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Davis EE, Matthews CM, Mondloch CJ. Ensemble coding of facial identity is robust, but may not contribute to face learning. Cognition 2024; 243:105668. [PMID: 38043180 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105668] [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: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Ensemble coding - the rapid extraction of a perceptual average - has been proposed as a potential mechanism underlying face learning. We tested this proposal across five pre-registered experiments in which four ambient images of an identity were presented in the study phase. In Experiments 1 and 2a-c, participants were asked whether a test image was in the study array; these experiments examined the robustness of ensemble coding. Experiment 1 replicated ensemble coding in an online sample; participants recognize images from the study array and the average of those images. Experiments 2a-c provide evidence that ensemble coding meets several criteria of a possible learning mechanism: It is robust to changes in head orientation (± 60o), survives a short (30s) delay, and persists when images of two identities are interleaved during the study phase. Experiment 3 examined whether ensemble coding is sufficient for face learning (i.e., facilitates recognition of novel images of a target identity). Each study array comprised four ambient images (variability + average), a single image, or an average of four images (average only). Participants were asked whether a novel test image showed the identity from a study array. Performance was best in the four-image condition, with no difference between the single-image and average-only conditions. We conclude that ensemble coding of facial identity is robust but that the perceptual average per se is not sufficient for face learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily E Davis
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Claire M Matthews
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Singh B, Gambrell A, Correll J. Face templates for the Chicago Face Database. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:639-645. [PMID: 35396615 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01830-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Researchers often need to manipulate faces, such as developing a continuum between two faces or averaging a set of faces. In order to do so, researchers use morphing software, but they first need to fit a template to the idiosyncratic landmarks in each face. In this paper, we present a set of landmark templates for the Chicago Face Database (CFD; Ma, D. S., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2015). The Chicago Face Database: A free stimulus set of faces and norming data. Behavior Research Methods, 47(4), 1122-1135). The CFD is a free online face database containing images of faces of people from various races and genders. We provide templates for each of 597 neutral (non-expressive) faces in version two of the CFD. Our templates are unique because the facial landmarks were hand placed by researchers. Hand placing facial landmarks allows for more accurate placement of landmarks than a computer-generated template. Historically, hand-placed templates were created by individual labs and not shared. In this paper, we describe how our templates were created, and some possible uses for the templates. We hope that our templates ease the burden for other researchers to manipulate faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balbir Singh
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Muenzinger D343D, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
| | - Ashleigh Gambrell
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Muenzinger D343D, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
| | - Joshua Correll
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Muenzinger D343D, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
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Lee J, Penrod SD. Three‐level meta‐analysis of the other‐race bias in facial identification. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jungwon Lee
- Department of Psychology Hallym University Chuncheon South Korea
| | - Steven D. Penrod
- Department of Psychology John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York USA
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Laurence S, Baker KA, Proietti VM, Mondloch CJ. What happens to our representation of identity as familiar faces age? Evidence from priming and identity aftereffects. Br J Psychol 2022; 113:677-695. [PMID: 35277854 PMCID: PMC9544931 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Matching identity in images of unfamiliar faces is error prone, but we can easily recognize highly variable images of familiar faces – even images taken decades apart. Recent theoretical development based on computational modelling can account for how we recognize extremely variable instances of the same identity. We provide complementary behavioural data by examining older adults’ representation of older celebrities who were also famous when young. In Experiment 1, participants completed a long‐lag repetition priming task in which primes and test stimuli were the same age or different ages. In Experiment 2, participants completed an identity after effects task in which the adapting stimulus was an older or young photograph of one celebrity and the test stimulus was a morph between the adapting identity and a different celebrity; the adapting stimulus was the same age as the test stimulus on some trials (e.g., both old) or a different age (e.g., adapter young, test stimulus old). The magnitude of priming and identity after effects were not influenced by whether the prime and adapting stimulus were the same age or different age as the test face. Collectively, our findings suggest that humans have one common mental representation for a familiar face (e.g., Paul McCartney) that incorporates visual changes across decades, rather than multiple age‐specific representations. These findings make novel predictions for state‐of‐the‐art algorithms (e.g., Deep Convolutional Neural Networks).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Laurence
- School of Psychology & Counselling Open University Milton Keynes UK
| | - Kristen A. Baker
- Department of Psychology Brock University Canada University St. Catharines Ontario Canada
| | | | - Catherine J. Mondloch
- Department of Psychology Brock University Canada University St. Catharines Ontario Canada
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Matthews CM, Mondloch CJ. Learning faces from variability: Four- and five-year-olds differ from older children and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 213:105259. [PMID: 34481344 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Children under 6 years of age have difficulty recognizing a familiar face across changes in appearance and telling the face apart from similar-looking people. Understanding the process by which newly encountered faces become familiar can provide insights into these difficulties. Exposure to the ways in which a person varies in appearance is one mechanism by which adults and older children (≥6 years) learn new faces. We provide the first investigation of whether this mechanism for face learning functions in younger children. Children aged 4 and 5 years were read two storybooks featuring an unfamiliar character. Participants viewed six images of the character in one story and one image of the character in the other story. After each story, children were asked to identify novel images of the character that were intermixed with images of a similar-looking distractor. Like older children, 4- and 5-year-olds were more sensitive to identity in the 6-image condition, but they also adapted a less conservative criterion. Young children identified more images of the character after viewing six images versus one image. However, many also incorrectly identified more images of the distractor after viewing six images versus one image, an effect not previously found for older children and adults. These results suggest that this mechanism for face learning is not fully refined before 6 years of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire M Matthews
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
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Zhou X, Vyas S, Ning J, Moulson MC. Naturalistic Face Learning in Infants and Adults. Psychol Sci 2021; 33:135-151. [PMID: 34919451 DOI: 10.1177/09567976211030630] [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: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Everyday face recognition presents a difficult challenge because faces vary naturally in appearance as a result of changes in lighting, expression, viewing angle, and hairstyle. We know little about how humans develop the ability to learn faces despite natural facial variability. In the current study, we provide the first examination of attentional mechanisms underlying adults' and infants' learning of naturally varying faces. Adults (n = 48) and 6- to 12-month-old infants (n = 48) viewed videos of models reading a storybook; the facial appearance of these models was either high or low in variability. Participants then viewed the learned face paired with a novel face. Infants showed adultlike prioritization of face over nonface regions; both age groups fixated the face region more in the high- than low-variability condition. Overall, however, infants showed less ability to resist contextual distractions during learning, which potentially contributed to their lack of discrimination between the learned and novel faces. Mechanisms underlying face learning across natural variability are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shruti Vyas
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University
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Zhou X, Itz ML, Vogt S, Kaufmann JM, Schweinberger SR, Mondloch CJ. Similar use of shape and texture cues for own- and other-race faces during face learning and recognition. Vision Res 2021; 188:32-41. [PMID: 34280815 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Although the other-race effect (ORE; superior recognition of own- relative to other-race faces) is well established, the mechanisms underlying it are not well understood. We examined whether the ORE is attributable to differential use of shape and texture cues for own- vs. other-race faces. Shape cues are particularly important for detecting that an own-race face is unfamiliar, whereas texture cues are more important for recognizing familiar and newly learned own-race faces. We compared the influence of shape and texture cues on Caucasian participants' recognition of Caucasian and East Asian faces using two complementary approaches. In Experiment 1, participants studied veridical, shape-caricatured, or texture-caricatured faces and then were asked to recognize them in an old/new recognition task. In Experiment 2, all study faces were veridical and we independently removed the diagnosticity of shape (or texture) cues in the test phase by replacing original shape (or texture) with average shape (or texture). Despite an overall own-race advantage, participants' use of shape and texture cues was comparable for own- and other-race faces. These results suggest that the other-race effect is not attributable to qualitative differences in the use of shape and texture cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomei Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada; Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Marlena L Itz
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany; Department of Counseling and Clinical Intervention, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Sandro Vogt
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada; Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Jürgen M Kaufmann
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Stefan R Schweinberger
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany
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Singh B, Mellinger C, Earls HA, Tran J, Bardsley B, Correll J. Does Cross-Race Contact Improve Cross-Race Face Perception? A Meta-Analysis of the Cross-Race Deficit and Contact. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2021; 48:865-887. [PMID: 34176344 DOI: 10.1177/01461672211024463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Contact with racial outgroups is thought to reduce the cross-race recognition deficit (CRD), the tendency for people to recognize same-race (i.e., ingroup) faces more accurately than cross-race (i.e., outgroup) faces. In 2001, Meissner and Brigham conducted a meta-analysis in which they examined this question and found a meta-analytic effect of r = -.13. We conduct a new meta-analysis based on 20 years of additional data to update the estimate of this relationship and examine theoretical and methodological moderators of the effect. We find a meta-analytic effect of r = -.15. In line with theoretical predictions, we find some evidence that the magnitude of this relationship is stronger when contact occurs during childhood rather than adulthood. We find no evidence that the relationship differs for measures of holistic/configural processing compared with normal processing. Finally, we find that the magnitude of the relationship depends on the operationalization of contact and that it is strongest when contact is manipulated. We consider recommendations for further research on this topic.
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