas of the visual cortex outside it at around 40 ms after stimulus onset, and the amplitude elicited by face stimuli was significantly larger than that elicited by house stimuli. These results suggest that “low-level” and “high-level” features of form stimuli are processed in parallel by V1 and visual areas outside it. Taken together with our previous results on the processing of simple geometric forms (Shgihara and Zeki, 2013; Shigihara and Zeki, 2014), the present ones reinforce the conclusion that parallel processing is an important component in the strategy used by the brain to process and construct forms.

The two-process theory of face processing: modifications based on two decades of data from infants and adults

Johnson and Morton (1991. Biology and Cognitive Development: The Case of Face Recognition. Blackwell, Oxford) used Gabriel Horn's work on the filial imprinting model to inspire a two-process theory of the development of face processing in humans. In this paper we review evidence accrued over the past two decades from infants and adults, and from other primates, that informs this two-process model. While work with newborns and infants has been broadly consistent with predictions from the model, further refinements and questions have been raised. With regard to adults, we discuss more recent evidence on the extension of the model to eye contact detection, and to subcortical face processing, reviewing functional imaging and patient studies. We conclude with discussion of outstanding caveats and future directions of research in this field.

Childhood cognitive development as a skill

Theories view childhood development as being either driven by structural maturation of the brain or being driven by skill-learning. It is hypothesized here that working memory (WM) development during childhood is partly driven by training effects in the environment, and that similar neural mechanisms underlie training-induced plasticity and childhood development. In particular, the functional connectivity of a fronto-parietal network is suggested to be associated with WM capacity. The striatum, dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) activity, and corticostriatal white-matter tracts, on the other hand, seem to be more important for plasticity and change of WM capacity during both training and development. In this view, the development of WM capacity during childhood partly involves the same mechanisms as skill-learning.