Neuroscientific Facial Recognition Flashcards
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE TECHNIQUES
FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (fMRI)
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG)
BRIAN STIMULATION
THE ACCOUNT DEBATE
- increased w/cognitive neuroscience
- lots of evidence used face inversion + brain activation investigation in Face Fusiform Area (FFA) via fMRI/event-related potential (ERP) measurement aka. N170 via EEG
- brain stimulation application (ie. tDCS) helped expand investigation into face recognition mechanisms
FMRI
- non-invasive imaging technique; detects brain activity via finding changes in blood oxygen lvls (blood-oxygen-level-dependent aka. BOLD)
- relies on cerebral blood flow & neuronal activation; when brain area = used -> ^ regional blood flow; ^ active brain area = neurons send ^ electrical signals than before (ie. raise leg -> active area => that area controls movement)
- MRI = checks everything is right size/place (ie. damage); fMRI = takes brain activity images while performing function -> functional map
FMRI: EVALUATION
+
- readily available to clinical/academic researchers
- non-invasive
- provides high resolution anatomic scans in same session for localisation
-
- poor temporal resolution
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART I
- search for occipitotemporal areas specialised for face perception via looking in pps for ventral (occi) pathway regions that responded statsig ^ strongly during passive facial photo viewing > common object photos
- comparison allowed anatomical localisation of candidate “facial areas” in pps & determine which areas activate consistently across pps
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART I RESULTS
- only fusiform gyrus activated consistently across subjects for face VS object
- fusiform gyrus region produced statsig ^ signal intensity for faces > objects
- hypothesis = region specialised for face perception aspect; tested alternatives w/several dif stimuli (aka. Part II/III)
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART II
- comparison 1 = intact faces VS scrambled faces (rearranged component black regions; preserved mean luminance & low-level features avoiding “cut-n-paste” marks affecting previous studies)
- aka. tested if “face areas” responded to low-level visual features in faces but NOT non-face stimuli
- comparison 2 = intact faces VS houses
- aka. tested if face areas not involved in face perception but distinguishing between dif objects
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART II RESULTS
- higher activation pattern for face VS non-face stimuli clearly visible in each test raw data
- quantitative testing = averaged mean MR signal intensity across each subject/all images in given stimulus epoch; 3-way ANOVA
- main effect of ^ signal intensity in face trials > controls (p < .01); no other main effects/interactions = statsig
- separate pairwise comparisons (face VS control) for all 3 tests; each reached statsig independently (p < .001 = face/objects; p = < .05 = intact/scrambled; p = .01 = face/houses)
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART III
- pps passively viewed face photos of people w/hair tucked in black ski hat VS human hands to test:
1. would response of candidate face area generalise to dif POVs?
2. is area involved in recognising faces on hair/external feature basis OR internal features? (ski hat covers external features)
3. if face area responds to any animate/human body part (hands = controls)
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997): PART III RESULTS
- confirmed statsig ^ brain activation for faces VS hands (p < .005)
- aka. all part results support SPECIFICITY account
THE FACE FUSIFORM AREA (FFA)
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997)
- cortical region in fusiform gyrus
- more highly activated when pps presented w/faces > non-face stimuli
GAUTHIER ET AL. (1999): METHOD
- pps trained w/Greebles til equally fast at categorising stimuli at individual lvl as familial lvl
- performance assessed in name-verification trials; pps judged if label (fam/individual) shown for 1000ms matched Greeble 200ms later
- performance change = expertise diagnostic
GAUTHIER ET AL. (1999): STIMULI & FMRI TASKS
- 8 sequential matching runs p/fMRI session; 4 Greeble; 4 facial in alteration
- 5 stimulus sets each w/8 grayscale faces & 8 Greebles of same fam (not used in training) used in sequential matching tasks (order counterbalanced across pps); faces cropped in same oval shape
- pics repeated x12 p/session
- pps performed same/dif identity judgements by pressing 1/2 buttons
- faces/Greebles shown inverted/upright (4 conditions)
GAUTHIER ET AL. (1999): RESULTS
- ^ upright-specific activation = faces > Greebles in FFA in first 2 sessions
- specific prediction = upright Greeble expertise training -> ^ inverted Greeble activation in face-specific brain areas BUT no face change; result confirms this
- p < = .01; paired t-tests for faces VS Greebles
- important implications for interpreting fusiform role in visual object recognition
- indicate inversion effect can be obtained for face-specific area faces & similarly in novel objects post expertise training
FFA: MAIN FINDINGS
KANWISHER ET AL. (1997)
- higher activation for faces > other stimuli sets on cortical region (FFA); supports specificity account for face recognition mechanisms
GAUTHIER ET AL. (1999)
- similar FFA activation for faces/Greebles for Greeble experts; supported expertise account for face recognition mechanisms