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Nørkær E, Gobbo S, Roald T, Starrfelt R. Disentangling developmental prosopagnosia: A scoping review of terms, tools and topics. Cortex 2024; 176:161-193. [PMID: 38795651 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/28/2024]
Abstract
The goal of this preregistered scoping review is to create an overview of the research on developmental prosopagnosia (DP). Through analysis of all empirical studies of DP in adults, we investigate 1) how DP is conceptualized and defined, 2) how individuals are classified with DP and 3) which aspects of DP are investigated in the literature. We reviewed 224 peer-reviewed studies of DP. Our analysis of the literature reveals that while DP is predominantly defined as a lifelong face recognition impairment in the absence of acquired brain injury and intellectual/cognitive problems, there is far from consensus on the specifics of the definition with some studies emphasizing e.g., deficits in face perception, discrimination and/or matching as core characteristics of DP. These differences in DP definitions is further reflected in the vast heterogeneity in classification procedures. Only about half of the included studies explicitly state how they classify individuals with DP, and these studies adopt 40 different assessment tools. The two most frequently studied aspects of DP are the role of holistic processing and the specificity of face processing, and alongside a substantial body of neuroimaging studies of DP, this paints a picture of a research field whose scientific interests and aims are rooted in cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience. We argue that these roots - alongside the heterogeneity in DP definition and classification - may have limited the scope and interest of DP research unnecessarily, and we point to new avenues of research for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erling Nørkær
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Silvia Gobbo
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy
| | - Tone Roald
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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2
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Nischal RP, Behrmann M. Developmental emergence of holistic processing in word recognition. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13372. [PMID: 36715650 PMCID: PMC10293114 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Revised: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Holistic processing (HP) of faces refers to the obligatory, simultaneous processing of the parts and their relations, and it emerges over the course of development. HP is manifest in a decrement in the perception of inverted versus upright faces and a reduction in face processing ability when the relations between parts are perturbed. Here, adopting the HP framework for faces, we examined the developmental emergence of HP in another domain for which human adults have expertise, namely, visual word processing. Children, adolescents, and adults performed a lexical decision task and we used two established signatures of HP for faces: the advantage in perception of upright over inverted words and nonwords and the reduced sensitivity to increasing parts (word length). Relative to the other groups, children showed less of an advantage for upright versus inverted trials and lexical decision was more affected by increasing word length. Performance on these HP indices was strongly associated with age and with reading proficiency. Also, the emergence of HP for word perception was not simply a result of improved visual perception over the course of development as no group differences were observed on an object decision task. These results reveal the developmental emergence of HP for orthographic input, and reflect a further instance of experience-dependent tuning of visual perception. These results also add to existing findings on the commonalities of mechanisms of word and face recognition. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Children showed less of an advantage for upright versus inverted trials compared to adolescents and adults. Relative to the other groups, lexical decision in children was more affected by increasing word length. Performance on holistic processing (HP) indices was strongly associated with age and with reading proficiency. HP emergence for word perception was not due to improved visual perception over development as there were no group differences on an object decision task.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marlene Behrmann
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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3
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Is It Just Face Blindness? Exploring Developmental Comorbidity in Individuals with Self-Reported Developmental Prosopagnosia. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12020230. [PMID: 35203993 PMCID: PMC8870183 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12020230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP)—or ‘face blindness’—refers to life-long problems with facial recognition in the absence of brain injury. We know that neurodevelopmental disorders tend to co-occur, and this study aims to explore if individuals with self-reported DP also report indications of other neurodevelopmental disorders, deficits, or conditions (developmental comorbidity). In total, 115 individuals with self-reported DP participated in this online cross-sectional survey. Face recognition impairment was measured with a validated self-report instrument. Indications of difficulties with navigation, math, reading, or spelling were measured with a tailored questionnaire using items from published sources. Additional diagnoses were measured with direct questions. We also included open-ended questions about cognitive strengths and difficulties. Results: Overall, 57% reported at minimum one developmental comorbidity of interest, with most reflecting specific cognitive impairment (e.g., in memory or object recognition) rather than diagnostic categories (e.g., ADHD, dyslexia). Interestingly, many participants reported cognitive skills or strengths within the same domains that others reported impairment, indicating a diverse pattern of cognitive strengths and difficulties in this sample. The frequency and diversity of self-reported developmental comorbidity suggests that face recognition could be important to consider in future investigations of neurodevelopmental comorbidity patterns.
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Corrow SL, Davies-Thompson J, Fletcher K, Hills C, Corrow JC, Barton JJS. Training face perception in developmental prosopagnosia through perceptual learning. Neuropsychologia 2019; 134:107196. [PMID: 31541661 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2018] [Revised: 09/14/2019] [Accepted: 09/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent work has shown that perceptual learning can improve face discrimination in subjects with acquired prosopagnosia. OBJECTIVE In this study, we administered the same program to determine if such training would improve face perception in developmental prosopagnosia. METHOD We trained ten subjects with developmental prosopagnosia for several months with a program that required shape discrimination between morphed facial images, using a staircase procedure to keep training near each subject's perceptual threshold. To promote ecological validity, training progressed from blocks of neutral faces in frontal view through increasing variations in view and expression. Five subjects did 11 weeks of a control television task before training, and the other five were re-assessed for maintenance of benefit 3 months after training. RESULTS Perceptual sensitivity for faces improved after training but did not improve after the control task. Improvement generalized to untrained expressions and views of these faces, and there was some evidence of transfer to new faces. Benefits were maintained over three months. Training also led to improvements on standard neuropsychological tests of short-term familiarity, and some subjects reported positive effects in daily life. CONCLUSION We conclude that perceptual learning can lead to persistent improvements in face discrimination in developmental prosopagnosia. The strong generalization suggests that learning is occurring at the level of three-dimensional representations with some invariance for the dynamic effects of expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherryse L Corrow
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Visual Cognition Laboratory, Psychology Department, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, UK
| | - Jodie Davies-Thompson
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; FaReS (Face Research, Swansea), Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, UK
| | - Kimberley Fletcher
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation TrustUK
| | - Charlotte Hills
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jeffrey C Corrow
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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Abstract
Scientific research involves going beyond the well-trodden and well-tested ideas and theories that form the core of scientific knowledge. During the time scientists are working things out, some results will be right, and others will be wrong. Over time, the right results will emerge. Lisa Randall (Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science, Physics Department, Harvard University) We are grateful to all the commentators for the important and thoughtful comments raised in response to the Geskin and Behrmann (G & B) literature survey. The issues raised in the introduction to this Special Issue and in these commentaries not only address and challenge aspects of the G & B literature review, but contribute perspectives and extensions that go well beyond the scope of the review. As is evident from G & B and from the 13 commentaries, many aspects of congenital prosopagnosia (CP) remain controversial. Adopting the language of the quote above, the intention of the G & B survey, along with the commentaries and this response, is to establish a collaborative process from which the right results (and right theory) will emerge in time. We are grateful to the editor of this Special Issue, Dr. Brad Mahon, for his support and for facilitating this collaborative exchange in Cognitive Neuropsychology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Behrmann
- a Department of Psychology , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA
| | - Jacob Geskin
- a Department of Psychology , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA
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6
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason J S Barton
- a Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Psychology , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , Canada
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7
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Zachariou V, Nikas CV, Safiullah ZN, Gotts SJ, Ungerleider LG. Spatial Mechanisms within the Dorsal Visual Pathway Contribute to the Configural Processing of Faces. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:4124-4138. [PMID: 27522076 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Accepted: 06/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human face recognition is often attributed to configural processing; namely, processing the spatial relationships among the features of a face. If configural processing depends on fine-grained spatial information, do visuospatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to this process? We explored this question in human adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a same-different face detection task. Within localized, spatial-processing regions of the posterior parietal cortex, configural face differences led to significantly stronger activation compared to featural face differences, and the magnitude of this activation correlated with behavioral performance. In addition, detection of configural relative to featural face differences led to significantly stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and the spatial processing regions of the dorsal stream, whereas detection of featural relative to configural face differences led to stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and left FFA. Critically, TMS centered on these parietal regions impaired performance on configural but not featural face difference detections. We conclude that spatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to the configural processing of facial features and, more broadly, that the dorsal stream may contribute to the veridical perception of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christine V Nikas
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH/NIH, Bethesda, MD20892-1366, USA
| | - Zaid N Safiullah
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH/NIH, Bethesda, MD20892-1366, USA
| | - Stephen J Gotts
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH/NIH, Bethesda, MD20892-1366, USA
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8
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Gerlach C, Klargaard SK, Petersen A, Starrfelt R. Delayed processing of global shape information in developmental prosopagnosia. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0189253. [PMID: 29261708 PMCID: PMC5738059 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2017] [Accepted: 11/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is accumulating evidence suggesting that a central deficit in developmental prosopagnosia (DP), a disorder characterized by profound and lifelong difficulties with face recognition, concerns impaired holistic processing. Some of this evidence comes from studies using Navon’s paradigm where individuals with DP show a greater local or reduced global bias compared with controls. However, it has not been established what gives rise to this altered processing bias. Is it a reduced global precedence effect, changes in susceptibility to interference effects or both? By analyzing the performance of 10 individuals with DP in Navon’s paradigm we find evidence of a reduced global precedence effect: The DPs are slower than controls to process global but not local shape information. Importantly, and in contrast to previous studies, we demonstrate that the DPs perform normally in a comprehensive test of visual attention, showing normal: visual short-term memory capacity, speed of visual processing, efficiency of top-down selectivity, and allocation of attentional resources. Hence, we conclude that the reduced global precedence effect reflects a perceptual rather than an attentional deficit. We further show that this reduced global precedence effect correlates both with the DPs’ face recognition abilities, as well as their ability to recognize degraded (non-face) objects. We suggest that the DPs’ impaired performance in all three domains (Navon, face and object recognition) may be related to the same dysfunction; delayed derivation of global relative to local shape information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Gerlach
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- * E-mail:
| | - Solja K. Klargaard
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Anders Petersen
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Randi Starrfelt
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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9
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Abstract
A longstanding controversy concerns the functional organization of high-level vision, and the extent to which the recognition of different classes of visual stimuli engages a single system or multiple independent systems. We examine this in the context of congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a neurodevelopmental disorder in which individuals, without a history of brain damage, are impaired at face recognition. This paper reviews all CP cases from 1976 to 2016, and explores the evidence for the association or dissociation of face and object recognition. Of the 238 CP cases with data permitting a satisfactory evaluation, 80.3% evinced an association between impaired face and object recognition whereas 19.7% evinced a dissociation. We evaluate the strength of the evidence and correlate the face and object recognition behaviour. We consider the implications for theories of functional organization of the visual system, and offer suggestions for further adjudication of the relationship between face and object recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob Geskin
- a Department of Psychology and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA
| | - Marlene Behrmann
- a Department of Psychology and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA
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10
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Utz S, Carbon CC. Is the Thatcher Illusion Modulated by Face Familiarity? Evidence from an Eye Tracking Study. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0163933. [PMID: 27776145 PMCID: PMC5077119 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2015] [Accepted: 09/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Thompson (1980) first detected and described the Thatcher Illusion, where participants instantly perceive an upright face with inverted eyes and mouth as grotesque, but fail to do so when the same face is inverted. One prominent but controversial explanation is that the processing of configural information is disrupted in inverted faces. Studies investigating the Thatcher Illusion either used famous faces or non-famous faces. Highly familiar faces were often thought to be processed in a pronounced configural mode, so they seem ideal candidates to be tested in one Thatcher study against unfamiliar faces–but this has never been addressed so far. In our study, participants evaluated 16 famous and 16 non-famous faces for their grotesqueness. We tested whether familiarity (famous/non-famous faces) modulates reaction times, correctness of grotesqueness assessments (accuracy), and eye movement patterns for the factors orientation (upright/inverted) and Thatcherisation (Thatcherised/non-Thatcherised). On a behavioural level, familiarity effects were only observable via face inversion (higher accuracy and sensitivity for famous compared to non-famous faces) but not via Thatcherisation. Regarding eye movements, however, Thatcherisation influenced the scanning of famous and non-famous faces, for instance, in scanning the mouth region of the presented faces (higher number, duration and dwell time of fixations for famous compared to non-famous faces if Thatcherised). Altogether, famous faces seem to be processed in a more elaborate, more expertise-based way than non-famous faces, whereas non-famous, inverted faces seem to cause difficulties in accurate and sensitive processing. Results are further discussed in the face of existing studies of familiar vs. unfamiliar face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Utz
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Claus-Christian Carbon
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
- Bamberg Graduate School of Affective and Cognitive Sciences (BaGrACS), Bamberg, Germany
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11
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Tanzer M, Weinbach N, Mardo E, Henik A, Avidan G. Phasic alertness enhances processing of face and non-face stimuli in congenital prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 2016; 89:299-308. [PMID: 27364232 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.06.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2015] [Revised: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 06/25/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michal Tanzer
- Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Noam Weinbach
- Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Elite Mardo
- Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Psychology Department, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel
| | - Avishai Henik
- Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
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12
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Little DR, Wang T, Nosofsky RM. Sequence-sensitive exemplar and decision-bound accounts of speeded-classification performance in a modified Garner-tasks paradigm. Cogn Psychol 2016; 89:1-38. [PMID: 27472912 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2016.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2016] [Revised: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 07/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Among the most fundamental results in the area of perceptual classification are the "correlated facilitation" and "filtering interference" effects observed in Garner's (1974) speeded categorization tasks: In the case of integral-dimension stimuli, relative to a control task, single-dimension classification is faster when there is correlated variation along a second dimension, but slower when there is orthogonal variation that cannot be filtered out (e.g., by attention). These fundamental effects may result from participants' use of a trial-by-trial bypass strategy in the control and correlated tasks: The observer changes the previous category response whenever the stimulus changes, and maintains responses if the stimulus repeats. Here we conduct modified versions of the Garner tasks that eliminate the availability of a pure bypass strategy. The fundamental facilitation and interference effects remain, but are still largely explainable in terms of pronounced sequential effects in all tasks. We develop sequence-sensitive versions of exemplar-retrieval and decision-bound models aimed at capturing the detailed, trial-by-trial response-time distribution data. The models combine assumptions involving: (i) strengthened perceptual/memory representations of stimuli that repeat across consecutive trials, and (ii) a bias to change category responses on trials in which the stimulus changes. These models can predict our observed effects and provide a more complete account of the underlying bases of performance in our modified Garner tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tony Wang
- The University of Melbourne, Australia; Brown University, United States
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13
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Pancaroglu R, Hills CS, Sekunova A, Viswanathan J, Duchaine B, Barton JJS. Seeing the eyes in acquired prosopagnosia. Cortex 2016; 81:251-65. [PMID: 27288649 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2015] [Revised: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Case reports have suggested that perception of the eye region may be impaired more than that of other facial regions in acquired prosopagnosia. However, it is unclear how frequently this occurs, whether such impairments are specific to a certain anatomic subtype of prosopagnosia, and whether these impairments are related to changes in the scanning of faces. We studied a large cohort of 11 subjects with this rare disorder, who had a variety of occipitotemporal or anterior temporal lesions, both unilateral and bilateral. Lesions were characterized by functional and structural imaging. Subjects performed a perceptual discrimination test in which they had to discriminate changes in feature position, shape, or external contour. Test conditions were manipulated to stress focused or divided attention across the whole face. In a second experiment we recorded eye movements while subjects performed a face memory task. We found that greater impairment for eye processing was more typical of subjects with occipitotemporal lesions than those with anterior temporal lesions. This eye selectivity was evident for both eye position and shape, with no evidence of an upper/lower difference for external contour. A greater impairment for eye processing was more apparent under attentionally more demanding conditions. Despite these perceptual deficits, most subjects showed a normal tendency to scan the eyes more than the mouth. We conclude that occipitotemporal lesions are associated with a partially selective processing loss for eye information and that this deficit may be linked to loss of the right fusiform face area, which has been shown to have activity patterns that emphasize the eye region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raika Pancaroglu
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | - Charlotte S Hills
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Alla Sekunova
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jayalakshmi Viswanathan
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Brad Duchaine
- Department of Psychology, Dartmouth University, Dartmouth, USA
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology), Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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14
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Esins J, Schultz J, Stemper C, Kennerknecht I, Bülthoff I. Face Perception and Test Reliabilities in Congenital Prosopagnosia in Seven Tests. Iperception 2016; 7:2041669515625797. [PMID: 27482369 PMCID: PMC4954744 DOI: 10.1177/2041669515625797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital prosopagnosia, the innate impairment in recognizing faces, is a very heterogeneous disorder with different phenotypical manifestations. To investigate the nature of prosopagnosia in more detail, we tested 16 prosopagnosics and 21 controls with an extended test battery addressing various aspects of face recognition. Our results show that prosopagnosics exhibited significant impairments in several face recognition tasks: impaired holistic processing (they were tested amongst others with the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)) as well as reduced processing of configural information of faces. This test battery also revealed some new findings. While controls recognized moving faces better than static faces, prosopagnosics did not exhibit this effect. Furthermore, prosopagnosics had significantly impaired gender recognition—which is shown on a groupwise level for the first time in our study. There was no difference between groups in the automatic extraction of face identity information or in object recognition as tested with the Cambridge Car Memory Test. In addition, a methodological analysis of the tests revealed reduced reliability for holistic face processing tests in prosopagnosics. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that prosopagnosics showed a significantly reduced reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) in the CFMT compared to the controls. We suggest that compensatory strategies employed by the prosopagnosics might be the cause for the vast variety of response patterns revealed by the reduced test reliability. This finding raises the question whether classical face tests measure the same perceptual processes in controls and prosopagnosics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janina Esins
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Claudia Stemper
- Institute of Human Genetics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Ingo Kennerknecht
- Institute of Human Genetics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
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15
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Abstract
Using the Garner speeded classification task, Amishav and Kimchi (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 743-748, 2010) found that participants could selectively attend to face features: Classifying faces based on the shape of the eyes was not influenced by task-irrelevant variation in the shape of the mouth, and vice versa. This result contrasts with a large body of work using another selective attention task, the composite task, in which participants are unable to selectively attend to face parts: Same/different judgments for one-half of a composite face are influenced by the same/different status of the task-irrelevant half of that composite face. In Amishav and Kimchi, faces all shared a common configuration of face features. By contrast, configuration is typically never controlled in the composite task. We asked whether failures of selective attention observed in the composite task are caused by faces varying in both features and configuration. In two experiments, we found that participants exhibited failures of selective attention to face parts in the composite task even when configuration was held constant, which is inconsistent with Amishav and Kimchi's conclusion that face features can be processed independently unless configuration varies. Although both measure failures of selective attention, the Garner task and composite task appear to measure different mechanisms involved in holistic face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer J Richler
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, PMB 407817, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37240-7817, USA,
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16
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Alonso-Prieto E, Oruç I, Rubino C, Zhu M, Handy T, Barton JJS. Interactions between the perception of age and ethnicity in faces: an event-related potential study. Cogn Neuropsychol 2015. [PMID: 26226051 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2015.1061981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Face perception models propose that different facial attributes are processed by anatomically distinct neural pathways that partially overlap. Whether these attributes interact functionally is an open question. Our goal was to determine if there are interactions between age and ethnicity processing and, if so, at what temporal epoch these interactions are evident. We monitored event-related potentials on electroencephalography while subjects categorized faces by age or ethnicity in two conditions: a baseline in which the other of these two properties not being categorized was held constant and an interference condition in which it also varied, as modelled after the Garner interference paradigm. We found that, when participants were categorizing faces by age, variations in ethnicity increased the amplitude of the right face-selective N170 component. When subjects were categorizing faces by ethnicity, variations in age did not alter the N170. We concluded that there is an asymmetric pattern of influence between age and ethnicity on early face-specific stages of visual processing, which has parallels with behavioural evidence of asymmetric interactions between identity and expression processing of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Alonso-Prieto
- a Department of Medicine (Neurology) , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,b Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory , VGH Eye Care Centre , third floor, 2550 Willow Street, Vancouver , BC V5Z-3N9 , Canada.,c Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
| | - Ipek Oruç
- a Department of Medicine (Neurology) , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,c Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
| | - Cristina Rubino
- a Department of Medicine (Neurology) , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,c Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
| | - Maria Zhu
- a Department of Medicine (Neurology) , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,c Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
| | - Todd Handy
- d Department of Psychology , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
| | - Jason J S Barton
- a Department of Medicine (Neurology) , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,c Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada.,d Department of Psychology , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada
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17
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Namdar G, Avidan G, Ganel T. Effects of configural processing on the perceptual spatial resolution for face features. Cortex 2015; 72:115-123. [PMID: 25998751 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2014] [Revised: 01/25/2015] [Accepted: 04/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Configural processing governs human perception across various domains, including face perception. An established marker of configural face perception is the face inversion effect, in which performance is typically better for upright compared to inverted faces. In two experiments, we tested whether configural processing could influence basic visual abilities such as perceptual spatial resolution (i.e., the ability to detect spatial visual changes). Face-related perceptual spatial resolution was assessed by measuring the just noticeable difference (JND) to subtle positional changes between specific features in upright and inverted faces. The results revealed robust inversion effect for spatial sensitivity to configural-based changes, such as the distance between the mouth and the nose, or the distance between the eyes and the nose. Critically, spatial resolution for face features within the region of the eyes (e.g., the interocular distance between the eyes) was not affected by inversion, suggesting that the eye region operates as a separate 'gestalt' unit which is relatively immune to manipulations that would normally hamper configural processing. Together these findings suggest that face orientation modulates fundamental psychophysical abilities including spatial resolution. Furthermore, they indicate that classic psychophysical methods can be used as a valid measure of configural face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gal Namdar
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Tzvi Ganel
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
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18
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Liu TT, Behrmann M. Impaired holistic processing of left-right composite faces in congenital prosopagnosia. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:750. [PMID: 25324755 PMCID: PMC4179530 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2014] [Accepted: 09/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital prosopagnosia (CP) refers to a lifelong impairment in face processing despite normal visual and intellectual skills. Many studies have suggested that the key underlying deficit in CP is one of a failure to engage holistic processing. Moreover, there has been some suggestion that, in normal observers, there may be greater involvement of the right than left hemisphere in holistic processing. To examine the proposed deficit in holistic processing and its potential hemispheric atypicality in CP, we compared the performance of 8 CP individuals with both matched controls and a large group of non-matched controls on a novel, vertical composite task. In this task, participants judged whether a cued half of a face (either left or right half) was the same or different at study and test, and the two face halves could be either aligned or misaligned. The standard index of holistic processing is one in which the unattended face half influences performance on the cued half and this influence is greater in the aligned than in the misaligned condition. Relative to controls, the CP participants, both at a group and at an individual level, did not show holistic processing in the vertical composite task. There was also no difference in performance as a function of hemifield of the cued face half in the CP individuals, and this was true in the control participants, as well. The findings clearly confirm the deficit in holistic processing in CP and reveal the useful application of this novel experimental paradigm to this population and potentially to others as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina T Liu
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA ; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Marlene Behrmann
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA ; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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19
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Esins J, Schultz J, Wallraven C, Bülthoff I. Do congenital prosopagnosia and the other-race effect affect the same face recognition mechanisms? Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:759. [PMID: 25324757 PMCID: PMC4179381 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2014] [Accepted: 09/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital prosopagnosia (CP), an innate impairment in recognizing faces, as well as the other-race effect (ORE), a disadvantage in recognizing faces of foreign races, both affect face recognition abilities. Are the same face processing mechanisms affected in both situations? To investigate this question, we tested three groups of 21 participants: German congenital prosopagnosics, South Korean participants and German controls on three different tasks involving faces and objects. First we tested all participants on the Cambridge Face Memory Test in which they had to recognize Caucasian target faces in a 3-alternative-forced-choice task. German controls performed better than Koreans who performed better than prosopagnosics. In the second experiment, participants rated the similarity of Caucasian faces that differed parametrically in either features or second-order relations (configuration). Prosopagnosics were less sensitive to configuration changes than both other groups. In addition, while all groups were more sensitive to changes in features than in configuration, this difference was smaller in Koreans. In the third experiment, participants had to learn exemplars of artificial objects, natural objects, and faces and recognize them among distractors of the same category. Here prosopagnosics performed worse than participants in the other two groups only when they were tested on face stimuli. In sum, Koreans and prosopagnosic participants differed from German controls in different ways in all tests. This suggests that German congenital prosopagnosics perceive Caucasian faces differently than do Korean participants. Importantly, our results suggest that different processing impairments underlie the ORE and CP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janina Esins
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological CyberneticsTübingen, Germany
| | - Johannes Schultz
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological CyberneticsTübingen, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Durham UniversityDurham, UK
| | - Christian Wallraven
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea UniversitySeoul, South Korea
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological CyberneticsTübingen, Germany
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea UniversitySeoul, South Korea
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20
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Towler J, Gosling A, Duchaine B, Eimer M. Normal perception of Mooney faces in developmental prosopagnosia: Evidence from the N170 component and rapid neural adaptation. J Neuropsychol 2014; 10:15-32. [DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2014] [Revised: 08/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John Towler
- Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck College; University of London; UK
| | - Angela Gosling
- Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck College; University of London; UK
- Psychology Research Centre; Bournemouth University; Poole UK
| | - Bradley Duchaine
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; Dartmouth College; Hanover New Hampshire USA
| | - Martin Eimer
- Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck College; University of London; UK
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21
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Verfaillie K, Huysegems S, De Graef P, Van Belle G. Impaired holistic and analytic face processing in congenital prosopagnosia: Evidence from the eye-contingent mask/window paradigm. VISUAL COGNITION 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2014.881446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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22
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Tanzer M, Freud E, Ganel T, Avidan G. General holistic impairment in congenital prosopagnosia: evidence from Garner's speeded-classification task. Cogn Neuropsychol 2014; 30:429-45. [PMID: 24460391 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2013.873715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a lifelong impairment in face processing in the absence of brain damage, is often ascribed to impairment in holistic processing. It is still debated whether such difficulties are restricted to faces or whether they can also be observed for nonfacial stimuli. Here, we investigate this issue by examining CP individuals and their controls on two variations of the Garner speeded classification task tailored to assess holistic processing of nonfacial stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge the width of visually presented rectangles while ignoring their irrelevant height, or to judge changes in width while height remained constant. Critically, while controls exhibited the expected Garner interference, no such interference was observed for the CPs, indicating impaired holistic processing of integral, nonfacial shape dimensions. Experiment 2, utilized the same Garner paradigm, but here participants were asked to judge integral dimensions that are unrelated to shape (colour). Importantly, both CPs and controls exhibited the same level of Garner interference, indicating intact integral processing of colour dimensions. This dissociation between the performance on the two Garner tasks indicates that CPs do not exhibit a general local processing bias or impaired integration of any perceptual dimensions, but rather a deficit that is restricted to tasks requiring holistic integral perception of shape dimensions. Taken together, these results provide evidence for the existence of a general impairment in holistic shape perception in CP, which may be related to the mechanisms underlying this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Tanzer
- a Department of Psychology , Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer Sheva , Israel
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23
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Hyvärinen L, Walthes R, Jacob N, Chaplin KN, Leonhardt M. Current Understanding of What Infants See. CURRENT OPHTHALMOLOGY REPORTS 2014; 2:142-149. [PMID: 25478306 PMCID: PMC4243010 DOI: 10.1007/s40135-014-0056-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The current understanding of what infants see varies greatly among healthcare and education specialists. Even among ophthalmologists and pediatric neurologists in charge of clinical examinations of infants, opinions vary on what infants perceive, recognize, and use for communication and learning. It is, therefore, of interest to review publications from several specialties to learn whether new information is available on the development of visual functions and use of vision. Ten percent of total publications on this subject are reviewed here based on the usefulness of their content for improving early diagnosis and intervention of vision disorders in infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea Hyvärinen
- Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, TU Dortmund, August-Schmidt-Straße 4, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
- Present Address: 644 Whitetail Drive, Lewisberry, PA 17339 USA
| | - Renate Walthes
- Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, TU Dortmund University, 44221 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Namita Jacob
- Perkins International, Watertown, MA USA
- Chetana Trust, 15 Arunachalam Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai, 600085 India
| | - Kay Nottingham Chaplin
- National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness, Chicago, USA
- Vision and Eye Health Initiatives, Good-Lite, 42 East Street, Westover, WV 26501 USA
| | - Mercè Leonhardt
- Early Intervention Ramon Marti Bonet Foundation against blindness, Barcelona, Spain
- ICR Catalan Institute of Retina, 08172 Barcelona, Spain
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24
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Association and dissociation between detection and discrimination of objects of expertise: Evidence from visual search. Atten Percept Psychophys 2013; 76:391-406. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0562-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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25
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Zeki S, Ishizu T. The "Visual Shock" of Francis Bacon: an essay in neuroesthetics. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:850. [PMID: 24339812 PMCID: PMC3857539 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2013] [Accepted: 11/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we discuss the work of Francis Bacon in the context of his declared aim of giving a “visual shock.”We explore what this means in terms of brain activity and what insights into the brain's visual perceptive system his work gives. We do so especially with reference to the representation of faces and bodies in the human visual brain. We discuss the evidence that shows that both these categories of stimuli have a very privileged status in visual perception, compared to the perception of other stimuli, including man-made artifacts such as houses, chairs, and cars. We show that viewing stimuli that depart significantly from a normal representation of faces and bodies entails a significant difference in the pattern of brain activation. We argue that Bacon succeeded in delivering his “visual shock” because he subverted the normal neural representation of faces and bodies, without at the same time subverting the representation of man-made artifacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Semir Zeki
- Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology, Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London London, UK
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26
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Freud E, Avidan G, Ganel T. Holistic processing of impossible objects: Evidence from Garner’s speeded-classification task. Vision Res 2013; 93:10-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2013] [Revised: 08/08/2013] [Accepted: 10/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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27
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Palermo R, Duchaine B. Introduction to this special issue on developmental prosopagnosia. Cogn Neuropsychol 2013; 29:349-53. [PMID: 23428078 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2012.744740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Romina Palermo
- School of Psychology, and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
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