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Yu G, Katz LN, Quaia C, Messinger A, Krauzlis RJ. Short-latency preference for faces in primate superior colliculus depends on visual cortex. Neuron 2024; 112:2814-2822.e4. [PMID: 38959893 PMCID: PMC11343682 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.06.005] [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: 01/03/2024] [Revised: 04/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Face processing is fundamental to primates and has been extensively studied in higher-order visual cortex. Here, we report that visual neurons in the midbrain superior colliculus (SC) of macaque monkeys display a preference for images of faces. This preference emerges within 40 ms of stimulus onset-well before "face patches" in visual cortex-and, at the population level, can be used to distinguish faces from other visual objects with accuracies of ∼80%. This short-latency face preference in SC depends on signals routed through early visual cortex because inactivating the lateral geniculate nucleus, the key relay from retina to cortex, virtually eliminates visual responses in SC, including face-related activity. These results reveal an unexpected circuit in the primate visual system for rapidly detecting faces in the periphery, complementing the higher-order areas needed for recognizing individual faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gongchen Yu
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Leor N Katz
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Christian Quaia
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Adam Messinger
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Richard J Krauzlis
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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2
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Mioni G, Zangrossi A, Cipolletta S. Me, myself and you: How self-consciousness influences time perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:2626-2636. [PMID: 37563512 PMCID: PMC10600286 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02767-5] [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] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
Several investigations have shown that the processing of self-relevant information differs from processing objective information. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of social stimuli on subjective time processing. Here, social stimuli are images of an unknown male and female person and an image of participants' self. Forty university students were tested with a time reproduction task in which they were asked to reproduce the duration of the stimulus previously presented. Images of others or themselves were used to mark the temporal intervals. Participants also performed questionnaires to evaluate the level of anxiety and depression as well as self-consciousness. A generalised linear mixed-effects model approach was adopted. Results showed that male participants with higher Private Self-Consciousness scores showed higher time perception accuracy than females. Also, female participants reported higher scores for the Public Self-Consciousness subscale than male participants. The findings are discussed in terms of social context models of how attention is solicited and arousal is generated by social stimuli, highlighting the effect of social context on subjective perception of time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanna Mioni
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy.
| | - Andrea Zangrossi
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Sabrina Cipolletta
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy
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3
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Yu G, Katz LN, Quaia C, Messinger A, Krauzlis RJ. Short-latency preference for faces in the primate superior colliculus. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.06.556401. [PMID: 37886488 PMCID: PMC10602035 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.06.556401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Face processing is fundamental to primates and has been extensively studied in higher-order visual cortex. Here we report that visual neurons in the midbrain superior colliculus (SC) display a preference for faces, that the preference emerges within 50ms of stimulus onset - well before "face patches" in visual cortex - and that this activity can distinguish faces from other visual objects with accuracies of ~80%. This short-latency preference in SC depends on signals routed through early visual cortex, because inactivating the lateral geniculate nucleus, the key relay from retina to cortex, virtually eliminates visual responses in SC, including face-related activity. These results reveal an unexpected circuit in the primate visual system for rapidly detecting faces in the periphery, complementing the higher-order areas needed for recognizing individual faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gongchen Yu
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute; Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Leor N. Katz
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute; Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Christian Quaia
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute; Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Adam Messinger
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute; Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Richard J. Krauzlis
- Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute; Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
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4
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Pareidolic faces receive prioritized attention in the dot-probe task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:1106-1126. [PMID: 36918509 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02685-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Face pareidolia occurs when random or ambiguous inanimate objects are perceived as faces. While real faces automatically receive prioritized attention compared with nonface objects, it is unclear whether pareidolic faces similarly receive special attention. We hypothesized that, given the evolutionary importance of broadly detecting animacy, pareidolic faces may have enough faceness to activate a broad face template, triggering prioritized attention. To test this hypothesis, and to explore where along the faceness continuum pareidolic faces fall, we conducted a series of dot-probe experiments in which we paired pareidolic faces with other images directly competing for attention: objects, animal faces, and human faces. We found that pareidolic faces elicited more prioritized attention than objects, a process that was disrupted by inversion, suggesting this prioritized attention was unlikely to be driven by low-level features. However, unexpectedly, pareidolic faces received more privileged attention compared with animal faces and showed similar prioritized attention to human faces. This attentional efficiency may be due to pareidolic faces being perceived as not only face-like, but also as human-like, and having larger facial features-eyes and mouths-compared with real faces. Together, our findings suggest that pareidolic faces appear automatically attentionally privileged, similar to human faces. Our findings are consistent with the proposal of a highly sensitive broad face detection system that is activated by pareidolic faces, triggering false alarms (i.e., illusory faces), which, evolutionarily, are less detrimental relative to missing potentially relevant signals (e.g., conspecific or heterospecific threats). In sum, pareidolic faces appear "special" in attracting attention.
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5
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Gonçalves A, Hattori Y, Adachi I. Staring death in the face: chimpanzees' attention towards conspecific skulls and the implications of a face module guiding their behaviour. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210349. [PMID: 35345434 PMCID: PMC8941397 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Chimpanzees exhibit a variety of behaviours surrounding their dead, although much less is known about how they respond towards conspecific skeletons. We tested chimpanzees' visual attention to images of conspecific and non-conspecific stimuli (cat/chimp/dog/rat), shown simultaneously in four corners of a screen in distinct orientations (frontal/diagonal/lateral) of either one of three types (faces/skulls/skull-shaped stones). Additionally, we compared their visual attention towards chimpanzee-only stimuli (faces/skulls/skull-shaped stones). Lastly, we tested their attention towards specific regions of chimpanzee skulls. We theorized that chimpanzee skulls retaining face-like features would be perceived similarly to chimpanzee faces and thus be subjected to similar biases. Overall, supporting our hypotheses, the chimpanzees preferred conspecific-related stimuli. The results showed that chimpanzees attended: (i) significantly longer towards conspecific skulls than other species skulls (particularly in forward-facing and to a lesser extent diagonal orientations); (ii) significantly longer towards conspecific faces than other species faces at forward-facing and diagonal orientations; (iii) longer towards chimpanzee faces compared with chimpanzee skulls and skull-shaped stones, and (iv) attended significantly longer to the teeth, similar to findings for elephants. We suggest that chimpanzee skulls retain relevant, face-like features that arguably activate a domain-specific face module in chimpanzees' brains, guiding their attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- André Gonçalves
- Language and Intelligence Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 484-8506 Aichi, Japan
| | - Yuko Hattori
- Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 484-8506 Aichi, Japan
| | - Ikuma Adachi
- Language and Intelligence Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 484-8506 Aichi, Japan
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6
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Kawaguchi Y, Nakamura K, Tomonaga M, Adachi I. Impairment effect of infantile coloration on face discrimination in chimpanzees. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:211421. [PMID: 34804583 PMCID: PMC8580446 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Impaired face recognition for certain face categories, such as faces of other species or other age class faces, is known in both humans and non-human primates. A previous study found that it is more difficult for chimpanzees to differentiate infant faces than adult faces. Infant faces of chimpanzees differ from adult faces in shape and colour, but the latter is especially a salient cue for chimpanzees. Therefore, impaired face differentiation of infant faces may be due to a specific colour. In the present study, we investigated which feature of infant faces has a greater effect on face identification difficulty. Adult chimpanzees were tested using a matching-to-sample task with four types of face stimuli whose shape and colour were manipulated as either infant or adult one independently. Chimpanzees' discrimination performance decreased as they matched faces with infant coloration, regardless of the shape. This study is the first to demonstrate the impairment effect of infantile coloration on face recognition in non-human primates, suggesting that the face recognition strategies of humans and chimpanzees overlap as both species show proficient face recognition for certain face colours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuri Kawaguchi
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Koyo Nakamura
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Ikuma Adachi
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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7
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Damon F, Quinn PC, Pascalis O. When novelty prevails on familiarity: Visual biases for child versus infant faces in 3.5- to 12-month-olds. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 210:105174. [PMID: 34144347 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 03/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined the influence of everyday perceptual experience with infant and child faces on the shaping of visual biases for faces in 3.5-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants. In Experiment 1, infants were presented with pairs of photographs of unfamiliar child and infant faces. Four groups with differential experience with infant and child faces were composed from parents' reports of daily exposure with infants and children (no experience, infant face experience, child face experience, and both infant and child face experience) to assess influence of experience on face preferences. Results showed that infants from all age groups displayed a bias for the novel category of faces in relation to their previous exposure to infant and child faces. In Experiment 2, this pattern of visual attention was reversed in infants presented with pictures of personally familiar child faces (i.e., older siblings) compared with unfamiliar infant faces, especially in older infants. These results suggest that allocation of attention for novelty can supersede familiarity biases for faces depending on experience and highlight that multiple factors drive infant visual behavior in responding to the social world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Damon
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAE, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France.
| | - Paul C Quinn
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Olivier Pascalis
- University of Grenoble Alpes, Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, F-38000 Grenoble, France; Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, CNRS, F-38000 Grenoble, France
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8
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Taubert N, Stettler M, Siebert R, Spadacenta S, Sting L, Dicke P, Thier P, Giese MA. Shape-invariant encoding of dynamic primate facial expressions in human perception. eLife 2021; 10:61197. [PMID: 34115584 PMCID: PMC8195610 DOI: 10.7554/elife.61197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Dynamic facial expressions are crucial for communication in primates. Due to the difficulty to control shape and dynamics of facial expressions across species, it is unknown how species-specific facial expressions are perceptually encoded and interact with the representation of facial shape. While popular neural network models predict a joint encoding of facial shape and dynamics, the neuromuscular control of faces evolved more slowly than facial shape, suggesting a separate encoding. To investigate these alternative hypotheses, we developed photo-realistic human and monkey heads that were animated with motion capture data from monkeys and humans. Exact control of expression dynamics was accomplished by a Bayesian machine-learning technique. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that human observers learned cross-species expressions very quickly, where face dynamics was represented largely independently of facial shape. This result supports the co-evolution of the visual processing and motor control of facial expressions, while it challenges appearance-based neural network theories of dynamic expression recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nick Taubert
- Section for Computational Sensomotorics, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience & Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Clinic Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Michael Stettler
- Section for Computational Sensomotorics, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience & Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Clinic Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS), Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ramona Siebert
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Silvia Spadacenta
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Louisa Sting
- Section for Computational Sensomotorics, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience & Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Clinic Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Peter Dicke
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Peter Thier
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Martin A Giese
- Section for Computational Sensomotorics, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience & Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Clinic Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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9
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Maylott SE, Sansone JR, Jakobsen KV, Simpson EA. Superior Detection of Faces in Male Infants at 2 Months. Child Dev 2021; 92:e621-e634. [PMID: 33492747 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Females generally attend more to social information than males; however, little is known about the early development of these sex differences. With eye tracking, 2-month olds' (N = 101; 44 females) social orienting to faces was measured within four-item image arrays. Infants were more likely to detect human faces compared to objects, suggesting a functional face detection system. Unexpectedly, males looked longer at human faces than females, and only males looked faster and longer at human faces compared to objects. Females, in contrast, looked less at human faces relative to animal faces and objects, appearing socially disinterested. Notably, this is the first report of a male face detection advantage at any age. These findings suggest a unique stage in early infant social development.
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10
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Salehinejad MA, Nejati V, Nitsche MA. Neurocognitive correlates of self-esteem: From self-related attentional bias to involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Neurosci Res 2020; 161:33-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2019.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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11
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Awad D, Clifford CWG, White D, Mareschal I. Asymmetric contextual effects in age perception. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:200936. [PMID: 33489259 PMCID: PMC7813243 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Perception is context dependent. For example, the perceived orientation of a bar changes depending on the presence of oriented bars around it. Contextual effects have also been demonstrated for more complex judgements, such as facial attractiveness or expression, although it remains unclear how these contextual facial effects depend on the types of faces surrounding the target face. To examine this, we measured the perceived age (a quantifiable measure) of a target face in the presence of differently aged faces in the surround. Using a unique database of standardized passport photos, participants were asked to estimate the age of a target face which was viewed either on its own or surrounded by two different identity flanker faces. The flanker faces were either both younger or both older than the target face, with different age offsets between flankers and targets of ±5, ±10, ±15, ±20 years. We find that when a target face is surrounded by younger faces, it systematically appears younger than when viewed on its own, and when it is surrounded by older faces, it systematically appears older than when viewed on its own. Surprisingly, we find that the magnitude of the flanker effects on perceived age of the target is asymmetric with younger flankers having a greater influence than older flankers, a result that may reflect the participants' own-age bias, since all participants were young. This result holds irrespective of gender or race of the faces and is consistent with averaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deema Awad
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | | | - David White
- The School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
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12
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Ferguson L, Ahmed C, Dang C, Wu R. Neural target selection as a marker of real-world familiarity during search for perceptually distinct objects. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:1517-1532. [PMID: 33220111 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 10/31/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Prior studies have shown that behavioral performance is better when detecting specific familiar items based on real-world experience (e.g., an own-age face, a specific bird for bird experts), compared to less familiar items (e.g., an other-age face). These biases emerge from exposure to and interactions with initially less familiar items, which allow for better discrimination and search (e.g., finding an other-age face in a crowd). However, many broad categories in the natural environment (e.g., vintage objects, exotic fruit) contain perceptually distinct items that people can accurately search for individually, even if the objects are not as familiar. How might real-world familiarity impact search in these cases? Recent studies suggest that the N2pc event-related potential (ERP, neural marker of target selection) may be more sensitive than behavioral performance in reflecting prior knowledge, and perhaps familiarity, during visual search. In two experiments, the present study investigated the behavioral effects (Experiment 1) and N2pc effects (Experiment 2) of searching for distinct familiar (modern) versus less familiar (vintage) objects in younger adults. Experiment 1 also included a sample of older adults, who were familiar with both types of objects. Overall, the behavioral results did not reveal robust differences in searching for modern versus vintage objects. However, the N2pc in younger adults was present when searching for modern objects, but not for vintage objects. The N2pc results suggest that this neural marker may be more sensitive than behavioral measures in reflecting familiarity from real-world experiences with object categories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah Ferguson
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Claire Ahmed
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Christine Dang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Rachel Wu
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
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13
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General and own-species attentional face biases. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 83:187-198. [PMID: 33025467 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02132-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Humans demonstrate enhanced processing of human faces compared with animal faces, known as own-species bias. This bias is important for identifying people who may cause harm, as well as for recognizing friends and kin. However, growing evidence also indicates a more general face bias. Faces have high evolutionary importance beyond conspecific interactions, as they aid in detecting predators and prey. Few studies have explored the interaction of these biases together. In three experiments, we explored processing of human and animal faces, compared with each other and to nonface objects, which allowed us to examine both own-species and broader face biases. We used a dot-probe paradigm to examine human adults' covert attentional biases for task-irrelevant human faces, animal faces, and objects. We replicated the own-species attentional bias for human faces relative to animal faces. We also found an attentional bias for animal faces relative to objects, consistent with the proposal that faces broadly receive privileged processing. Our findings suggest that humans may be attracted to a broad class of faces. Further, we found that while participants rapidly attended to human faces across all cue display durations, they attended to animal faces only when they had sufficient time to process them. Our findings reveal that the dot-probe paradigm is sensitive for capturing both own-species and more general face biases, and that each has a different attentional signature, possibly reflecting their unique but overlapping evolutionary importance.
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14
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Maylott SE, Paukner A, Ahn YA, Simpson EA. Human and monkey infant attention to dynamic social and nonsocial stimuli. Dev Psychobiol 2020; 62:841-857. [PMID: 32424813 PMCID: PMC7944642 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The present study explored behavioral norms for infant social attention in typically developing human and nonhuman primate infants. We examined the normative development of attention to dynamic social and nonsocial stimuli longitudinally in macaques (Macaca mulatta) at 1, 3, and 5 months of age (N = 75) and humans at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 13 months of age (N = 69) using eye tracking. All infants viewed concurrently played silent videos-one social video and one nonsocial video. Both macaque and human infants were faster to look to the social than the nonsocial stimulus, and both species grew faster to orient to the social stimulus with age. Further, macaque infants' social attention increased linearly from 1 to 5 months. In contrast, human infants displayed a nonlinear pattern of social interest, with initially greater attention to the social stimulus, followed by a period of greater interest in the nonsocial stimulus, and then a rise in social interest from 6 to 13 months. Overall, human infants looked longer than macaque infants, suggesting humans have more sustained attention in the first year of life. These findings highlight potential species similarities and differences, and reflect a first step in establishing baseline patterns of early social attention development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E. Maylott
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
| | - Annika Paukner
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England
| | - Yeojin A. Ahn
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
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15
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Keenan B, Markant J. Differential sensitivity to species- and race-based information in the development of attention orienting and attention holding face biases in infancy. Dev Psychobiol 2020; 63:461-469. [PMID: 32803776 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 07/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Experience-based biases in face processing can reflect both attention orienting biases that support efficient selection of faces from competing stimuli and attention holding biases that allow for detailed encoding of selected faces. It is well established that infants demonstrate both species- and race-based biases in attention holding. Fewer studies have found species-based, but not race-based, orienting biases in infancy but these studies examined species- and race-based biases separately and measured overall orienting without examining attention to distractors. The present study directly compared 6- and 11-month-old infants' species- and race-based biases in attention holding and orienting to faces. We measured infants' duration of looking and frequency/speed of orienting to own-race, other-race, and monkey faces in multi-item search arrays, and their frequency of orienting to faces and distractors during search. Infants showed expected species- and race-based biases in attention holding but only a species-based bias in overall orienting. However, they also showed reduced orienting to salient distractors in the context of own-race faces. These results suggest that orienting mechanisms mediating face selection are robustly driven by species information while orienting to faces versus distractors during search may also reflect prior learning about frequently experienced own-race faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brianna Keenan
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Julie Markant
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.,Tulane Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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16
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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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17
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The Other-Race and Other-Species Effect during a Sex Categorization Task: An Eye Tracker Study. Behav Sci (Basel) 2020; 10:bs10010024. [PMID: 31906368 PMCID: PMC7017161 DOI: 10.3390/bs10010024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex categorization from faces is a crucial ability for humans and non-human primates for various social and cognitive processes. In the current study, we performed two eye tracking experiments to examine the gaze behavior of participants during a sex categorization task in which participants categorize face pictures from their own-race (Caucasian), other-race (Asian) and other-species (chimpanzee). In experiment 1, we presented the faces in an upright position to 16 participants, and found a strong other-race and other-species effect. In experiment 2, the same faces were shown to 24 naïve participants in an upside-down (inverted) position, which showed that, although the other-species effect was intact, other-race effect disappeared. Moreover, eye-tracking analysis revealed that in the upright position, the eye region was the first and most widely viewed area for all face categories. However, during upside-down viewing, participants' attention directed more towards the eye region of the own-race and own-species faces, whereas the nose received more attention in other-race and other-species faces. Overall results suggest that other-race faces were processed less holistically compared to own-race faces and this could affect both participants' behavioral performance and gaze behavior during sex categorization. Finally, gaze data suggests that the gaze of participants shifts from the eye to the nose region with decreased racial and species-based familiarity.
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Simpson EA, Maylott SE, Leonard K, Lazo RJ, Jakobsen KV. Face detection in infants and adults: Effects of orientation and color. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 186:17-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Revised: 05/06/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Simpson EA, Maylott SE, Mitsven SG, Zeng G, Jakobsen KV. Face detection in 2- to 6-month-old infants is influenced by gaze direction and species. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12902. [PMID: 31505079 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2018] [Revised: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Humans detect faces efficiently from a young age. Face detection is critical for infants to identify and learn from relevant social stimuli in their environments. Faces with eye contact are an especially salient stimulus, and attention to the eyes in infancy is linked to the emergence of later sociality. Despite the importance of both of these early social skills-attending to faces and attending to the eyes-surprisingly little is known about how they interact. We used eye tracking to explore whether eye contact influences infants' face detection. Longitudinally, we examined 2-, 4-, and 6-month-olds' (N = 65) visual scanning of complex image arrays with human and animal faces varying in eye contact and head orientation. Across all ages, infants displayed superior detection of faces with eye contact; however, this effect varied as a function of species and head orientation. Infants were more attentive to human than animal faces and were more sensitive to eye and head orientation for human faces compared to animal faces. Unexpectedly, human faces with both averted heads and eyes received the most attention. This pattern may reflect the early emergence of gaze following-the ability to look where another individual looks-which begins to develop around this age. Infants may be especially interested in averted gaze faces, providing early scaffolding for joint attention. This study represents the first investigation to document infants' attention patterns to faces systematically varying in their attentional states. Together, these findings suggest that infants develop early, specialized functional conspecific face detection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah E Maylott
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | | | - Guangyu Zeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
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20
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Marquis AR, Sugden NA. Meta-analytic review of infants' preferential attention to familiar and unfamiliar face types based on gender and race. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2019.100868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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21
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Infants' Individuation of Faces by Gender. Brain Sci 2019; 9:brainsci9070163. [PMID: 31373332 PMCID: PMC6680589 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9070163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Revised: 07/06/2019] [Accepted: 07/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
By 3 months of age, infants can perceptually distinguish faces based upon differences in gender. However, it is still unknown when infants begin using these perceptual differences to represent faces in a conceptual, kind-based manner. The current study examined this issue by using a violation-of-expectation manual search individuation paradigm to assess 12- and 24-month-old infants’ kind-based representations of faces varying by gender. While infants of both ages successfully individuated human faces from non-face shapes in a control condition, only the 24-month-old infants’ reaching behaviors provided evidence of their individuating male from female faces. The current findings help specify when infants begin to represent male and female faces as being conceptually distinct and may serve as a starting point for socio-cognitive biases observed later in development.
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22
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Guo K, Li Z, Yan Y, Li W. Viewing heterospecific facial expressions: an eye-tracking study of human and monkey viewers. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:2045-2059. [PMID: 31165915 PMCID: PMC6647127 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05574-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Common facial expressions of emotion have distinctive patterns of facial muscle movements that are culturally similar among humans, and perceiving these expressions is associated with stereotypical gaze allocation at local facial regions that are characteristic for each expression, such as eyes in angry faces. It is, however, unclear to what extent this 'universality' view can be extended to process heterospecific facial expressions, and how 'social learning' process contributes to heterospecific expression perception. In this eye-tracking study, we examined face-viewing gaze allocation of human (including dog owners and non-dog owners) and monkey observers while exploring expressive human, chimpanzee, monkey and dog faces (positive, neutral and negative expressions in human and dog faces; neutral and negative expressions in chimpanzee and monkey faces). Human observers showed species- and experience-dependent expression categorization accuracy. Furthermore, both human and monkey observers demonstrated different face-viewing gaze distributions which were also species dependent. Specifically, humans predominately attended at human eyes but animal mouth when judging facial expressions. Monkeys' gaze distributions in exploring human and monkey faces were qualitatively different from exploring chimpanzee and dog faces. Interestingly, the gaze behaviour of both human and monkey observers were further affected by their prior experience of the viewed species. It seems that facial expression processing is species dependent, and social learning may play a significant role in discriminating even rudimentary types of heterospecific expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Guo
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
| | - Zhihan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Yin Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Wu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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Barry-Anwar R, Hadley H, Scott LS. Differential neural responses to faces paired with labels versus faces paired with noise at 6- and at 9-months. Vision Res 2019; 157:264-273. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 03/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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24
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Barry-Anwar R, Hadley H, Conte S, Keil A, Scott LS. The developmental time course and topographic distribution of individual-level monkey face discrimination in the infant brain. Neuropsychologia 2018; 108:25-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2017] [Revised: 11/02/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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25
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Nakata R, Eifuku S, Tamura R. Crucial information for efficient face searching by humans and Japanese macaques. Anim Cogn 2017; 21:155-164. [PMID: 29256143 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1148-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 11/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Humans can efficiently detect a face among non-face objects, but few studies of this ability have been conducted in animals. Here, in Japanese macaques and humans, we examined visual searching for a face and explored what factors contribute to efficient facial information processing. Subjects were asked to search for an odd target among the different numbers of distracters. Faces of the subjects' own species, the backs of the head of the subjects' own species, faces of the subjects' closely related species or race, and faces of species that are clearly different from the subjects' own species were used as the target. Both the macaques and humans detected a face of their own species more efficiently than a face from a clearly different species. Similar efficient detections were confirmed for the faces of the subjects' closely related species or race. These results suggest that conspecific faces and faces that share morphological similarity with conspecific faces can be detected efficiently among non-face objects by both humans and Japanese macaques. In another experiment, facial recognition efficiency was observed when the subjects searched for own-species faces that had lower-spatial-frequency components compared to faces with higher-spatial-frequency components. It seems reasonable that the ability to search efficiently for faces by using holistic face processing is derived from fundamental social cognition abilities that are broadly shared among species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryuzaburo Nakata
- Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Furocho, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Satoshi Eifuku
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikariga-oka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan.
| | - Ryoi Tamura
- Department of Integrative Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan.
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Damon F, Méary D, Quinn PC, Lee K, Simpson EA, Paukner A, Suomi SJ, Pascalis O. Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants. Sci Rep 2017; 7:46303. [PMID: 28406237 PMCID: PMC5390246 DOI: 10.1038/srep46303] [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: 09/15/2016] [Accepted: 03/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human adults and infants show a preference for average faces, which could stem from a general processing mechanism and may be shared among primates. However, little is known about preference for facial averageness in monkeys. We used a comparative developmental approach and eye-tracking methodology to assess visual attention in human and macaque infants to faces naturally varying in their distance from a prototypical face. In Experiment 1, we examined the preference for faces relatively close to or far from the prototype in 12-month-old human infants with human adult female faces. Infants preferred faces closer to the average than faces farther from it. In Experiment 2, we measured the looking time of 3-month-old rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) viewing macaque faces varying in their distance from the prototype. Like human infants, macaque infants looked longer to faces closer to the average. In Experiments 3 and 4, both species were presented with unfamiliar categories of faces (i.e., macaque infants tested with adult macaque faces; human infants and adults tested with infant macaque faces) and showed no prototype preferences, suggesting that the prototypicality effect is experience-dependent. Overall, the findings suggest a common processing mechanism across species, leading to averageness preferences in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Damon
- Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, LPNC, France
- CNRS, LPNC,UMR 5105, France
| | - David Méary
- Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, LPNC, France
- CNRS, LPNC,UMR 5105, France
| | | | | | | | - Annika Paukner
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA
| | - Stephen J. Suomi
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA
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27
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Pickron CB, Fava E, Scott LS. Follow My Gaze: Face Race and Sex Influence Gaze‐Cued Attention in Infancy. INFANCY 2017; 22:626-644. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2016] [Revised: 01/06/2017] [Accepted: 01/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Eswen Fava
- Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst
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28
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Simpson EA, Jakobsen KV, Damon F, Suomi SJ, Ferrari PF, Paukner A. Face Detection and the Development of Own-Species Bias in Infant Macaques. Child Dev 2017; 88:103-113. [PMID: 27223687 PMCID: PMC5123966 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
In visually complex environments, numerous items compete for attention. Infants may exhibit attentional efficiency-privileged detection, attention capture, and holding-for face-like stimuli. However, it remains unknown when these biases develop and what role, if any, experience plays in this emerging skill. Here, nursery-reared infant macaques' (Macaca mulatta; n = 10) attention to faces in 10-item arrays of nonfaces was measured using eye tracking. With limited face experience, 3-week-old monkeys were more likely to detect faces and looked longer at faces compared to nonfaces, suggesting a robust face detection system. By 3 months, after peer exposure, infants looked faster to conspecific faces but not heterospecific faces, suggesting an own-species bias in face attention capture, consistent with perceptual attunement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Simpson
- Social Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 33124 USA
| | - Krisztina V. Jakobsen
- Cognitive Development Laboratory, Department of Psychology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 22807 USA
| | - Fabrice Damon
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Stephen J. Suomi
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, Maryland, 20837 USA
| | - Pier F. Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, 4300 Italy
| | - Annika Paukner
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, Maryland, 20837 USA
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29
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Reece C, Ebstein R, Cheng X, Ng T, Schirmer A. Maternal touch predicts social orienting in young children. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2016.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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30
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Dahl CD, Rasch MJ, Bülthoff I, Chen CC. Integration or separation in the processing of facial properties--a computational view. Sci Rep 2016; 6:20247. [PMID: 26829891 PMCID: PMC4735755 DOI: 10.1038/srep20247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2015] [Accepted: 12/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
A face recognition system ought to read out information about the identity, facial expression and invariant properties of faces, such as sex and race. A current debate is whether separate neural units in the brain deal with these face properties individually or whether a single neural unit processes in parallel all aspects of faces. While the focus of studies has been directed toward the processing of identity and facial expression, little research exists on the processing of invariant aspects of faces. In a theoretical framework we tested whether a system can deal with identity in combination with sex, race or facial expression using the same underlying mechanism. We used dimension reduction to describe how the representational face space organizes face properties when trained on different aspects of faces. When trained to learn identities, the system not only successfully recognized identities, but also was immediately able to classify sex and race, suggesting that no additional system for the processing of invariant properties is needed. However, training on identity was insufficient for the recognition of facial expressions and vice versa. We provide a theoretical approach on the interconnection of invariant facial properties and the separation of variant and invariant facial properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph D. Dahl
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, 2000, Rue Emile-Argand 11, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Malte J. Rasch
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Xinjiekouwai Street 19, 100875 Beijing, China
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Spemannstrasse 38, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Chien-Chung Chen
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan
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31
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Jakobsen KV, Umstead L, Simpson EA. Efficient human face detection in infancy. Dev Psychobiol 2015; 58:129-36. [PMID: 26248583 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2015] [Accepted: 07/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Adults detect conspecific faces more efficiently than heterospecific faces; however, the development of this own-species bias (OSB) remains unexplored. We tested whether 6- and 11-month-olds exhibit OSB in their attention to human and animal faces in complex visual displays with high perceptual load (25 images competing for attention). Infants (n = 48) and adults (n = 43) passively viewed arrays containing a face among 24 non-face distractors while we measured their gaze with remote eye tracking. While OSB is typically not observed until about 9 months, we found that, already by 6 months, human faces were more likely to be detected, were detected more quickly (attention capture), and received longer looks (attention holding) than animal faces. These data suggest that 6-month-olds already exhibit OSB in face detection efficiency, consistent with perceptual attunement. This specialization may reflect the biological importance of detecting conspecific faces, a foundational ability for early social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lindsey Umstead
- Department of Psychology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Simpson
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Dickerson, MD, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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32
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Simpson EA, Suomi SJ, Paukner A. Evolutionary relevance and experience contribute to face discrimination in infant macaques ( Macaca mulatta). JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2015; 17:285-299. [PMID: 27212893 DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2015.1048863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
In human children and adults, familiar face types-typically own-age and own-species faces-are discriminated better than other face types; however, human infants do not appear to exhibit an own-age bias, but instead better discriminate adult faces, which they see more often. There are two possible explanations for this pattern: Perceptual attunement, which predicts advantages in discrimination for the most-experienced face types; additionally or alternatively, there may be an experience-independent bias for infants to discriminate own-species faces, an adaptation for evolutionarily relevant faces. These possibilities have not been disentangled in studies thus far, which did not control infants' early experiences with faces. In the present study, we tested these predictions in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) reared under controlled environments, not exposed to adult conspecifics. We measured newborns' (15-25 days; n = 27) and 6- to 7-month-olds' (n = 35) discrimination of human and macaque faces of three ages-young infants, old infants, and adults-in a visual paired comparison task. We found that 6- to 7-month-olds were the best at discriminating adult macaque faces; however, in the first few seconds of looking, additionally discriminated familiar face types-same-aged peer and adult human faces-highlighting the importance of experience with certain face categories. The present data suggest that macaque infants possess both experience-independent and experientially tuned face biases. In human infants, early face skills may likewise be driven by both experience and evolutionary relevance; future studies should consider both of these factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Simpson
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Stephen J Suomi
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, MD, USA
| | - Annika Paukner
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, MD, USA
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33
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Finding faces among faces: human faces are located more quickly and accurately than other primate and mammal faces. Atten Percept Psychophys 2015; 76:2175-83. [PMID: 25113852 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0744-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We tested the specificity of human face search efficiency by examining whether there is a broad window of detection for various face-like stimuli-human and animal faces-or whether own-species faces receive greater attentional allocation. We assessed the strength of the own-species face detection bias by testing whether human faces are located more efficiently than other animal faces, when presented among various other species' faces, in heterogeneous 16-, 36-, and 64-item arrays. Across all array sizes, we found that, controlling for distractor type, human faces were located faster and more accurately than primate and mammal faces, and that, controlling for target type, searches were faster when distractors were human faces compared to animal faces, revealing more efficient processing of human faces regardless of their role as targets or distractors (Experiment 1). Critically, these effects remained when searches were for specific species' faces (human, chimpanzee, otter), ruling out a category-level explanation (Experiment 2). Together, these results suggest that human faces may be processed more efficiently than animal faces, both when task-relevant (targets) and task-irrelevant (distractors), even in direct competition with other faces. These results suggest that there is not a broad window of detection for all face-like patterns but that human adults process own-species' faces more efficiently than other species' faces. Such own-species search efficiencies may arise through experience with own-species faces throughout development or may be privileged early in development, due to the evolutionary importance of conspecifics' faces.
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34
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Yamada E, Ogata K, Kishimoto J, Tanaka M, Urakawa T, Yamasaki T, Tobimatsu S. Neural substrates of species-dependent visual processing of faces: use of morphed faces. Physiol Rep 2015; 3:3/5/e12387. [PMID: 25975645 PMCID: PMC4463821 DOI: 10.14814/phy2.12387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Face identification and categorization are essential for social communication. The N170 event-related potential (ERP) is considered to be a biomarker of face perception. To elucidate the neural basis of species-dependent face processing, we recorded 128-ch high-density ERPs in 14 healthy adults while they viewed the images of morphed faces. The morphed stimuli contained different proportions of human and monkey faces, and the species boundary was shifted away from the center of the morph continuum. Three experiments were performed to determine how task requirement, facial orientation, and spatial frequency (SF) of visual stimuli affected ERPs. In an equal SF condition, the latency, and amplitude of the occipital P100 for upright faces were modulated in a monotonic-like fashion by the level of morphing. In contrast, the N170 latency for upright faces was modulated in a step-like fashion, showing a flexion point that may reflect species discrimination. Although N170 amplitudes for upright faces were not modulated by morph level, they were modulated in a monotonic-like fashion by inverted faces. The late positive (LP) component (350–550 msec) in the parietal region was modulated in a U-shaped function by morph level during a categorization task, but not in a simple reaction task. These results suggest that P100 reflects changes in the physical properties of faces and that N170 is involved in own-species selectivity. The LP component seems to represent species categorization that occurs 350 msec after stimulus onset.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emi Yamada
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Katsuya Ogata
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Junji Kishimoto
- Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Kyushu University Hospital, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Mutsuhide Tanaka
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Tomokazu Urakawa
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Takao Yamasaki
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Shozo Tobimatsu
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
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35
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Dahl CD, Rasch MJ, Chen CC. The other-race and other-species effects in face perception - a subordinate-level analysis. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1068. [PMID: 25285092 PMCID: PMC4168679 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2014] [Accepted: 09/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability of face discrimination is modulated by the frequency of exposure to a category of faces. In other words, lower discrimination performance was measured for infrequently encountered faces as opposed to frequently encountered ones. This phenomenon has been described in the literature: the own-race advantage, a benefit in processing own-race as opposed to the other-race faces, and the own-species advantage, a benefit in processing the conspecific type of faces as opposed to the heterospecific type. So far, the exact parameters that drive either of these two effects are not fully understood. In the following we present a full assessment of data in human participants describing the discrimination performances across two races (Asian and Caucasian) as well as a range of non-human primate faces (chimpanzee, Rhesus macaque and marmoset). We measured reaction times of Asian participants performing a delayed matching-to-sample task, and correlated the results with similarity estimates of facial configuration and face parts. We found faster discrimination of own-race above other-race/species faces. Further, we found a strong reliance on configural information in upright own-species/-race faces and on individual face parts in all inverted face classes, supporting the assumption of specialized processing for the face class of most frequent exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph D Dahl
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University Taipei, China
| | - Malte J Rasch
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Chien-Chung Chen
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University Taipei, China
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Bruce V. Coda. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.867176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Hugenberg K, Wilson JP, See PE, Young SG. Towards a synthetic model of own group biases in face memory. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.821429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Wiese H, Komes J, Schweinberger SR. Ageing faces in ageing minds: A review on the own-age bias in face recognition. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.823139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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