Face Processing

Question 1

why study faces?

Answer 1

central to social interactions; processed preferentially from birth; relies on specific cognitive strategies that develop; good way to study brain development

Question 2

name the three ways to process face information

Answer 2

holistic, features and configural

Question 3

describe some evidence for holistic face processing

Answer 3

Maurer et al., 2002. misaligning and blocking out specific parts of famous faces makes them harder to recognise

Question 4

what are the different areas of the brain involved in facial processing?

Answer 4

inferior temporal gyrus, lateral fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus

Question 5

describe some human evidence for the FFA

Answer 5

Kanwisher et al., 1997. compared with houses (which also have a well-known configuration). only faces showed activation in FFA.

Question 6

describe some monkey evidence for the FFA

Answer 6

Tsao et al., 2006. 2 Macaques raised in isolation . cell recordings show a strong preference for faces in the FFA, as well as a high concentration for face stimuli.

Question 7

describe the main idea of Johnson & Morton’s 2-systems model of face processing

Answer 7

visually guided behaviour in the newborn largely controlled by subcortical structures eg. superior colliculus and pulvinar.

Question 8

what is the first part of Johnson & Morton’s 2-systems model of face processing?

Answer 8

conspec. accessed via subcortical visuomotor pathway (responsible for preferential face tracking in newborns)

Question 9

what is the second part of Johnson & Morton’s 2-systems model of face processing?

Answer 9

conlearn. depends on cortical maturity and face exposure over first few months, and begins to control orienting preferences around 2-4 months

Question 10

which researcher discovered that babies prefer to look t faces and seek out mutual gaze?

Answer 10

Johnson et al., 1991

Question 11

describe a study showing that face processing develops slowly

Answer 11

De Haan et al., 2002. face specific ERP component present from at least 3 months. increasingly specifically tuned to human upright faces with 12 month olds, but not 3 and 6 month olds showing a different response for upright vs inverted faces

Question 12

describe a study showing evidence for the sensitive period for configural processing

Answer 12

Le Grand et al., 2001. 14 patients born with dense central cataract in each eye that prevented patterned stimulation from reaching the retina. all had at least 9 years of visual experience. better at upright faces.

Question 13

describe a study showing evidence for the critical window for configural processing abilities

Answer 13

Pascalis et al., 2002. test of discrimination of human and monkey faces by 6 and 9 month olds and adults. only 6 month olds showed discrimination between individuals of both species. older infants and adults showed evidence of discrimination of own species.

Question 14

describe a study showing that expertise is crucial

Answer 14

Diamon & Carey, 1986. presented upright and inverted pictures of dogs to dog experts and non-experts. sig inversion effect for BOTH.

Question 15

what is prospagnosia?

Answer 15

a specific visual agnosia characterised by an inability to recognise previously known faces or to learn new ones. object recognition usually unimpaired. difference between acquired and congenital

Question 16

describe a study showing the effects of prosopagnosia

Answer 16

Busigny et al., 2010. patient GG and controls presented with a target stimulus followed by two stimuli from he same category (target+distractor). GG as accurate as controls for non-face categories. sig less accurate with faces - DOUBLE DISSOCIATION

Question 17

describe the expertise hypothesis

Answer 17

face perception may be an example of perceptual expertise.

Question 18

what are the two parts to the expertise hypothesis

Answer 18

familiarity (expertise) and homogeneity of the stimulus (structural similarity - global rather than local processing)

Question 19

describe the Greeble study

Answer 19

Gauthier et al., 1999. people trained to identity had increased activation in face area o brain. also had inversion and negation effects