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Wong HK, Estudillo AJ, Stephen ID, Keeble DRT. The other-race effect and holistic processing across racial groups. Sci Rep 2021; 11:8507. [PMID: 33875735 PMCID: PMC8055977 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87933-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
It is widely accepted that holistic processing is important for face perception. However, it remains unclear whether the other-race effect (ORE) (i.e. superior recognition for own-race faces) arises from reduced holistic processing of other-race faces. To address this issue, we adopted a cross-cultural design where Malaysian Chinese, African, European Caucasian and Australian Caucasian participants performed four different tasks: (1) yes-no face recognition, (2) composite, (3) whole-part and (4) global-local tasks. Each face task was completed with unfamiliar own- and other-race faces. Results showed a pronounced ORE in the face recognition task. Both composite-face and whole-part effects were found; however, these holistic effects did not appear to be stronger for other-race faces than for own-race faces. In the global-local task, Malaysian Chinese and African participants demonstrated a stronger global processing bias compared to both European- and Australian-Caucasian participants. Importantly, we found little or no cross-task correlation between any of the holistic processing measures and face recognition ability. Overall, our findings cast doubt on the prevailing account that the ORE in face recognition is due to reduced holistic processing in other-race faces. Further studies should adopt an interactionist approach taking into account cultural, motivational, and socio-cognitive factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hoo Keat Wong
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia.
| | - Alejandro J Estudillo
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Dorset, UK
| | - Ian D Stephen
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Australia
- Perception in Action Research Centre, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Australia
| | - David R T Keeble
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
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2
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Expertise for conspecific face individuation in the human brain. Neuroimage 2020; 204:116218. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Revised: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
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3
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Mathewson KJ, Maurer D, Mondloch CJ, Saigal S, Van Lieshout RJ, Schmidt LA. Visual configural processing in adults born at extremely low birth weight. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12890. [PMID: 31350857 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2018] [Revised: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Being born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤1,000 g) is associated with enduring visual impairments. We tested for long-term, higher order visual processing problems in the oldest known prospectively followed cohort of ELBW survivors. Configural processing (spacing among features of an object) was examined in 62 adults born at ELBW (Mage = 31.9 years) and 82 adults born at normal birth weight (NBW; ≥2,500 g: Mage = 32.5 years). Pairs of human faces, monkey faces, or houses were presented in a delayed match-to-sample task, where non-matching stimuli differed only in the spacing of their features. Discrimination accuracy for each stimulus type was compared between birth weight groups, adjusting for neurosensory impairment, visual acuity, binocular fusion ability, IQ, and sex. Both groups were better able to discriminate human faces than monkey faces (p < .001). However, the ELBW group discriminated between human faces (p < .001), between monkey faces (p < .001), and to some degree, between houses (p < .06), more poorly than NBW control participants, suggesting a general deficit in perceptual processing. Human face discrimination was related to performance IQ (PIQ) across groups, but especially among ELBW survivors. Coding (a PIQ subtest) also predicted human face discrimination in ELBW survivors, consistent with previously reported links between visuo-perceptive difficulties and regional slowing of cortical activity in individuals born preterm. Correlations with Coding suggested ELBW survivors may have used a feature-matching approach to processing human faces. Future studies could examine brain-based anatomical and functional evidence for altered face processing, as well as the social and memory consequences of face-processing deficits in ELBW survivors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen J Mathewson
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Daphne Maurer
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | | | - Saroj Saigal
- Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Ryan J Van Lieshout
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Louis A Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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4
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Young SG, Goldberg MH, Rydell RJ, Hugenberg K. Trait Anthropomorphism Predicts Ascribing Human Traits to Upright But Not Inverted Chimpanzee Faces. SOCIAL COGNITION 2019. [DOI: 10.1521/soco.2019.37.2.105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Rádlová S, Landová E, Frynta D. Judging Others by Your Own Standards: Attractiveness of Primate Faces as Seen by Human Respondents. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2439. [PMID: 30618913 PMCID: PMC6297365 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 11/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The aspects of facial attractiveness have been widely studied, especially within the context of evolutionary psychology, which proposes that aesthetic judgements of human faces are shaped by biologically based standards of beauty reflecting the mate quality. However, the faces of primates, who are very similar to us yet still considered non-human, remain neglected. In this paper, we aimed to study the facial attractiveness of non-human primates as judged by human respondents. We asked 286 Czech respondents to score photos of 107 primate species according to their perceived "beauty." Then, we analyzed factors affecting the scores including morphology, colors, and human-likeness. We found that the three main primate groups were each scored using different cues. The proportions of inner facial features and distinctiveness are cues widely reported to affect human facial attractiveness. Interestingly, we found that these factors also affected the attractiveness scores of primate faces, but only within the Catarrhines, i.e., the primate group most similar to humans. Within this group, human-likeness positively affected the attractiveness scores, and facial extremities such as a prolonged nose or exaggerated cheeks were considered the least attractive. On the contrary, the least human-like prosimians were scored as the most attractive group. The results are discussed in the context of the "uncanny valley," the widely discussed empirical rule.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Daniel Frynta
- RP3 Applied Neurosciences and Brain Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czechia
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6
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Li C, Li Q, Wang J, Cao X. Left-Side Bias Is Observed in Sequential Matching Paradigm for Face Processing. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2005. [PMID: 30405491 PMCID: PMC6204458 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The left-side bias refers to how a chimeric face is created from the left side of a face (from the viewer’s perspective) and its mirror image are considered more similar to the original face than a chimeric face created from the right side of the same face and its mirror image. Previous studies investigated the left-side bias by using the chimeric stimuli task, where the original face and chimeric face were presented simultaneously. However, it remains unclear whether left-side bias effect is observed when the original face and chimeric face are presented sequentially. We completed two experiments using the sequential matching paradigm to investigate this issue. The results from both Experiment 1 and 2 showed that participants judged the identical proportion of the left chimeric face and original face was significantly higher than that of the right chimeric face and original face, which implies that the left-side bias effect can be observed in the sequential matching paradigm for face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenglin Li
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Qinglan Li
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Jianping Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Xiaohua Cao
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
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7
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Balas B, Pacella J. Trustworthiness perception is disrupted in artificial faces. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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8
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Balas B, van Lamsweerde AE, Auen A, Saville A. The Impact of Face Inversion on Animacy Categorization. Iperception 2017; 8:2041669517723653. [PMID: 28835814 PMCID: PMC5555512 DOI: 10.1177/2041669517723653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Face animacy perception is categorical: Gradual changes in the real/artificial appearance of a face lead to nonlinear behavioral responses. Neural markers of face processing are also sensitive to face animacy, further suggesting that these are meaningful perceptual categories. Artificial faces also appear to be an “out-group” relative to real faces such that behavioral markers of expert-level processing are less evident with artificial faces than real ones. In the current study, we examined how categorical processing of real versus doll faces was impacted by the face inversion effect, which is one of the most robust markers of expert face processing. We examined how explicit categorization of faces drawn from a real/doll morph continuum was affected by face inversion (Experiment 1) and also how the response properties of the N170 were impacted by face animacy and inversion. We found that inversion does not change the position or steepness of the category boundary measured behaviorally. Further, neural markers of face processing are equally impacted by inversion regardless of whether they are elicited by real faces or doll faces. On balance, our results indicate that inversion has a limited impact on the categorical perception of face animacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
| | | | - Amanda Auen
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
| | - Alyson Saville
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
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9
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Abstract
Observers interact with artificial faces in a range of different settings and in many cases must remember and identify computer-generated faces. In general, however, most adults have heavily biased experience favoring real faces over synthetic faces. It is well known that face recognition abilities are affected by experience such that faces belonging to "out-groups" defined by race or age are more poorly remembered and harder to discriminate from one another than faces belonging to the "in-group." Here, we examine the extent to which artificial faces form an "out-group" in this sense when other perceptual categories are matched. We rendered synthetic faces using photographs of real human faces and compared performance in a memory task and a discrimination task across real and artificial versions of the same faces. We found that real faces were easier to remember, but only slightly more discriminable than artificial faces. Artificial faces were also equally susceptible to the well-known face inversion effect, suggesting that while these patterns are still processed by the human visual system in a face-like manner, artificial appearance does compromise the efficiency of face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Psychology Department, Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
| | - Jonathan Pacella
- Psychology Department, Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
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11
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Meinhardt G, Meinhardt-Injac B, Persike M. The complete design in the composite face paradigm: role of response bias, target certainty, and feedback. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:885. [PMID: 25400573 PMCID: PMC4215786 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2014] [Accepted: 10/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Some years ago an improved design (the “complete design”) was proposed to assess the composite face effect in terms of a congruency effect, defined as the performance difference for congruent and incongruent target to no-target relationships (Cheung et al., 2008). In a recent paper Rossion (2013) questioned whether the congruency effect was a valid hallmark of perceptual integration, because it may contain confounds with face-unspecific interference effects. Here we argue that the complete design is well-balanced and allows one to separate face-specific from face-unspecific effects. We used the complete design for a same/different composite stimulus matching task with face and non-face objects (watches). Subjects performed the task with and without trial-by-trial feedback, and with low and high certainty about the target half. Results showed large congruency effects for faces, particularly when subjects were informed late in the trial about which face halves had to be matched. Analysis of response bias revealed that subjects preferred the “different” response in incongruent trials, which is expected when upper and lower face halves are integrated perceptually at the encoding stage. The results pattern was observed in the absence of feedback, while providing feedback generally attenuated the congruency effect, and led to an avoidance of response bias. For watches no or marginal congruency effects and a moderate global “same” bias were observed. We conclude that the congruency effect, when complemented by an evaluation of response bias, is a valid hallmark of feature integration that allows one to separate faces from non-face objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Günter Meinhardt
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Malte Persike
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Mainz, Germany
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12
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Grady CL, Mondloch CJ, Lewis TL, Maurer D. Early visual deprivation from congenital cataracts disrupts activity and functional connectivity in the face network. Neuropsychologia 2014; 57:122-39. [PMID: 24657305 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2013] [Revised: 03/09/2014] [Accepted: 03/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The development of the face-processing network has been examined with functional neuroimaging, but the effect of visual deprivation early in life on this network is not known. We examined this question in a group of young adults who had been born with dense, central cataracts in both eyes that blocked all visual input to the retina until the cataracts were removed during infancy. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine regions in the "core" and "extended" face networks as participants viewed faces and other objects, and performed a face discrimination task. This task required matching faces on the basis of facial features or on the spacing between the facial features. The Cataract group (a) had reduced discrimination performance on the Spacing task relative to Controls; (b) used the same brain regions as Controls when passively viewing faces or making judgments about faces, but showed reduced activation during passive viewing of faces, especially in extended face-network regions; and (c) unlike Controls, showed activation in face-network regions for objects. In addition, the functional connections of the fusiform gyri with the rest of the face network were altered, and these brain changes were related to Cataract participants' performance on the face discrimination task. These results provide evidence that early visual input is necessary to set up or preserve activity and functional connectivity in the face-processing network that will later mediate expert face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl L Grady
- Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | | | - Terri L Lewis
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daphne Maurer
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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13
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Simpson EA, Jakobsen KV, Fragaszy DM, Okada K, Frick JE. The development of facial identity discrimination through learned attention. Dev Psychobiol 2014; 56:1083-101. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.21194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2013] [Accepted: 12/06/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Simpson
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze; Università di Parma; Parma Italy
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Dickerson MD 20842
| | | | | | - Kazunori Okada
- Computer Science Department; San Francisco State University; San Francisco CA
| | - Janet E. Frick
- Department of Psychology; University of Georgia; Athens GA
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14
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Balas B, Stevenson K. Children's neural response to contrast-negated faces is species specific. J Exp Child Psychol 2013; 119:73-86. [PMID: 24309247 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2013] [Revised: 10/15/2013] [Accepted: 10/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Face recognition abilities develop dramatically during the first year of life, but comparatively little is known about the nature of face-specific perceptual development during early childhood. Face-specific effects of image appearance on recognition, including face inversion and contrast negation, are a useful means of understanding the functional properties of face perception developmentally. Here, we examined the generality of the impact of contrast negation on face perception during early childhood using event-related potentials (ERPs). Specifically, we recorded continuous electroencephalography (EEG) while adult participants and children between 4 and 6 years of age viewed human and non-human primate faces presented in either positive or negative contrast. We examined both the P100 and N170 components to determine whether or not sensitivity to contrast polarity was evident in face-sensitive components during early childhood and also whether or not that sensitivity was specific to species category. We found evidence of a species-specific effect of contrast negation at the N170, suggesting that by early childhood some aspects of face-specific processing have been restricted to a relatively narrow class of face stimuli. However, this effect is of the opposite sign relative to adults, suggesting that there is continued maturation of face-specific processing during childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.
| | - Kate Stevenson
- Department of Psychology, Concordia College, Moorhead, MN 56562, USA
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15
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Balas B, Stevenson K. Species-specific effects of pigmentation negation on the neural response to faces. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:1794-801. [PMID: 23792327 PMCID: PMC3747782 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2012] [Revised: 04/25/2013] [Accepted: 05/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Face processing is limited in scope as a function of experience - discrimination ability and face-specific behavioral effects are reduced in out-group faces. Nonetheless, other-species faces phylogenetically close to our own may be processed by similar mechanisms as human faces. Presently, we asked whether or not the well-known effect of contrast-negation on face recognition (Galper, 1970) was exclusive to human faces or generalized to monkey faces. Negation disrupts face pigmentation substantially, allowing us to examine species-specific use of surface cues as a function of expertise. We tested adult observers behaviorally and electrophysiologically: participants completed a 4AFC discrimination task subject to manipulations of face species and independent negation of image luminance and image chroma, and the same stimuli were used to collect event-related potentials in a go/no-go task. We predicted that expertise for human faces would lead to larger deleterious effects of negation for human faces in both tasks, reflected in longer RTs for correct responses in the discrimination task and species-specific modulation of the N170 and P200 by contrast-negation. Our results however, indicate that behaviorally, luminance and chroma negation affect discrimination performance in a species-independent manner, while similar effects of contrast-negation effects are evident in each species at different components of the ERP response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.
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16
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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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17
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Abstract
Judging whether a face is real or artificial can be done relatively rapidly and accurately, even when visual information is substantially impoverished. The perception of animacy in the face also has several interesting properties that may reflect both the underlying "tuning" of face space to preferentially represent real face appearance and the diagnosticity of individual features for categorizing faces as animate or inanimate. In the current study, we examined how sex categories interact with animacy perception by separately characterizing animacy judgments as a function of stimulus sex. We find that stimulus sex affects subjective ratings of animacy and sex categorization of real and artificial faces. Specifically, female faces look more artificial and artificial faces look more female. We discuss our results in terms of the ecology of real and artificial faces and the possible role of visual experience with artificial female faces, and the objectification of female faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
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Stein T, Sterzer P, Peelen MV. Privileged detection of conspecifics: Evidence from inversion effects during continuous flash suppression. Cognition 2012; 125:64-79. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2011] [Revised: 05/14/2012] [Accepted: 06/13/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Proops L, McComb K. Cross-modal individual recognition in domestic horses (Equus caballus) extends to familiar humans. Proc Biol Sci 2012; 279:3131-8. [PMID: 22593108 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
It has recently been shown that some non-human animals can cross-modally recognize members of their own taxon. What is unclear is just how plastic this recognition system can be. In this study, we investigate whether an animal, the domestic horse, is capable of spontaneous cross-modal recognition of individuals from a morphologically very different species. We also provide the first insights into how cross-modal identity information is processed by examining whether there are hemispheric biases in this important social skill. In our preferential looking paradigm, subjects were presented with two people and playbacks of their voices to determine whether they were able to match the voice with the person. When presented with familiar handlers subjects could match the specific familiar person with the correct familiar voice. Horses were significantly better at performing the matching task when the congruent person was standing on their right, indicating marked hemispheric specialization (left hemisphere bias) in this ability. These results are the first to demonstrate that cross-modal recognition in animals can extend to individuals from phylogenetically very distant species. They also indicate that processes governed by the left hemisphere are central to the cross-modal matching of visual and auditory information from familiar individuals in a naturalistic setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanne Proops
- Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.
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20
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de Heering A, Wallis J, Maurer D. The Composite-Face Effect Survives Asymmetric Face Distortions. Perception 2012; 41:707-16. [PMID: 23094459 DOI: 10.1068/p7212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
In two experiments, we investigated whether adults use holistic processing even for faces that are grossly distorted because their eyes have been moved asymmetrically to violate the common layout of a face (distorting its first-order relations). To this end we used a compelling demonstration that faces are processed as wholes, the composite-face effect. Specifically, adults judged the similarity of sequentially presented top halves of normal (original condition) and distorted faces with one eye (one-eye condition) or two eyes (two-eyes condition) shifted up by an abnormal amount. Trials were either blocked by type of distortion (experiment 1) or intermixed within the experiment (experiment 2). In both experiments, participants demonstrated a composite-face effect of the same magnitude in the three conditions, a pattern suggesting that they processed holistically even faces whose first-order relations were violated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adélaïde de Heering
- Visual Development Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Jessica Wallis
- Visual Development Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Daphne Maurer
- Visual Development Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
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Jiang F, Blanz V, Rossion B. Holistic processing of shape cues in face identification: Evidence from face inversion, composite faces, and acquired prosopagnosia. VISUAL COGNITION 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2011.604360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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22
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Abstract
The ability to recognize faces is an important socio-cognitive skill that is associated with a number of cognitive specializations in humans. While numerous studies have examined the presence of these specializations in non-human primates, species where face recognition would confer distinct advantages in social situations, results have been mixed. The majority of studies in chimpanzees support homologous face-processing mechanisms with humans, but results from monkey studies appear largely dependent on the type of testing methods used. Studies that employ passive viewing paradigms, like the visual paired comparison task, report evidence of similarities between monkeys and humans, but tasks that use more stringent, operant response tasks, like the matching-to-sample task, often report species differences. Moreover, the data suggest that monkeys may be less sensitive than chimpanzees and humans to the precise spacing of facial features, in addition to the surface-based cues reflected in those features, information that is critical for the representation of individual identity. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the available data from face-processing tasks in non-human primates with the goal of understanding the evolution of this complex cognitive skill.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa A Parr
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, 954 Gatewood Road, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.
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Taubert J, Apthorp D, Aagten-Murphy D, Alais D. The role of holistic processing in face perception: evidence from the face inversion effect. Vision Res 2011; 51:1273-8. [PMID: 21496463 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2011.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2010] [Revised: 03/30/2011] [Accepted: 04/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
A large body of research supports the hypothesis that the human visual system does not process a face as a collection of separable facial features but as an integrated perceptual whole. One common assumption is that we quickly build holistic representations to extract useful second-order information provided by the variation between the faces of different individuals. An alternative account suggests holistic processing is a fast, early grouping process that first serves to distinguish faces from other competing objects. From this perspective, holistic processing is a quick initial response to the first-order information present in every face. To test this hypothesis we developed a novel paradigm for measuring the face inversion effect, a standard marker of holistic face processing, that measures the minimum exposure time required to discriminate between two stimuli. These new data demonstrate that holistic processing operates on whole upright faces, regardless of whether subjects are required to extract first- or second-level information. In light of this, we argue that holistic processing is a general mechanism that may occur at an earlier stage of face perception than individual discrimination to support the rapid detection of face stimuli in everyday visual scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
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Taubert J, Alais D. Identity Aftereffects, but Not Composite Effects, are Contingent on Contrast Polarity. Perception 2011; 40:422-36. [DOI: 10.1068/p6874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
People are very good at discriminating faces despite their gross similarity. Our ability to capitalize on the variance that exists between faces has been attributed to an adaptive face-coding system. Evidence from psychophysical adaptation paradigms has generally supported this view, although results from other paradigms have suggested alternative accounts. The composite face-effect (CFE), for example, has been used to argue that holistic processing supports face discrimination. The question addressed here is whether the notion of holistic processing can be integrated with the notion of an adaptive face-coding system. Experiment 1 clearly demonstrates that the CFE acts on contrast-reversed faces while experiment 2 reveals that face-space adaptation depends on contrast polarity, consistent with previous observations of contrast-reversal impairing discrimination performance. Our results suggest that two popular theoretical frame-works in the face-recognition literature can be integrated, with holistic processing occurring at an earlier stage than face discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - David Alais
- School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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Visual expertise does not predict the composite effect across species: a comparison between spider (Ateles geoffroyi) and rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys. Brain Cogn 2009; 71:187-95. [PMID: 19815323 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2009] [Revised: 08/03/2009] [Accepted: 09/05/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Humans are subject to the composite illusion: two identical top halves of a face are perceived as "different" when they are presented with different bottom halves. This observation suggests that when building a mental representation of a face, the underlying system perceives the whole face, and has difficulty decomposing facial features. We adapted a behavioural task that measures the composite illusion to examine the perception of faces in two nonhuman species. Specifically we had spider (Ateles geoffroyi) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) perform a two-forced choice, match-to-sample task where only the top half of sample was relevant to the task. The results of Experiment 1 show that spider monkeys (N=2) process the faces of familiar species (conspecifics and humans, but not chimpanzees, sheep, or sticks), holistically. The second experiment tested rhesus monkeys (N=7) with the faces of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, sheep, and sticks. Contrary to prediction, there was no evidence of a composite effect in the human (or familiar primate) condition. Instead, we present evidence of a composite illusion in the chimpanzee condition (an unfamiliar primate). Together, these experiments show that visual expertise does not predict the composite effect across the primate order.
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