Faces Flashcards
what is pareidolia?
the L+R fusiform gyrus detects facial patterns in objects where there should be none
this suggests our systems are predisposed to seeing faces in different kinds of inputs.
what did johnson (1991) show about newborn babies?
newborn babies have preferences for cartoonish faces – innate predisposition
what do infants lose by 9m?
infants lose the ability to discriminate monkey faces as well as human faces (pascalis, 2002)
shows face processing in infants undergoes similar progression to language-related processes.
features vs configuration
features = identifiable parts of the face, e.g., eyes, nose, mouth
configuration = the arrangement of face features, e.g., spacing, symmetry, position within outline
what does holistic face processing involve?
integrating information from the configuration of faces
examples of holistic face processing
inversion and thatcher effect:
show face processing is interrupted by interfering with configurations
Diamond and Carey (1987) show correlation between inversion effects and image familiarity.
what do single-cell recordings show about face processing?
show double dissociations between identity and emotion processing systems
identity after-effect
adapting to an identity over time reduces the firing rate of their neurons.
this means a 50-50 image will be perceived as the other identity via neural adaptation
different brain areas involved in processing identity and emotion
narumoto (2001) found the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and lateral fusiform gyrus (LFG) showed higher activity when viewing faces,
the superior temporal sulcus (STS) heightened for viewing emotion.
emotion after-effect
adapting to a happy face makes a neutral one look angry, and vice versa
types of face processing models
bruce and young (1986)
haxby, hoffman, and gobbini (2000)
bruce and young (1986) suggest there are two main stages of face processing:
- structural encoding – deals with visual information, e.g., viewpoint and lighting
- extended processing – splits into two pathways:
a. expression analysis – facial expression, mood, emotion (changing)
b. face recognition – person identity nodes and name retrieval (fixed)
haxby, hoffman, and gobbini (2000) created a model for a distributed system of face perception:
- inferior occipital gyrus – early perception of facial features
a. lateral fusiform gyrus – processes fixed aspects of faces and unique identity
b. superior temporal sulcus – processes changeable aspects, e.g., gaze, expression
i. intraparietal sulcus – spatially directed attention
ii. auditory cortex – prelexical processing
iii. amygdala, insula, limbic system – emotion processing
iv. anterior temporal processes – personal identity and name
what is N170?
N170 is a strong ERP waveform, which is assumed to reflect structural encoding in facial images.
what did bentin (1996) show about N170?
ERP N170 is flexible for faces and differentiates faces from other visual input.
what is FMRI used for?
to identify brain areas sensitive for particular categories.
kanwisher (1997) subtracted activation for ‘scrambled faces’ and found:
LOC = sensitivity to objects
FFA = sensitive to unscrambled faces
PPA = activates for outdoor scenes
what did serences (2004) concldue about FFA?
found increased activation in FFA when asked to identify faces vs. houses for PPA.
concluded our attention selection tells these areas whether they should boost or reduce activation.
pticher (2009) and TMS
applied TMS to OFA and found this was critically related to face processing.
right OFA is critical for part-based identification.
what is the repetition suppression effect?
(RS) = reduced brain activity following stimulus repetition
winston (2004) findings’ about RS:
used RS across two conditions
FFA and posterior STS codes identity and the anterior STS codes for emotion.
double dissociation between identity and emotion face processing.
prosopagnosia
= failure to overtly recognise people, despite covert recognition (damage to FFA).
capgras syndrome
= feeling people are imposters, despite overt recognition (damage to STS).
how are different facial expressions read?
through the use of different face and eye muscles.
patients with amygdala damage or autism spend more time fixating on the mouth than the eyes when reading facial expressions.
behrman (2006) atypical face processing
reduced performance in differentiating faces for sex and individual identity in both RT and accuracy
autism and inversion effect
there is no evidence of face inversion effect for autism.
what is there a correlation between in atypical face processing?
correlation between reduced face processing and more ASD behaviours (scherf, 2015).
what is face space theory?
valentine (2015) = faces are represented in a multidimensional space (MDS) where each feature has its axis.
the brain uses representations to recognise faces, based on their deviation from the average face.
implications of face space theory
the ‘average face’ is used to determine attractiveness, which can influence social cohesion.
faces further from the ‘average’ will experience better recognition.
what can influence face space?
exposure to diverse faces leads to a more elaborate MDS; less experience means smaller MDS.
other race and other age effects
= difficulty recognising faces of other races or ages
ORE is reduced by experience, and OAE may depend on how intergenerational social groups are
