1
|
Yan X, Goffaux V, Rossion B. Coarse-to-Fine(r) Automatic Familiar Face Recognition in the Human Brain. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1560-1573. [PMID: 34505130 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
At what level of spatial resolution can the human brain recognize a familiar face in a crowd of strangers? Does it depend on whether one approaches or rather moves back from the crowd? To answer these questions, 16 observers viewed different unsegmented images of unfamiliar faces alternating at 6 Hz, with spatial frequency (SF) content progressively increasing (i.e., coarse-to-fine) or decreasing (fine-to-coarse) in different sequences. Variable natural images of celebrity faces every sixth stimulus generated an objective neural index of single-glanced automatic familiar face recognition (FFR) at 1 Hz in participants' electroencephalogram (EEG). For blurry images increasing in spatial resolution, the neural FFR response over occipitotemporal regions emerged abruptly with additional cues at about 6.3-8.7 cycles/head width, immediately reaching amplitude saturation. When the same images progressively decreased in resolution, the FFR response disappeared already below 12 cycles/head width, thus providing no support for a predictive coding hypothesis. Overall, these observations indicate that rapid automatic recognition of heterogenous natural views of familiar faces is achieved from coarser visual inputs than generally thought, and support a coarse-to-fine FFR dynamics in the human brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqian Yan
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA.,Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, 54000 Nancy, France.,Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY), University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Valérie Goffaux
- Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY), University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium.,Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6229, the Netherlands.,Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, 54000 Nancy, France.,Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY), University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium.,Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, 54000 Nancy, France
| |
Collapse
|