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Burns EJ. Improving the DSM-5 approach to cognitive impairment: Developmental prosopagnosia reveals the need for tailored diagnoses. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:7872-7891. [PMID: 38977608 PMCID: PMC11362378 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02459-4] [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] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) recommends diagnosing neurocognitive disorders (i.e., cognitive impairment) when a patient scores beyond - 1 SD below neurotypical norms on two tests. I review how this approach will fail due to cognitive tests' power limitations, validity issues, imperfect reliabilities, and biases, before summarizing their resulting negative consequences. As a proof of concept, I use developmental prosopagnosia, a condition characterized by difficulties recognizing faces, to show the DSM-5 only diagnoses 62-70% (n1 = 61, n2 = 165) versus 100% (n1 = 61) through symptoms alone. Pooling the DSM-5 missed cases confirmed the presence of group-level impairments on objective tests, which were further evidenced through meta-analyses, thus validating their highly atypical symptoms. These findings support a paradigm shift towards bespoke diagnostic approaches for distinct cognitive impairments, including a symptom-based method when validated effective. I reject dogmatic adherence to the DSM-5 approach to neurocognitive disorders, and underscore the importance of a data driven, transdiagnostic approach to understanding patients' subjective cognitive impairments. This will ultimately benefit patients, their families, clinicians, and scientific progress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J Burns
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
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2
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Nigrou T, Hansenne M, Devue C. Exploration of the Links Between Psychosocial Well-being and Face Recognition Skills in a French-Speaking Sample. Psychol Belg 2024; 64:145-151. [PMID: 39247395 PMCID: PMC11378709 DOI: 10.5334/pb.1294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 09/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Face recognition abilities vary tremendously in the general population. People at the lower end of the spectrum, those with developmental prosopagnosia, report stress, anxiety or social interaction issues due to their poor face recognition abilities. It is thus important to develop adequate diagnostic tools convenient to use for clinicians and to examine relationships between face recognition skills and negative affects. In the present study, we provide a validated French translation of the 20-item prosopagnosia index (PI20), a self-report measure used to detect people with developmental facial identity recognition deficits (Shah et al., 2015; Tsantani et al., 2021). We also examined links between face recognition skills measured with the PI20 and a standard face recognition test (Cambridge face memory test-CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006) and measures of social anxiety (social interaction anxiety scale, social phobia scale) and negative affects (state trait anxiety scale, Beck depression inventory). We did not find any significant correlation between the CFMT and measures of psychosocial well-being and only found a weak positive association between the PI20 and social interaction anxiety. Although this association is weak and warrants further research, raising awareness about developmental face recognition issues may help improve the well-being of people with facial identity recognition deficits and provide new investigation or intervention avenues for clinicians who treat patients with social interaction anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trishia Nigrou
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium
| | - Michel Hansenne
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium
| | - Christel Devue
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium
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3
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Towler JR, Morgan D, Davies-Thompson J. Impaired Face Feature-to-Location Statistical Learning and Single-Feature Discrimination in Developmental Prosopagnosia. Brain Sci 2024; 14:815. [PMID: 39199506 PMCID: PMC11352419 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14080815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2024] [Revised: 08/01/2024] [Accepted: 08/12/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) experience severe face memory deficits that are often accompanied by impairments in face perception. Images of human facial features are better discriminated between when they are presented in the locations on the visual field that they typically appear in while viewing human faces in daily life, than in locations which they do not typically appear (i.e., better performance for eyes in the upper visual field, and better performance for mouths in the lower visual field). These feature-to-location tuning effects (FLEs) can be explained by a retinotopically organised visual statistical learning mechanism. We had a large group of DP participants (N = 64), a control group (N = 74) and a group of individuals with a mild form of DP (N = 58) complete a single-feature discrimination task to determine whether face perception deficits in DP can be accounted for by an impairment in face feature-to-location tuning. The results showed that individuals with DP did not have significant FLEs, suggesting a marked impairment in the underlying visual statistical learning mechanism. In contrast, the mild DP group showed normal FLE effects which did not differ from the control group. Both DP groups had impaired single-feature processing (SFP) as compared to the control group. We also examined the effects of age on FLEs and SFP.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R. Towler
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Human & Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK (J.D.-T.)
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4
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Gerlach C, Nørkær E, Starrfelt R. Class A, Class B. Is that the only chemistry?: A commentary on DeGutis et al. (2023): What is the prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia? An empirical assessment of different diagnostic cutoffs. Cortex 2024; 177:385-388. [PMID: 38555272 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Erling Nørkær
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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5
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Gehdu BK, Press C, Gray KLH, Cook R. Autistic adults have insight into their relative face recognition ability. Sci Rep 2024; 14:17802. [PMID: 39090101 PMCID: PMC11294533 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67649-8] [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] [Accepted: 07/15/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The PI20 is a self-report questionnaire that assesses the presence of lifelong face recognition difficulties. The items on this scale ask respondents to assess their face recognition ability relative to the rest of the population, either explicitly or implicitly. Recent reports suggest that the PI20 scores of autistic participants exhibit little or no correlation with their performance on the Cambridge Face Memory Test-a key measure of face recognition ability. These reports are suggestive of a meta-cognitive deficit whereby autistic individuals are unable to infer whether their face recognition is impaired relative to the wider population. In the present study, however, we observed significant correlations between the PI20 scores of 77 autistic adults and their performance on two variants of the Cambridge Face Memory Test. These findings indicate that autistic individuals can infer whether their face recognition ability is impaired. Consistent with previous research, we observed a wide spread of face recognition abilities within our autistic sample. While some individuals approached ceiling levels of performance, others met the prevailing diagnostic criteria for developmental prosopagnosia. This variability showed little or no association with non-verbal intelligence, autism severity, or the presence of co-occurring alexithymia or ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bayparvah Kaur Gehdu
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Clare Press
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Katie L H Gray
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Richard Cook
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
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6
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Kramer RSS, McIntosh RD, Nuhfer EB. Letter to the Editor: The (Mis)use of Performance Quartiles in Metacognition and Face Perception: A Comment on Zhou and Jenkins (2020) and Estudillo and Wong (2021). Psychol Rep 2024; 127:2098-2108. [PMID: 37254282 DOI: 10.1177/00332941231181483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert D McIntosh
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Edward B Nuhfer
- Humboldt Polytech, California State Universities, Arcata, CA, USA
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7
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Noad KN, Watson DM, Andrews TJ. Familiarity enhances functional connectivity between visual and nonvisual regions of the brain during natural viewing. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae285. [PMID: 39038830 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae285] [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: 02/16/2024] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024] Open
Abstract
We explored the neural correlates of familiarity with people and places using a naturalistic viewing paradigm. Neural responses were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while participants viewed a movie taken from Game of Thrones. We compared inter-subject correlations and functional connectivity in participants who were either familiar or unfamiliar with the TV series. Higher inter-subject correlations were found between familiar participants in regions, beyond the visual brain, that are typically associated with the processing of semantic, episodic, and affective information. However, familiarity also increased functional connectivity between face and scene regions in the visual brain and the nonvisual regions of the familiarity network. To determine whether these regions play an important role in face recognition, we measured responses in participants with developmental prosopagnosia (DP). Consistent with a deficit in face recognition, the effect of familiarity was significantly attenuated across the familiarity network in DP. The effect of familiarity on functional connectivity between face regions and the familiarity network was also attenuated in DP. These results show that the neural response to familiarity involves an extended network of brain regions and that functional connectivity between visual and nonvisual regions of the brain plays an important role in the recognition of people and places during natural viewing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kira N Noad
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York Y010 5DD, United Kingdom
| | - David M Watson
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York Y010 5DD, United Kingdom
| | - Timothy J Andrews
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York Y010 5DD, United Kingdom
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8
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Bunce C, Gehdu BK, Press C, Gray KLH, Cook R. Autistic adults exhibit typical sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance. Autism Res 2024; 17:1464-1474. [PMID: 38828663 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3164] [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: 09/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. In particular, many autistic people exhibit poor face recognition. Here, we sought to determine whether autistic adults also show impaired perception of dyadic social interactions-a class of stimulus thought to engage face-like visual processing. Our focus was the perception of interpersonal distance. Participants completed distance change detection tasks, in which they had to make perceptual decisions about the distance between two actors. On half of the trials, participants judged whether the actors moved closer together; on the other half, whether they moved further apart. In a nonsocial control task, participants made similar judgments about two grandfather clocks. We also assessed participants' face recognition ability using standardized measures. The autistic and nonautistic observers showed similar levels of perceptual sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance when viewing social interactions. As expected, however, the autistic observers showed clear signs of impaired face recognition. Despite putative similarities between the visual processing of faces and dyadic social interactions, our results suggest that these two facets of social vision may dissociate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl Bunce
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Bayparvah Kaur Gehdu
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Clare Press
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Katie L H Gray
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Richard Cook
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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DeGutis J, Kirsch L, Evans TC, Fry R, Lee DJ, Mishra M, Campbell A. Perceptual heterogeneity in developmental prosopagnosia is continuous, not categorical. Cortex 2024; 176:37-52. [PMID: 38744075 PMCID: PMC11223780 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.03.011] [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: 09/16/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is associated with considerable perceptual heterogeneity, though the nature of this heterogeneity and whether there are discrete subgroups versus continuous deficits remains unclear. Bennetts et al. (2022) recently found that holistic versus featural processing deficits distinguished discrete DP subgroups, but their sample was relatively small (N = 37), and subgroups were defined using a single task. To characterize perceptual heterogeneity in DPs more comprehensively, we administered a broad face perception battery to a large sample of 109 DPs and 134 controls, including validated measures of face matching (Cambridge Face Perception Test - CFPT, Computerized Benton Facial Recognition Test, Same/Different Face Matching Task), holistic processing (Part-Whole Task), and feature processing (Georges Task and Part-Whole part trials). When examining face matching measures, DPs exhibited a similar distribution of performance as controls, though shifted towards impairment by an average of 1.4 SD. We next applied Bennetts (2022) hierarchical clustering approach and k-means clustering to the CFPT upright, inverted, and inversion index measures, similarly finding one group of DPs with poorer inverted face performance and another with a decreased face inversion effect (holistic processing). However, these subgroup differences failed to generalize to other measures of feature and holistic processing beyond the CFPT. We finally ran hierarchical and k-means cluster analyses on our larger battery of face matching, feature, and holistic processing measures. Results clearly showed subgroups with generally better versus worse performance across all measures, with the distinction between groups being somewhat arbitrary. Together, these findings support a continuous account of DP perceptual heterogeneity, with performance differing primarily across all aspects of face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph DeGutis
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Leah Kirsch
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Travis C Evans
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Regan Fry
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel J Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Maruti Mishra
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; California State University, Bakersfield, CA, USA
| | - Alison Campbell
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
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10
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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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11
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Volfart A, Rossion B. The neuropsychological evaluation of face identity recognition. Neuropsychologia 2024; 198:108865. [PMID: 38522782 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108865] [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: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Facial identity recognition (FIR) is arguably the ultimate form of recognition for the adult human brain. Even if the term prosopagnosia is reserved for exceptionally rare brain-damaged cases with a category-specific abrupt loss of FIR at adulthood, subjective and objective impairments or difficulties of FIR are common in the neuropsychological population. Here we provide a critical overview of the evaluation of FIR both for clinicians and researchers in neuropsychology. FIR impairments occur following many causes that should be identified objectively by both general and specific, behavioral and neural examinations. We refute the commonly used dissociation between perceptual and memory deficits/tests for FIR, since even a task involving the discrimination of unfamiliar face images presented side-by-side relies on cortical memories of faces in the right-lateralized ventral occipito-temporal cortex. Another frequently encountered confusion is between specific deficits of the FIR function and a more general impairment of semantic memory (of people), the latter being most often encountered following anterior temporal lobe damage. Many computerized tests aimed at evaluating FIR have appeared over the last two decades, as reviewed here. However, despite undeniable strengths, they often suffer from ecological limitations, difficulties of instruction, as well as a lack of consideration for processing speed and qualitative information. Taking into account these issues, a recently developed behavioral test with natural images manipulating face familiarity, stimulus inversion, and correct response times as a key variable appears promising. The measurement of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the frequency domain from fast periodic visual stimulation also appears as a particularly promising tool to complete and enhance the neuropsychological assessment of FIR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angélique Volfart
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology, Australia; Université de Lorraine, CNRS, IMoPA, F-54000, Nancy, France.
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12
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Sun Y, Men W, Kennerknecht I, Fang W, Zheng HF, Zhang W, Rao Y. Human genetics of face recognition: discovery of MCTP2 mutations in humans with face blindness (congenital prosopagnosia). Genetics 2024; 227:iyae047. [PMID: 38547502 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae047] [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: 12/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Face recognition is important for both visual and social cognition. While prosopagnosia or face blindness has been known for seven decades and face-specific neurons for half a century, the molecular genetic mechanism is not clear. Here we report results after 17 years of research with classic genetics and modern genomics. From a large family with 18 congenital prosopagnosia (CP) members with obvious difficulties in face recognition in daily life, we uncovered a fully cosegregating private mutation in the MCTP2 gene which encodes a calcium binding transmembrane protein expressed in the brain. After screening through cohorts of 6589, we found more CPs and their families, allowing detection of more CP associated mutations in MCTP2. Face recognition differences were detected between 14 carriers with the frameshift mutation S80fs in MCTP2 and 19 noncarrying volunteers. Six families including one with 10 members showed the S80fs-CP correlation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging found association of impaired recognition of individual faces by MCTP2 mutant CPs with reduced repetition suppression to repeated facial identities in the right fusiform face area. Our results have revealed genetic predisposition of MCTP2 mutations in CP, 76 years after the initial report of prosopagnosia and 47 years after the report of the first CP. This is the first time a gene required for a higher form of visual social cognition was found in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Sun
- Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Weiwei Men
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Beijing Key Lab for Medical Physics and Engineering, Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ingo Kennerknecht
- Institute of Human Genetics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster 48149, Germany
| | - Wan Fang
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Hou-Feng Zheng
- School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Wenxia Zhang
- Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Yi Rao
- Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen 518107, China
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13
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Davies-Thompson J, Morgan D, Davis JP, Towler JR. Face Feature Change Detection Ability in Developmental Prosopagnosia and Super-Recognisers. Brain Sci 2024; 14:561. [PMID: 38928560 PMCID: PMC11201608 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2024] [Revised: 05/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
In non-clinical populations, facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) may vary in their contribution to face identity perception. Changes to whole faces are easier to detect than changes to individual features, and eye changes are typically easier to detect than mouth changes, which in turn are easier to detect than nose changes. However, how this differs for people with face recognition difficulties (developmental prosopagnosia; DP) and for individuals with superior face recognition abilities (super-recognisers; SR) is not clear; although findings from previous studies have suggested differences, the nature of this difference is not understood. The aim of this study was to examine whether differences in the ability to detect feature changes in DPs and SRs were (a) quantitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes remained the same but there was an overall upwards or downwards shift in performance, or (b) qualitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes was different. Using a change detection task in which individual face features (eyes, nose, mouth) changed between sequentially presented faces, we found that while prosopagnosics showed a quantitative difference in performance with a downwards shift across all conditions, super-recognisers only showed qualitative differences: they were better able to detect when the face was the same and were marginally (but not non-significantly) worse at detecting when the eyes changed. Further, the only condition which distinguished between the three groups was the ability to identify when the same face was presented, with SRs being better than controls, and controls being better than DPs. Our findings suggest that, in feature-matching tasks, differences for DPs are due to them being overall worse at the task, while SRs use a qualitatively different strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jodie Davies-Thompson
- School of Psychology, Vivian Tower, Faculty of Medicine, Human & Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK (J.R.T.)
| | - Daniel Morgan
- School of Psychology, Vivian Tower, Faculty of Medicine, Human & Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK (J.R.T.)
| | | | - John R. Towler
- School of Psychology, Vivian Tower, Faculty of Medicine, Human & Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK (J.R.T.)
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14
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Kramer RS, McIntosh RD. Face matching and self-insight: A Registered Report investigating individual differences in metacognitive sensitivity, efficiency, and bias. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024:17470218241254209. [PMID: 38679797 DOI: 10.1177/17470218241254209] [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: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Deciding whether two face photographs depict the same person or not can be a challenging task, and there are substantial individual differences in face matching ability. Far less is known about differences in metacognitive ability; that is, how well people can estimate the quality of their own face matching judgements. The purpose of this Registered Report was to determine the relationship between first-order performance in a face matching task, and three metacognitive measures: metacognitive sensitivity (the information exploited by metacognition), metacognitive efficiency (the quality of metacognitive processing itself), and metacognitive bias (the overall tendency towards high or low confidence). Participants completed a 200-trial unfamiliar face matching task, providing a second-order (metacognitive) confidence rating after each first-order (cognitive) response. Cognitive performance and metacognitive sensitivity showed a substantial positive association (rs = .60), suggesting that they were based on overlapping information, with poorer performers having lower quality information available. Once these differences in the information available to metacognition were accounted for, the quality of metacognitive processing itself (metacognitive efficiency) did not vary systematically with cognitive performance (rs = .00). Moreover, poor performers were not less or more confident overall than good performers, as cognitive performance and metacognitive bias did not correlate significantly (rs = .11). These findings allow us to move beyond consideration of group-level insight and inform regarding individual differences in cognitive and metacognitive abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert D McIntosh
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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15
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Zeller CJ, Wunderlin M, Wicki K, Teunissen CE, Nissen C, Züst MA, Klöppel S. Multi-night acoustic stimulation is associated with better sleep, amyloid dynamics, and memory in older adults with cognitive impairment. GeroScience 2024:10.1007/s11357-024-01195-z. [PMID: 38744792 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-024-01195-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Sleep is a potential early, modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. Impaired slow wave sleep (SWS) is pronounced in individuals with cognitive impairment (CI). Cognitive decline and impairments of SWS are bi-directionally linked in a vicious cycle. SWS can be enhanced non-invasively using phase-locked acoustic stimulation (PLAS), potentially breaking this vicious cycle. Eighteen healthy older adults (HC, agemean±sd, 68.3 ± 5.1) and 16 older adults (agemean±sd, 71.9 ± 3.9) with CI (Montreal Cognitive Assessment ≤ 25) underwent one baseline (sham-PLAS) night and three consecutive stimulation nights (real-PLAS). EEG responses and blood-plasma amyloid beta Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio were measured pre- and post-intervention, as was episodic memory. The latter was again evaluated 1 week and 3 months after the intervention. In both groups, PLAS induced a significant electrophysiological response in both voltage- and time-frequency analyses, and memory performance improved in association with the magnitude of this response. In the CI group, both electrophysiological and associated memory effects were delayed compared to the healthy group. After 3 intervention nights, electrophysiological response to PLAS was no longer different between CI and HC groups. Only in the CI sample, stronger electrophysiological responses were significantly associated with improving post-intervention Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios. PLAS seems to improve SWS electrophysiology, memory, and amyloid dynamics in older adults with CI. However, effects on memory require more time to unfold compared to healthy older adults. This indicates that PLAS may become a potential tool to ameliorate cognitive decline, but longer interventions are necessary to compensate for declining brain integrity. This study was pre-registered (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04277104).
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Affiliation(s)
- Céline J Zeller
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Marina Wunderlin
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland
| | - Korian Wicki
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Charlotte E Teunissen
- Neurochemistry Laboratory, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Christoph Nissen
- Division of Psychiatric Specialties, Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1201, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, 1201, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marc A Züst
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland.
| | - Stefan Klöppel
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland
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16
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Oishi Y, Aruga K, Kurita K. Relationship between face recognition ability and anxiety tendencies in healthy young individuals: A prosopagnosia index and state-trait anxiety inventory study. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 245:104237. [PMID: 38537601 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104237] [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: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a condition that indicates the inability to recognize individuals by their faces from birth, without any history of brain damage. The assessment of face recognition ability and diagnosis of DP involve the use of face tests such as the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and the Cambridge Face Perception Test, along with self-reported measures like the 20-Item Prosopagnosia Index (PI20). Face recognition accuracy is affected by anxiety. However, previous studies on the relationship between face recognition ability and anxiety have not used the PI20 measure. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-reported measures of face recognition ability and anxiety tendencies among healthy young individuals for DP diagnosis and its implications. We used a face recognition test, involving the PI20, CFMT, Visual Perception Test for Agnosia-Famous Face Test (VPTA-FFT), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). We assessed the performance of 116 Japanese young adults (75 females, median age of 20.7 years, with a standard deviation of 1.2). Subsequently, we conducted a statistical analysis to examine the relationship between the outcomes of the face recognition tests and STAI scores using Pearson correlation analysis and single correlation coefficients. The results showed a positive correlation between state anxiety and PI20 (r = 0.308, p = 0.007), and a weak positive correlation was also observed between trait anxiety and PI20 (r = 0.268, p = 0.04). In contrast, there was no correlation between CFMT and VPTA-FFT with respect to STAI. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis also suggested that the correlation between the performance on the PI20 (self-report) and objective measures of face recognition performance (the CFMT and the VPTA-FFT) are driven by differences in anxiety. This study is the first to explore the relationship between face recognition abilities and anxiety using the PI20 self-report measure. There are implications for future research on the diagnosis of DP and the relationship between anxiety and face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuka Oishi
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, 1398 Shimami-cho, Kita-ku, Niigata City, Niigata 950-3198, Japan; Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Graduate School Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Shimami-cho, Kita-ku, Niigata City, Niigata 950-3198, Japan.
| | - Kaede Aruga
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, 1398 Shimami-cho, Kita-ku, Niigata City, Niigata 950-3198, Japan
| | - Kohei Kurita
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba City, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
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17
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Stantić M, Knyspel J, Gaches A, Liu Y, Bird G, Catmur C. The Oxford Face Matching Test: Short-form alternative. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:893-897. [PMID: 37278595 PMCID: PMC10960320 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231182933] [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: 08/31/2022] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A recently published test of face perception, the Oxford Face Matching Test, asks participants to make two judgements: whether two faces are of the same individual and how perceptually similar the two faces are. In this study, we sought to determine to what extent the test can be shortened by removing the perceptual similarity judgements and whether this affects test performance. In Experiment 1, participants completed two versions of the test, with and without similarity judgements, in separate sessions in counterbalanced order. The version without similarity judgements took approximately 40% less time to complete. Performance on the matching judgements did not differ across versions and the correlation in accuracy across the two versions was comparable with the originally reported test-retest reliability value. Experiment 2 validated the version without similarity judgements against other measures, demonstrating moderate relationships with other face matching, memory, and self-report face perception measures. These data indicate that a test version without the similarity judgements can substantially reduce administration time without affecting test performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirta Stantić
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jacob Knyspel
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Akhina Gaches
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Yining Liu
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Geoffrey Bird
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Caroline Catmur
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
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18
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Epihova G, Astle DE. What is developmental about developmental prosopagnosia? Cortex 2024; 173:333-338. [PMID: 38460488 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.006] [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: 09/04/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/11/2024]
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by difficulties recognising face identities and is associated with diverse co-occurring object recognition difficulties. The high co-occurrence rate and heterogeneity of associated difficulties in DP is an intrinsic feature of developmental conditions, where co-occurrence of difficulties is the rule, rather than the exception. However, despite its name, cognitive and neural theories of DP rarely consider the developmental context in which these difficulties occur. This leaves a large gap in our understanding of how DP emerges in light of the developmental trajectory of face recognition. Here, we argue that progress in the field requires re-considering the developmental origins of differences in face recognition abilities, rather than studying the end-state alone. In practice, considering development in DP necessitates a re-evaluation of current approaches in recruitment, design, and analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Epihova
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Duncan E Astle
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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19
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Halder T, Ludwig K, Schenk T. Binocular rivalry reveals differential face processing in congenital prosopagnosia. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6687. [PMID: 38509151 PMCID: PMC10954711 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55023-7] [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: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Congenital Prosopagnosia (CP) is an innate impairment in face perception with heterogeneous characteristics. It is still unclear if and to what degree holistic processing of faces is disrupted in CP. Such disruption would be expected to lead to a focus on local features of the face. In this study, we used binocular rivalry (BR) to implicitly measure face perception in conditions that favour holistic or local processing. The underlying assumption is that if stimulus saliency affects the perceptual dominance of a given stimulus in BR, one can deduce how salient a stimulus is for a given group (here: participants with and without CP) based on the measured perceptual dominance. A further open question is whether the deficit in face processing in CP extends to the processing of the facial display of emotions. In experiment 1, we compared predominance of upright and inverted faces displaying different emotions (fearful, happy, neutral) vs. houses between participants with CP (N = 21) and with normal face perception (N = 21). The results suggest that CP observers process emotions in faces automatically but rely more on local features than controls. The inversion of faces, which is supposed to disturb holistic processing, affected controls in a more pronounced way than participants with CP. In experiment 2, we introduced the Thatcher effect in BR by inverting the eye and mouth regions of the presented faces in the hope of further increasing the effect of face inversion. However, our expectations were not borne out by the results. Critically, both experiments showed that inversion effects were more pronounced in controls than in CP, suggesting that holistic face processing is less relevant in CP. We find BR to be a useful implicit test for assessing visual processing specificities in neurological participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa Halder
- Clinical Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstraße 13, 80802, München, Germany.
| | - Karin Ludwig
- Clinical Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstraße 13, 80802, München, Germany
| | - Thomas Schenk
- Clinical Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstraße 13, 80802, München, Germany.
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20
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Kho SK, Leong BQZ, Keeble DRT, Wong HK, Estudillo AJ. A new Asian version of the CFMT: The Cambridge Face Memory Test - Chinese Malaysian (CFMT-MY). Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:1192-1206. [PMID: 36971958 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02085-6] [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] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
Abstract
The Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) is one of the most important measures of individual differences in face recognition and for the diagnosis of prosopagnosia. Having two different CFMT versions using a different set of faces seems to improve the reliability of the evaluation. However, at the present time, there is only one Asian version of the test. In this study, we present the Cambridge Face Memory Test - Chinese Malaysian (CFMT-MY), a novel Asian CFMT using Chinese Malaysian faces. In Experiment 1, Chinese Malaysian participants (N = 134) completed two versions of the Asian CFMT and one object recognition test. The CFMT-MY showed a normal distribution, high internal reliability, high consistency and presented convergent and divergent validity. Additionally, in contrast to the original Asian CFMT, the CFMT-MY showed an increasing level of difficulties across stages. In Experiment 2, Caucasian participants (N = 135) completed the two versions of the Asian CFMT and the original Caucasian CFMT. Results showed that the CFMT-MY exhibited the other-race effect. Overall, the CFMT-MY seems to be suitable for the diagnosis of face recognition difficulties and could be used as a measure of face recognition ability by researchers who wish to examine face-related research questions such as individual differences or the other-race effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siew Kei Kho
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
| | - Bryan Qi Zheng Leong
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - David R T Keeble
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Hoo Keat Wong
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Alejandro J Estudillo
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole House Talbot Campus, BH12, Bournemouth, UK.
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21
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Westermann JF, Schäfer R, Nordmann M, Richter P, Müller T, Franz M. Measuring facial mimicry: Affdex vs. EMG. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0290569. [PMID: 38165847 PMCID: PMC10760767 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Facial mimicry is the automatic imitation of the facial affect expressions of others. It serves as an important component of interpersonal communication and affective co-experience. Facial mimicry has so far been measured by Electromyography (EMG), which requires a complex measuring apparatus. Recently, software for measuring facial expressions have become available, but it is still unclear how well it is suited for measuring facial mimicry. This study investigates the comparability of the automated facial coding software Affdex with EMG for measuring facial mimicry. For this purpose, facial mimicry was induced in 33 subjects by presenting naturalistic affect-expressive video sequences (anger, joy). The response of the subjects is measured simultaneously by facial EMG (corrugator supercilii muscle, zygomaticus major muscle) and by Affdex (action units lip corner puller and brow lowerer and affects joy and anger). Subsequently, the correlations between the measurement results of EMG and Affdex were calculated. After the presentation of the joy stimulus, there was an increase in zygomaticus muscle activity (EMG) about 400 ms after stimulus onset and an increase in joy and lip corner puller activity (Affdex) about 1200 ms after stimulus onset. The joy and the lip corner puller activity detected by Affdex correlate significantly with the EMG activity. After presentation of the anger stimulus, corrugator muscle activity (EMG) also increased approximately 400 ms after stimulus onset, whereas anger and brow lowerer activity (Affdex) showed no response. During the entire measurement interval, anger activity and brow lowerer activity (Affdex) did not correlate with corrugator muscle activity (EMG). Using Affdex, the facial mimicry response to a joy stimulus can be measured, but it is detected approximately 800 ms later compared to the EMG. Thus, electromyography remains the tool of choice for studying subtle mimic processes like facial mimicry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan-Frederik Westermann
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Ralf Schäfer
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Marc Nordmann
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Peter Richter
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Tobias Müller
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Matthias Franz
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
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22
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Kramer RS, Tree JJ. Investigating people's metacognitive insight into their own face abilities. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023:17470218231218662. [PMID: 37997434 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231218662] [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: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
Within the domain of face processing, researchers have been interested in quantifying the relationship between objective (i.e., performance on laboratory tests of recognition and matching) and subjective measures of ability (typically, self-report questionnaires). Put simply, do people show high levels of metacognitive insight into their own abilities with faces? Although several studies have suggested that the association between these two types of measures may only be moderate, there remain several important issues that require consideration before this question can be sensibly investigated. First, specificity is needed regarding both objective and subjective measurements because both tend to span a wide range of potentially separable abilities. Second, experimental tasks appear to focus on different contexts to those tapped in self-report questionnaire items. Third, recent issues with statistical approaches and visualisation can result in numerical artefacts and misinterpretations. Finally, the sizes of population-level insights suggested by recent work provide only limited information regarding individuals within these populations, and so researchers aiming to identify people at the extremes of ability must be careful when drawing conclusions. Taken together, we argue that more attention to these issues is needed when attempting to investigate metacognitive insight within this domain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jeremy J Tree
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
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23
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Fry R, Li X, Evans TC, Esterman M, Tanaka J, DeGutis J. Investigating the Influence of Autism Spectrum Traits on Face Processing Mechanisms in Developmental Prosopagnosia. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:4787-4808. [PMID: 36173532 PMCID: PMC10812037 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05705-w] [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: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Autism traits are common exclusionary criteria in developmental prosopagnosia (DP) studies. We investigated whether autism traits produce qualitatively different face processing in 43 DPs with high vs. low autism quotient (AQ) scores. Compared to controls (n = 27), face memory and perception were similarly deficient in the high- and low-AQ DPs, with the high-AQ DP group additionally showing deficient face emotion recognition. Task-based fMRI revealed reduced occipito-temporal face selectivity in both groups, with high-AQ DPs additionally demonstrating decreased posterior superior temporal sulcus selectivity. Resting-state fMRI showed similar reduced face-selective network connectivity in both DP groups compared with controls. Together, this demonstrates that high- and low-AQ DP groups have very similar face processing deficits, with additional facial emotion deficits in high-AQ DPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regan Fry
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Ave., 182JP, Boston, MA, 02130, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Xian Li
- Psychological and Brain Science Department, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Travis C Evans
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Ave., 182JP, Boston, MA, 02130, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael Esterman
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Ave., 182JP, Boston, MA, 02130, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
- National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
| | - James Tanaka
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
| | - Joseph DeGutis
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Ave., 182JP, Boston, MA, 02130, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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24
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Burns EJ, Gaunt E, Kidane B, Hunter L, Pulford J. A new approach to diagnosing and researching developmental prosopagnosia: Excluded cases are impaired too. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:4291-4314. [PMID: 36459376 PMCID: PMC9718472 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-02017-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia is characterized by severe, lifelong difficulties when recognizing facial identity. Unfortunately, the most common diagnostic assessment (Cambridge Face Memory Test) misses 50-65% of individuals who believe that they have this condition. This results in such excluded cases' absence from scientific knowledge, effect sizes of impairment potentially overestimated, treatment efficacy underrated, and may elicit in them a negative experience of research. To estimate their symptomology and group-level impairments in face processing, we recruited a large cohort who believes that they have prosopagnosia. Matching prior reports, 56% did not meet criteria on the Cambridge Face Memory Test. However, the severity of their prosopagnosia symptoms and holistic perception deficits were comparable to those who did meet criteria. Excluded cases also exhibited face perception and memory impairments that were roughly one standard deviation below neurotypical norms, indicating the presence of objective problems. As the prosopagnosia index correctly classified virtually every case, we propose it should be the primary method for providing a diagnosis, prior to subtype categorization. We present researchers with a plan on how they can analyze these excluded prosopagnosia cases in their future work without negatively impacting their traditional findings. We anticipate such inclusion will enhance scientific knowledge, more accurately estimate effect sizes of impairments and treatments, and identify commonalities and distinctions between these different forms of prosopagnosia. Owing to their atypicalities in visual perception, we recommend that the prosopagnosia index should be used to screen out potential prosopagnosia cases from broader vision research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J Burns
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK.
| | - Elizabeth Gaunt
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Betiel Kidane
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Lucy Hunter
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Jaylea Pulford
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
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25
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Mihara M, Izumika R, Tsukiura T. Remembering unexpected beauty: Contributions of the ventral striatum to the processing of reward prediction errors regarding the facial attractiveness in face memory. Neuroimage 2023; 282:120408. [PMID: 37838105 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120408] [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: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has led people to predict facial attractiveness from partially covered faces. Differences in the predicted and observed facial attractiveness (i.e., masked and unmasked faces, respectively) are defined as reward prediction error (RPE) in a social context. Cognitive neuroscience studies have elucidated the neural mechanisms underlying RPE-induced memory improvements in terms of monetary rewards. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying RPE-induced memory modulation in terms of social rewards. To elucidate this, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated activity and functional connectivity during face encoding. In encoding trials, participants rated the predicted attractiveness of faces covered except for around the eyes (prediction phase) and then rated the observed attractiveness of these faces without any cover (outcome phase). The difference in ratings between these phases was defined as RPE in facial attractiveness, and RPE was categorized into positive RPE (increased RPE from the prediction to outcome phases), negative RPE (decreased RPE from the prediction to outcome phases), and non-RPE (no difference in RPE between the prediction and outcome phases). During retrieval, participants were presented with individual faces that had been seen and unseen in the encoding trials, and were required to judge whether or not each face had been seen in the encoding trials. Univariate activity in the ventral striatum (VS) exhibited a linear increase with increased RPE in facial attractiveness. In the multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), activity patterns in the VS and surrounding areas (extended VS) significantly discriminated between positive/negative RPE and non-RPE. In the functional connectivity analysis, significant functional connectivity between the extended VS and the hippocampus was observed most frequently in positive RPE. Memory improvements by face-based RPE could be involved in functional networks between the extended VS (representing RPE) and the hippocampus, and the interaction could be modulated by RPE values in a social context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moe Mihara
- Department of Cognitive, Behavioral and Health Sciences, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-Cho Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Reina Izumika
- Department of Cognitive, Behavioral and Health Sciences, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-Cho Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Takashi Tsukiura
- Department of Cognitive, Behavioral and Health Sciences, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-Cho Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
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26
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Kamensek T, Susilo T, Iarocci G, Oruc I. Are people with autism prosopagnosic? Autism Res 2023; 16:2100-2109. [PMID: 37740564 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3030] [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: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Difficulties in various face processing tasks have been well documented in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several meta-analyses and numerous case-control studies have indicated that this population experiences a moderate degree of impairment, with a small percentage of studies failing to detect any impairment. One possible account of this mixed pattern of findings is heterogeneity in face processing abilities stemming from the presence of a subpopulation of prosopagnosic individuals with ASD alongside those with normal face processing skills. Samples randomly drawn from such a population, especially relatively smaller ones, would vary in the proportion of participants with prosopagnosia, resulting in a wide range of group-level deficits from mild (or none) to severe across studies. We test this prosopagnosic subpopulation hypothesis by examining three groups of participants: adults with ASD, adults with developmental prosopagnosia (DP), and a comparison group. Our results show that the prosopagnosic subpopulation hypothesis does not account for the face impairments in the broader autism spectrum. ASD observers show a continuous and graded, rather than categorical, heterogeneity that span a range of face processing skills including many with mild to moderate deficits, inconsistent with a prosopagnosic subtype account. We suggest that pathogenic origins of face deficits for at least some with ASD differ from those of DP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd Kamensek
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Tirta Susilo
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Grace Iarocci
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Ipek Oruc
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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27
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Mannion R, Harikumar A, Morales-Calva F, Leal SL. A novel face-name mnemonic discrimination task with naturalistic stimuli. Neuropsychologia 2023; 189:108678. [PMID: 37661039 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Difficulty remembering faces and names is a common struggle for many people and gets more difficult as we age. Subtle changes in appearance from day to day, common facial characteristics across individuals, and overlap of names may contribute to the difficulty of learning face-name associations. Computational models suggest the hippocampus plays a key role in reducing interference across experiences with overlapping information by performing pattern separation, which enables us to encode similar experiences as distinct from one another. Thus, given the nature of overlapping features within face-name associative memory, hippocampal pattern separation may be an important underlying mechanism supporting this type of memory. Furthermore, cross-species approaches find that aging is associated with deficits in hippocampal pattern separation. Mnemonic discrimination tasks have been designed to tax hippocampal pattern separation and provide a more sensitive measure of age-related cognitive decline compared to traditional memory tasks. However, traditional face-name associative memory tasks do not parametrically vary overlapping features of faces and names to tax hippocampal pattern separation and often lack naturalistic facial features (e.g., hair, accessories, similarity of features, emotional expressions). Here, we developed a face-name mnemonic discrimination task where we varied face stimuli by similarity, race, sex, and emotional expression as well as the similarity of name stimuli. We tested a sample of healthy young and older adults on this task and found that both age groups showed worsening performance as face-name interference increased. Overall, older adults struggled to remember faces and face-name pairs more than young adults. However, while young adults remembered emotional faces better than neutral faces, older adults selectively remembered positive faces. Thus, the use of a face-name association memory task designed with varying levels of face-name interference as well as the inclusion of naturalistic face stimuli across race, sex, and emotional expressions provides a more nuanced approach relative to traditional face-name association tasks toward understanding age-related changes in memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renae Mannion
- Psychological Sciences, Rice University, 6500 Main St, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | - Amritha Harikumar
- Psychological Sciences, Rice University, 6500 Main St, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | | | - Stephanie L Leal
- Psychological Sciences, Rice University, 6500 Main St, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
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28
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Dance CJ, Hole G, Simner J. The role of visual imagery in face recognition and the construction of facial composites. Evidence from Aphantasia. Cortex 2023; 167:318-334. [PMID: 37597266 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/21/2023]
Abstract
People with aphantasia have a markedly impaired ability to form visual images in the mind's eye. Here, by testing people with and without aphantasia, we examine the relationship between visual imagery and face processing. We show that aphantasics have weaker face recognition than people with visual imagery, using both self-report (Prosopagnosia Index) and behavioural measures (Cambridge Face Memory Test). However, aphantasics nonetheless have a fully intact ability to construct facial composites from memory (i.e., composites produced using EFIT6 by aphantasics and imagers were rated as equally accurate in terms of their resemblance to a target face). Additionally, we show that aphantasics were less able than imagers to see the resemblance between composites and a target face, suggestive of potential issues with face matching (perception). Finally, we show that holistic and featural methods of composite construction using EFIT6 produce equally accurate composites. Our results suggest that face recognition, but not face composite construction, is facilitated by the ability to represent visual properties as 'pictures in the mind'. Our findings have implications for the study of aphantasia, and also for forensic settings, where face composite systems are commonly used to aid criminal investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla J Dance
- School of Psychology, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, UK.
| | - Graham Hole
- School of Psychology, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, UK
| | - Julia Simner
- School of Psychology, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, UK
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29
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Monzel M, Vetterlein A, Hogeterp SA, Reuter M. No increased prevalence of prosopagnosia in aphantasia: Visual recognition deficits are small and not restricted to faces. Perception 2023; 52:629-644. [PMID: 37321679 DOI: 10.1177/03010066231180712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Aphantasia and prosopagnosia are both rare conditions with impairments in visual cognition. While prosopagnosia refers to a face recognition deficit, aphantasics exhibit a lack of mental imagery. Current object recognition theories propose an interplay of perception and mental representations, making an association between recognition performance and visual imagery plausible. While the literature assumes a link between aphantasia and prosopagnosia, other impairments in aphantasia have been shown to be rather global. Therefore, we assumed that aphantasics do not solely exhibit impairments in face recognition but rather in general visual recognition performance, probably moderated by stimulus complexity. To test this hypothesis, 65 aphantasics were compared to 55 controls in a face recognition task, the Cambridge Face Memory Test, and a corresponding object recognition task, the Cambridge Car Memory Test. In both tasks, aphantasics performed worse than controls, indicating mild recognition deficits without face-specificity. Additional correlations between imagery vividness and performance in both tasks were found, suggesting that visual imagery influences visual recognition not only in imagery extremes. Stimulus complexity produced the expected moderation effect but only for the whole imagery-spectrum and only with face stimuli. Overall, the results imply that aphantasia is linked to a general but mild deficit in visual recognition.
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30
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Bell L, Duchaine B, Susilo T. Dissociations between face identity and face expression processing in developmental prosopagnosia. Cognition 2023; 238:105469. [PMID: 37216847 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105469] [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: 10/31/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DPs) experience severe and lifelong deficits recognising faces, but whether their deficits are selective to the processing of face identity or extend to the processing of face expression remains unclear. Clarifying this issue is important for understanding DP impairments and advancing theories of face processing. We compared identity and expression processing in a large sample of DPs (N = 124) using three different matching tasks that each assessed identity and expression processing with identical experimental formats. We ran each task in upright and inverted orientations and we measured inversion effects to assess the integrity of upright-specific face processes. We report three main results. First, DPs showed large deficits at discriminating identity but only subtle deficits at discriminating expression. Second, DPs showed a reduced inversion effect for identity but a normal inversion effect for expression. Third, DPs' performance on the expression tasks were linked to autism traits, but their performance on the identity tasks were not. These results constitute several dissociations between identity and expression processing in DP, and they are consistent with the view that the core impairment in DP is highly selective to identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Bell
- Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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31
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Dal Lago D, Burns E, Gaunt E, Peers E, Jackson RC, Wilcockson TDW. Alcohol Use Predicts Face Perception Impairments and Difficulties in Face Recognition. Subst Use Misuse 2023; 58:1734-1741. [PMID: 37602741 DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2023.2247059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Background: Risky alcohol use is related to a variety of cognitive impairments, including memory and visuo-perceptual difficulties. Remarkably, no prior work has assessed whether usage of alcohol can predict difficulties perceiving facial identity. Objectives: Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether riskier alcohol consumption predicted impairments in face perception and self-reported difficulties in face recognition. Results: Participants (N = 239, male = 77) were over 18 years old and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Alcohol use was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), while face recognition difficulties were determined by the 20-item Prosopagnosia Index questionnaire (PI20). A subsample of participants (N = 126, male = 51) completed the Cambridge Face Perception task (CFPT) to assess their face perception ability. Multiple linear regressions showed significant models of prediction on both face perception and face recognition when considering AUDIT score and age as predictors. Conclusion: This study suggested, for the first time, that risky alcohol use predicts both poorer visuo-perceptual processing for faces and self-reported difficulties in face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise Dal Lago
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
| | - Edwin Burns
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Elizabeth Gaunt
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Emma Peers
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
| | - Robin C Jackson
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
| | - Thomas D W Wilcockson
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
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32
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Ma W, Xiao Z, Wu Y, Zhang X, Zheng D, Lei X, Han C. Face Blindness in Children and Current Interventions. Behav Sci (Basel) 2023; 13:676. [PMID: 37622816 PMCID: PMC10451769 DOI: 10.3390/bs13080676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Children with prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, struggle to recognize the faces of acquaintances, which can have a negative impact on their social interactions and overall functioning. This paper reviews existing research on interventions for children with prosopagnosia, including compensatory and remedial strategies, and provides a summary and comparison of their effectiveness. However, despite the availability of these interventions, their effectiveness remains limited and constrained by various factors. The lack of a widely accepted treatment for children with prosopagnosia emphasizes the need for further research to improve intervention strategies. Last, three future research directions were proposed to improve interventions for prosopagnosia, including ecological approaches, the social challenges faced by children, and new potential intervention methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weina Ma
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Zeyu Xiao
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Yannan Wu
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Xiaoxian Zhang
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Dongwen Zheng
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Xue Lei
- School of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Chengyang Han
- Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
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33
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Portch E, Wignall L, Bate S. Why can people with developmental prosopagnosia recognise some familiar faces? Insights from subjective experience. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15497. [PMID: 37483961 PMCID: PMC10361072 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia is a relatively common visuo-cognitive condition, characterised by impaired facial identity recognition. Impairment severity appears to reside on a continuum, however, it is unknown whether instances of milder deficits reflect the successful use of spontaneous (typical) face recognition strategies, or the application of extraneous compensatory cues to recognition. Here, we explore this issue in two studies. First, 23 adults with developmental prosopagnosia were asked about their use of spontaneous versus compensatory face recognition techniques in everyday life, using a series of closed- and open-ended questions. Second, the same participants performed a computerised famous face recognition task where they were asked to provide reasons why they could make any successful identifications. Findings from both studies suggest that people with developmental prosopagnosia can successfully, and quite frequently, use compensatory strategies to recognition, and that these cues support the majority of instances of preserved familiar face recognition. In contrast, 16 of the 23 participants were able to spontaneously recognise familiar faces on at least some occasions, but there were vast individual differences in frequencies of success. These findings have important implications for our conceptualisation of the condition, as well as for diagnostic practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Portch
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
| | - Liam Wignall
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Bate
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
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34
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Takahashi J, Saito G, Omura K, Yasunaga D, Sugimura S, Sakamoto S, Horikawa T, Gyoba J. Diversity of aphantasia revealed by multiple assessments of visual imagery, multisensory imagery, and cognitive style. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1174873. [PMID: 37546458 PMCID: PMC10403065 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1174873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Aphantasia-a condition wherein individuals have a reduced or absent construction of voluntary visual imagery-is diagnosed using either the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) or self-identification. However, a significant discrepancy exists between the proportions of aphantasia in the populations assessed using these two criteria. It is unclear why the reported proportions differ excessively and what percentage of people cannot form visual imagery. We investigated the replicability of the proportion of people with aphantasia using both criteria in the same population of participants. Therefore, we explored the potential causes of the discrepancy and characteristics of putative aphantasia in terms of multisensory imagery, cognitive style, and face recognition ability. First, we conducted an online sampling study (Study 1: N = 2,871) using the VVIQ, self-identification of a reduction in visual imagery, Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery (QMI), and Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire (VVQ). We found that 3.7 and 12.1% fulfilled the VVIQ and self-identification criteria, respectively, roughly replicating the proportions reported in previous studies. The self-identification criterion-but not the VVIQ criterion-contains items related to face recognition; hence, we suspected that face recognition ability was factor contributing to this discrepancy and conducted another online sampling study (Study 2: N = 774). We found a significant correlation between VVIQ and face recognition ability in the control group with self-identification, but not in the group defined by low VVIQ (VVIQ ≤32). As the participants in the control group with self-identification tended to exhibit moderately high VVIQ scores but low face recognition ability, we reason that the discrepancy can be partially explained by the contamination of individual differences in face recognition ability. Additional analyses of Study 1 revealed that the aphantasia group included participants who lacked all types of sensory imagery or only visual imagery in multisensory imagery and exhibited a non-specific cognitive style. This study indicates that the VVIQ alone may be insufficient to diagnose individuals who report an inability to form visual imagery. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of multiple assessments-along with the VVIQ-to better understand the diversity of imagery in aphantasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junichi Takahashi
- Faculty of Human Development and Culture, Fukushima University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Godai Saito
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Kazufumi Omura
- Faculty of Education, Art and Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Daichi Yasunaga
- Faculty of Letters, College of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | | | - Shuichi Sakamoto
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Tomoyasu Horikawa
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Atsugi, Japan
| | - Jiro Gyoba
- Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Education, Shokei Gakuin University, Natori, Japan
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35
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Joseph RA, Carter B. Prosopagnosia (face blindness) and child health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurs Child Young People 2023; 35:28-34. [PMID: 36688257 DOI: 10.7748/ncyp.2023.e1454] [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] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Prosopagnosia or 'face blindness' is the inability to recognise people's faces. There are two types: congenital or developmental prosopagnosia, which is the most common, and acquired prosopagnosia, which may occur secondary to brain tumours, stroke or other brain disorders. The authors of this article explored if mask wearing as a result of the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may affect social and developmental outcomes in children, including the development of prosopagnosia. Limited research on this topic is available and, although some relevant publications were found, no definitive evidence of mask-induced prosopagnosia in children was identified. However, nurses should be aware of this issue and discuss coping strategies to support children with the condition. Longitudinal studies on outcomes in children from different age groups who grew up during the COVID-19 pandemic will provide further insight.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Beth Carter
- Liberty University School of Nursing, Lynchburg VA, US
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36
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DeGutis J, Bahierathan K, Barahona K, Lee E, Evans TC, Shin HM, Mishra M, Likitlersuang J, Wilmer JB. What is the prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia? An empirical assessment of different diagnostic cutoffs. Cortex 2023; 161:51-64. [PMID: 36905701 PMCID: PMC10065901 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Revised: 10/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia (DP), lifelong face recognition deficits, is widely reported to be 2-2.5%. However, DP has been diagnosed in different ways across studies, resulting in differing prevalence rates. In the current investigation, we estimated the range of DP prevalence by administering well-validated objective and subjective face recognition measures to an unselected web-based sample of 3116 18-55 year-olds and applying DP diagnostic cutoffs from the last 14 years. We found estimated prevalence rates ranged from .64-5.42% when using a z-score approach and .13-2.95% when using a percentile approach, with the most commonly used cutoffs by researchers having a prevalence rate of .93% (z-score, .45% when using percentiles). We next used multiple cluster analyses to examine whether there was a natural grouping of poorer face recognizers but failed to find consistent grouping beyond those with generally above versus below average face recognition. Lastly, we investigated whether DP studies with more relaxed diagnostic cutoffs were associated with better performance on the Cambridge Face Perception Test. In a sample of 43 studies, there was a weak nonsignificant association between greater diagnostic strictness and better DP face perception accuracy (Kendall's tau-b correlation, τb =.18 z-score; τb = .11 percentiles). Together, these results suggest that researchers have used more conservative DP diagnostic cutoffs than the widely reported 2-2.5% prevalence. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using more inclusive cutoffs, such as identifying mild and major forms of DP based on DSM-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph DeGutis
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Kanisha Bahierathan
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Katherine Barahona
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - EunMyoung Lee
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Travis C Evans
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hye Min Shin
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Maruti Mishra
- Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Jirapat Likitlersuang
- Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jeremy B Wilmer
- Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
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37
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Tagliente S, Passarelli M, D'Elia V, Palmisano A, Dunn JD, Masini M, Lanciano T, Curci A, Rivolta D. Self-reported face recognition abilities moderately predict face-learning skills: Evidence from Italian samples. Heliyon 2023; 9:e14125. [PMID: 36915548 PMCID: PMC10006496 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Face Recognition Ability (FRA) varies widely throughout the population. Previous research highlights a positive relationship between self-perceived and objectively measured FRA in the healthy population, suggesting that people do have insight into their FRA. Given that this relationship has not been investigated in Italian samples yet, the main aim of the present work was to develop an Italian translation of the Prosopagnosia Index-20 (PI-20), a self-report measure of FRA, to investigate the relationship between PI-20 performances and an objective assessment given by the Cambridge Face Memory Test Long Form (CFMT+) in the Italian population. A sample of 553 participants filled in the PI-20 Italian version 1 or 2 (PI-20_GE or PI-20_BA) and completed the CFMT+. Results showed a negative correlation between both versions of the Italian PI-20 and CFMT+ scores, meaning that the more self-evaluations were negative, the worse they objectively performed. The same results applied to the extreme limits of the distribution (i.e., 10% of the highest and lowest PI-20 scores). Furthermore, both age and administration order of the tests were predictor variables of CFMT+ scores. Overall, our results suggest that people possess insight, although relatively limited, into their FRA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Tagliente
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Marcello Passarelli
- Institute of Educational Technology, National Research Council, Genova, Italy
| | - Vitiana D'Elia
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Annalisa Palmisano
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - James D Dunn
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, (UNSW), Sydney, Australia
| | - Michele Masini
- Valorizzazione Innovazione Empowerment s.r.l. (VIE), Genova, Italy
| | - Tiziana Lanciano
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Antonietta Curci
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Davide Rivolta
- Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
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38
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Rahavi A, Malaspina M, Albonico A, Barton JJS. "Looking at nothing": An implicit ocular motor index of face recognition in developmental prosopagnosia. Cogn Neuropsychol 2023; 40:59-70. [PMID: 37612792 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2023.2250510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
Subjects often look towards to previous location of a stimulus related to a task even when that stimulus is no longer visible. In this study we asked whether this effect would be preserved or reduced in subjects with developmental prosopagnosia. Participants learned faces presented in video-clips and then saw a brief montage of four faces, which was replaced by a screen with empty boxes, at which time they indicated whether the learned face had been present in the montage. Control subjects were more likely to look at the blank location where the learned face had appeared, on both hit and miss trials, though the effect was larger on hit trials. Prosopagnosic subjects showed a reduced effect, though still better on hit than on miss trials. We conclude that explicit accuracy and our implicit looking at nothing effect are parallel effects reflecting the strength of the neural activity underlying face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aida Rahavi
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Manuela Malaspina
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Andrea Albonico
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Departments of Medicine (Neurology), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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39
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The Danish Version of the 20-Item Prosopagnosia Index (PI20): Translation, Validation and a Link to Face Perception. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020337. [PMID: 36831880 PMCID: PMC9954571 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by face recognition problems. Psychometrically sound self-report measures of face recognition problems are important tools in classification of DP. A widely used measure of such problems is the 20-item prosopagnosia index (PI20). Here, we present a Danish translation of the PI20 (PI20DK). We administered the PI20DK alongside three objective measures of face and object processing performance to 119 participants to validate the PI20DK. Further, we assess the underlying factor structure of the PI20DK. Finally, as the first study in the field, we investigate the association between self-reported face recognition ability and face perception performance. The project was preregistered prior to data collection. The results suggest excellent convergent validity, discriminant validity and internal consistency for the PI20DK. A confirmatory factor analysis, however, indicates a suboptimal fit of the PI20DK to a one factor solution. An investigation of the association between the PI20DK and face perception suggests that the poor fit may reflect that the PI20DK measures problems with face recognition in general and not specifically face memory problems.
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40
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Kramer RSS. Face matching and metacognition: investigating individual differences and a training intervention. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14821. [PMID: 36718455 PMCID: PMC9884031 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Although researchers have begun to consider metacognitive insight during face matching, little is known about the underlying mechanism. Here, I investigated whether objective ability, as well as self-assessed ability, were able to predict metacognitive performance, that is, the ability to differentiate correct and incorrect responses in terms of confidence. In addition, I considered whether a training intervention resulted in improvements to both face matching performance and metacognitive insight. Methods In this experiment (N = 220), participants completed a face matching task, with either a diagnostic feature training course or a control course presented at the halfway point. In addition, a second face matching task, as well as a self-report questionnaire regarding ability, were completed to provide measures of objective and self-assessed ability respectively. Results Higher self-assessed ability with faces, as well as higher objective ability with face matching, predicted better metacognitive performance, i.e., greater confidence in correct, in comparison with incorrect, responses. This pattern of results was evident both when objective ability was measured through performance on the same task used to measure metacognitive insight and when a different task was used. Finally, the training intervention failed to produce improvements in face matching performance and showed no evidence of altering metacognitive ability. Discussion The current work begins to address the mechanism underlying individual differences in metacognitive insight during face matching. Although support was provided for a competence-based account, where better face matchers showed greater performance on the task and were more successful in monitoring their performance, further work might focus on decoupling task performance and competence in order to more conclusively explain why some people are more insightful than others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin S. S. Kramer
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
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41
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Looking at faces in the wild. Sci Rep 2023; 13:783. [PMID: 36646709 PMCID: PMC9842722 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25268-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces are key to everyday social interactions, but our understanding of social attention is based on experiments that present images of faces on computer screens. Advances in wearable eye-tracking devices now enable studies in unconstrained natural settings but this approach has been limited by manual coding of fixations. Here we introduce an automatic 'dynamic region of interest' approach that registers eye-fixations to bodies and faces seen while a participant moves through the environment. We show that just 14% of fixations are to faces of passersby, contrasting with prior screen-based studies that suggest faces automatically capture visual attention. We also demonstrate the potential for this new tool to help understand differences in individuals' social attention, and the content of their perceptual exposure to other people. Together, this can form the basis of a new paradigm for studying social attention 'in the wild' that opens new avenues for theoretical, applied and clinical research.
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42
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Pieslinger JF, Wiskerke J, Igelström K. Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:1046097. [PMID: 36620857 PMCID: PMC9817135 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1046097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Quantitative autistic-like traits (QATs) are a constellation of traits that mirror those of clinical autism and are thought to share the same mechanisms as the condition. There is great interest in identifying the genetic and neurobiological basis of QATs, but progress is hindered by the composite nature of these clinically based constructs. Social QATs are defined according to the diagnostic criteria for autism, comprising multiple potential neural mechanisms that may contribute to varying degrees. The objective of this study was to decompose social QATs into more specific constructs, in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We chose constructs with trait-like properties and known or suggested significance for autistic social function: (1) social anhedonia, (2) prosopagnosia (face blindness), and (3) mentalizing (attributing mental states to images of eyes). We hypothesized that these constructs may all contribute to observed variance in social QATs. Methods We recruited 148 adults with a broad range of QATs (mean age 37.9 years, range 18-69; 50% female; 5.4% autistic) to an experimental behavioral study conducted online. We estimated social QATs using the social factor of the Comprehensive Autistic Traits Inventory. We used the Oxford Face Matching Task and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test to measure face matching ability and mentalizing, respectively. Social anhedonia traits were measured with the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale, and prosopagnosic traits with the 20-item Prosopagnosia Index. A combination of frequentist and Bayesian statistics was used to test the social constructs as predictors of social QATs. Results We found that social anhedonic traits, prosopagnosic traits, and face matching performance were likely predictors of social QATs, whereas mentalizing showed limited contribution. Conclusion The findings support prosopagnosic and anhedonic traits, but not mentalizing deficits, as dimensional predictors of individual differences in social function across the autistic spectrum. Further, the study strongly suggests that social reward systems and face processing networks play significant and independent roles in autistic-like social function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan F. Pieslinger
- Division of Neurobiology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Joost Wiskerke
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Kajsa Igelström
- Division of Neurobiology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden,*Correspondence: Kajsa Igelström,
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43
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Tucciarelli R, Vehar N, Chandaria S, Tsakiris M. On the realness of people who do not exist: The social processing of artificial faces. iScience 2022; 25:105441. [PMID: 36590465 PMCID: PMC9801245 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Today more than ever, we are asked to evaluate the realness, truthfulness and trustworthiness of our social world. Here, we focus on how people evaluate realistic-looking faces of non-existing people generated by generative adversarial networks (GANs). GANs are increasingly used in marketing, journalism, social media, and political propaganda. In three studies, we investigated if and how participants can distinguish between GAN and REAL faces and the social consequences of their exposure to artificial faces. GAN faces were more likely to be perceived as real than REAL faces, a pattern partly explained by intrinsic stimulus characteristics. Moreover, participants' realness judgments influenced their behavior because they displayed increased social conformity toward faces perceived as real, independently of their actual realness. Lastly, knowledge about the presence of GAN faces eroded social trust. Our findings point to potentially far-reaching consequences for the pervasive use of GAN faces in a culture powered by images at unprecedented levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffaele Tucciarelli
- The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London WC1H 0AB, UK,Corresponding author
| | - Neza Vehar
- The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London WC1H 0AB, UK
| | - Shamil Chandaria
- Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London, UK,Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Manos Tsakiris
- The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London WC1H 0AB, UK,Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK,Centre for the Politics of Feelings, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London, UK
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Freud E, Di Giammarino D, Stajduhar A, Rosenbaum RS, Avidan G, Ganel T. Recognition of Masked Faces in the Era of the Pandemic: No Improvement Despite Extensive Natural Exposure. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1635-1650. [DOI: 10.1177/09567976221105459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Face masks, which became prevalent across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic, have had a negative impact on face recognition despite the availability of critical information from uncovered face parts, especially the eyes. An outstanding question is whether face-mask effects would be attenuated following extended natural exposure. This question also pertains, more generally, to face-recognition training protocols. We used the Cambridge Face Memory Test in a cross-sectional study ( N = 1,732 adults) at six different time points over a 20-month period, alongside a 12-month longitudinal study ( N = 208). The results of the experiments revealed persistent deficits in recognition of masked faces and no sign of improvement across time points. Additional experiments verified that the amount of individual experience with masked faces was not correlated with the mask effect. These findings provide compelling evidence that the face-processing system does not easily adapt to visual changes in face stimuli, even following prolonged real-life exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erez Freud
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University
| | | | - Andreja Stajduhar
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University
| | - R. Shayna Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Canada
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Tzvi Ganel
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
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45
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Furman M, Fleitas-Rumak P, Lopez-Segura P, Furman M, Tafet G, de Erausquin GA, Ortiz T. Cortical activity involved in perception and imagery of visual stimuli in a subject with aphantasia. An EEG case report. Neurocase 2022; 28:344-355. [PMID: 36103716 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2022.2122848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Aphantasia has been described as the inability to voluntarily evoke mental images using the "mind's eye." We studied a congenital aphantasic subject using neuropsychological testsand 64 channel EEG recordings, in order to studycortical activity involved in perception and imagery evaluating event-related potentials(N170, P200, N250). The subject is in the normal range of the neuropsychological tests performed, except for specific imagery tests. The EEG results show that when he evokes the same mental image, he starts the evoking process from left temporal instead of frontal areas, he does not activate occipital visual nor left anterior parietal areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariano Furman
- Departamento de Medicina Legal Psiquiatría y Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pablo Fleitas-Rumak
- Departamento de Toxicología y Farmacología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pilar Lopez-Segura
- Departamento de Medicina Legal Psiquiatría y Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Martín Furman
- Asociación Civil Accionar Prevención, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gustavo Tafet
- Fundación Internacional para el Desarrollo de las Neurociencias, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gabriel A de Erausquin
- Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer and Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health San Antonio, USA
| | - Tomás Ortiz
- Departamento de Medicina Legal Psiquiatría y Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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46
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Palermo L, Boccia M, Piccardi L, Nori R. Congenital lack and extraordinary ability in object and spatial imagery: An investigation on sub-types of aphantasia and hyperphantasia. Conscious Cogn 2022; 103:103360. [PMID: 35691243 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2021] [Revised: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Studies that have shown a distinction between object and spatial imagery suggest more than one type of aphantasia and hyperphantasia, yet this has not been systematically investigated in studies on imagery ability extremes. Also, if the involuntary imagery is preserved in aphantasia and how this condition affects other skills is not fully clear. We collected data on spatial and object imagery, retrospective, and prospective memory, face recognition, and sense of direction (SOD), suggesting a distinction between two subtypes of aphantasia/hyperphantasia. Spatial aphantasia is associated with difficulties in visuo-spatial mental imagery and SOD. Instead, in object aphantasia there are difficulties in imaging single items and events - with no mental visualization of objects, out-of-focus, and black-and-white mental images more frequent than expected - in SOD and face recognition. Furthermore, associative involuntary imagery can be spared in aphantasia. The opposite pattern of performance was found in spatial and object hyperphantasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liana Palermo
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, 'Magna Graecia' University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
| | - Maddalena Boccia
- Department of Psychology, 'Sapienza' University of Rome, Rome, Italy; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Piccardi
- Department of Psychology, 'Sapienza' University of Rome, Rome, Italy; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Raffaella Nori
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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47
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Little Z, Palmer C, Susilo T. Normal gaze processing in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex 2022; 154:46-61. [PMID: 35749966 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.011] [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: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Two key functions in human face perception are gaze discrimination and identity recognition. Here we examine whether gaze discrimination can be intact when identity recognition is impaired in developmental prosopagnosia (DP). We ran a large sample of developmental prosopagnosics (DPs) with a series of gaze discrimination tasks that assess various mechanisms in gaze processing. Experiment 1 (N = 101 DP participants) investigates spatial processing using an abnormal eye gaze detection task and a Wollaston illusion task that measures perceptual integration of eye and head direction. Experiment 2 (N = 45 DP participants) investigates temporal processing using an adaptation task and a serial dependence task. Despite their deficits with identity recognition, DPs performed in the normal range across both experiments. These results demonstrate that gaze discrimination can be normal in DP, and that various mechanisms of gaze processing can be spared when identity recognition is impaired. Our findings clarify the highly selective nature of impairments in DP and provide support for neurocognitive models of face perception with distinct mechanisms for gaze and identity processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë Little
- School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Australia; School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
| | | | - Tirta Susilo
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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48
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Tsantani M, Gray KLH, Cook R. New evidence of impaired expression recognition in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex 2022; 154:15-26. [PMID: 35728295 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by lifelong face recognition difficulties. To date, it remains unclear whether or not individuals with DP experience impaired recognition of facial expressions. It has been proposed that DPs may have sufficient perceptual ability to correctly interpret facial expressions when tasks are relatively easy (e.g., the stimuli are unambiguous and viewing conditions are optimal), but exhibit subtle impairments when tested under more challenging conditions. In the present study, we sought to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to test this view. It is well-established that the surgical-type masks worn during the pandemic hinder the recognition and interpretation of facial emotion in typical participants. Relative to typical participants, we hypothesized that DPs may be disproportionately impaired when asked to interpret the facial emotion of people wearing face masks. We compared the ability of 34 DPs and 60 age-matched typical controls to recognize facial emotions i) when the whole face is visible, and ii) when the lower portion of the face is covered with a surgical mask. When expression stimuli were viewed without a mask, the DPs and typical controls exhibited similar levels of performance. However, when expression stimuli were shown with a mask, the DPs showed signs of subtle expression recognition deficits. The DPs were particularly prone to mislabeling masked expressions of happiness as emotion neutral. These results add to a growing body of evidence that under some conditions, DPs do exhibit subtle deficits of expression recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Tsantani
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
| | - Katie L H Gray
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Richard Cook
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK; Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
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49
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Gehdu BK, Gray KLH, Cook R. Impaired grouping of ambient facial images in autism. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6665. [PMID: 35461345 PMCID: PMC9035147 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10630-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Ambient facial images depict individuals from a variety of viewing angles, with a range of poses and expressions, under different lighting conditions. Exposure to ambient images is thought to help observers form robust representations of the individuals depicted. Previous results suggest that autistic people may derive less benefit from exposure to this exemplar variation than non-autistic people. To date, however, it remains unclear why. One possibility is that autistic individuals possess atypical perceptual learning mechanisms. Alternatively, however, the learning mechanisms may be intact, but receive low-quality perceptual input from face encoding processes. To examine this second possibility, we investigated whether autistic people are less able to group ambient images of unfamiliar individuals based on their identity. Participants were asked to identify which of four ambient images depicted an oddball identity. Each trial assessed the grouping of different facial identities, thereby preventing face learning across trials. As such, the task assessed participants’ ability to group ambient images of unfamiliar people. In two experiments we found that matched non-autistic controls correctly identified the oddball identities more often than our autistic participants. These results imply that poor face learning from variation by autistic individuals may well be attributable to low-quality perceptual input, not aberrant learning mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bayparvah Kaur Gehdu
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Katie L H Gray
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Richard Cook
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK. .,Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
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50
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Recognition Of Pareidolic Objects In Developmental Prosopagnosic And Neurotypical Individuals. Cortex 2022; 153:21-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Revised: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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