Perception of an ambiguous figure is affected by own-age social biases

Intact face detection in young patients with major depressive disorder revealed by the face-specific N170 component

It is unclear whether the face perceptual processing, especially the perceptual computation in early stages of processing faces, impaired in young patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). In this study, the face perception was investigated by analyzing the early ERP components in response to upright and inverted faces versus objects. Across all conditions, both the P1 and the N170 components were similar in MDD patients versus in the controls, regardless of latencies or amplitudes. Faces elicited larger N170 than objects (N170 face effect) and inverted faces elicited higher and delayed N170 (N170 inversion effect); however, none of these effects were modulated by depression. These findings suggest that there is intact perceptual mechanism of processing faces in young MDD patients, relying primarily on global/configural information versus non-face objects.

The effect of age on the early stage of face perception in depressed patients: An ERP study

The aim of the present study was to investigate the age effect on face perceptual processing in MDD patients by analyzing the N170 component in response to faces and objects presented in upright and inverted conditions. For controls, although the N170 amplitude, overall, did not differ between young and middle-aged participants, the size of N170 inversion effect was larger for young than for middle-aged controls, but the N170 face effect was not influenced by age. For young participants, MDD patients showed N170 amplitude similar to controls and neither the N170 face effect nor the N170 inversion effect were influenced by depression. For middle-aged participants, MDD patients revealed larger N170 than did controls, and both the size of N170 inversion effect and the N170 face effect were larger for MDD patients than controls. These data indicate that, at least at the early stage of face perception, there is altered face perception in middle-aged but not in young MDD patients. This research could provide new evidence for clinical assessment of cognitive function in MDD patients.

Age biases the judgment rather than the perception of an ambiguous figure

Older participants who are briefly presented with the ‘my wife/mother-in-law’ ambiguous figure estimate its age to be higher than young participants do. This finding is thought to be the result of a subconscious social group bias that influences participants’ perception of the figure. Because people are better able to recognize similarly aged individuals, young participants are expected to perceive the ambiguous figure as a young woman, while older participants are more likely to recognize an older lady. We replicate the difference in age estimates, but find no relationship between participants’ age and their perception of the ambiguous figure. This leads us to conclude that the positive relationship between participants’ age and their age estimates of the ambiguous ‘my wife/mother-in-law’ figure is better explained by the own-age anchor effect, which holds that people use their own age as a yard stick to judge the age of the figure, regardless of whether the young woman or the older lady is perceived. Our results disqualify the original finding as an example of cognitive penetrability: the participants’ age biases their judgment of the ambiguous figure, not its perception.