Lecture 6

Question 1

Pareidolia

Answer 1

Seeing faces in objects where there are no real faces

Question 2

Face cells location in brain

Answer 2

Face cells are located in the inferotemporal (IT) cortex

Question 3

Tuning of face selective cells

Answer 3

• Direction of gaze
• Emotional expression
• Identity

Question 4

Specific identity tuned face cells location

Answer 4

Medial temporal lobe

Question 5

Face tuned areas in the brain

Answer 5

• Fusiform face area
• Occipital face area
• Superior Temporal Sulcus

Question 6

Parahippocampal place area (PPA)

Answer 6

Responds to stimuli with a location or place element, like landscapes, houses, buildings.

Question 7

Real faces vs illusory faces activation in the brain

Answer 7

Real faces evoke stronger activity than objects in FFA, OFA, LO, and PPA

Illusory faces are selectively activitating FFA and OFA

Question 8

Prosopagnosia

Answer 8

Face selective neuropsychological deficit after extensive bilateral or right sided lesions in temporal and occipital lobes.

Question 9

Arguments for faces are special in the brain

Answer 9

• Area(s) specifically tuned for faces
• Face inversion effect
• Strong memory for faces
• Pareidolia

Question 10

Arguments against faces are special in the brain

Answer 10

• Object recognition is between categories and face recognition is within category
• Face regions in the brain are also activated for car experts when seeing a car

Question 11

Face inversion effect

Answer 11

When upside down faces are presented and asked if they were the same as before there is drop in performance compared to when inverted cars are shown.

Question 12

Memory for faces

Answer 12

There is a strong memory for faces but not for inverted faces or objects

Question 13

Wholistic analysis of faces

Answer 13

Faces are not recognized by its parts but as a whole configuration of the parts. This is the opposite with objects. This was tested by Farah in 1994.

Question 14

Capgras delusion

Answer 14

Intact face recognition but thinking they are imposters.
These patients don’t have increased SCR to familiar faces like normal people do

Question 15

Flashin faces distortion effect explanation

Answer 15

The neurons encoding a face adapt when seeing it for a while. When you see a new face, neurons that encode the difference between the faces respond more strongly.
However FFDE is not face specific so it is a general peripheral adaptation effect.

Question 16

N170 response

Answer 16

When doing EEG there is a trough for faces at N170 which indicates a strong response to faces