Re-cognition

Question 1

Explain the Global Precedence Effect using Navon (1977) stimuli experiment:Pattern recognition

Answer 1

-lots of s letters making up a global/big H
-Global features are typically identified faster (H) than local features (s)
-Global precedence applies more to conscious perception rather than initial visual encoding

Question 2

Perceptual organisation: Define Perceptual segregation

Answer 2

–Separating visual input/scene into individual objects where the thought to occur before object recognition

Question 3

What does Gestalt psychology include?

Answer 3

The law of Prägnanz (important but vague and hard to test):
“Of several possible geometrical organisations of one that will actually occur, possesses the best, simplest and most stable shape”

Question 4

What 4 things does the law of Prägnanz state?

Answer 4

1.Law of proximity:objects that are close together are perceived to belong in the same group
2.Law of similarity:similar objects are perceived to belong in the same group
3.Law of good continuation
4.Law of closure

Question 5

What’s Figure-ground segmentation?

Answer 5

Figure=object of central interest
Ground=background

Question 6

What’s Figure-ground segmentation using Faces-goblet illusion?

Answer 6

■Ambiguous drawing that can be seen as two faces or as a goblet
■More attention is paid to the figure than the ground
■Several factors (e.g., colour, luminance) influence figure-ground segmentation

Question 7

What 2 principles are used in Gestaltism in the real world?

Answer 7

1.Adjacent segments of any contour have very similar orientations
2.Segments of any contours that are further apart have slightly different orientations
■We use knowledge of real objects when making decisions about contours (what we pay attention/focus on)

Question 8

What do Gestaltists assume about
figure-ground segregation?

Answer 8

-It’s innate BUT memory (i.e., object familiarity) is important
–Healthy controls identify regions including familiar objects as figure whereas amnesic patients do not (showing relevance of memory in FGS)(From Barense et al., 2012, Elsevier)

Question 9

Give 3 advantages of the Gestalt approach

Answer 9

■It focused on key issues
■Most organisational principles
have stood the test of time (grouping laws are valid)
■Law of Prägnanz has proven
useful as observers strive for
simplicity in visual perception

Question 10

Give 5 limitations to the Gestalt approach

Answer 10

■Underestimated role of
knowledge (in recognition/paying attention to objects)
■Descriptive rather than explanatory
■Largely based on 2-D drawings
■Little emphasis on complex
interactions among grouping laws (e.g. law of proximity/similarity)
■Too inflexible

Question 11

How have theories on recognition advanced?: Explain Marr’s theory (it’s a progressive process to how we recognise/perceive things)

Answer 11

Primal sketch:
–2D description of light-intensity (in retina main info perceiving things) changes:Edges, contours and blobs
–Observer-centred(representation perceiving world from person perceiving it)
2½-D sketch:
–Incorporates depth and orientation of surfaces:Shading, texture, motion, binocular disparity, etc.
–Observer-centred
3-D model representation:
– 3-D object shape
– Viewpoint-independent/invariant (from knowing where things are from me and from objects next to it)

Question 12

How have theories on recognition advanced?: Explain Biederman’s recognition-by-components theory

Answer 12

-Objects consist of combinations of geons (Geometric icons/36 basic shapes)
-Object recognition is viewpoint-invariant (can be identified from any angle) (Biederman & Gerhardstein, 1993)
–Bottom-up processes

Question 13

Give aspects of the recognition by components theory

Answer 13

1.Aspects of an object invariant across viewing angles
2.Edge straight or curved
3.Contour concave or convex
4.Non-accidental properties can be detected even when part of the target object is concealed by other objects
5.Geons are constructed from non-accidental properties

Question 14

Recognition-by-components theory: Give 3 strengths

Answer 14

■Good evidence for geons being
important in object recognition
■Evidence the identification of
concavities and edges are also of major importance
■Non-accidental properties can
facilitate viewpoint-invariant
object recognition

Question 15

Recognition-by-components theory: Give 3 limitations

Answer 15

■De-emphasises top-down influences (e.g., context; expectations; knowledge) even though it influences perception/what you choose to pay attention to
■Fails to account for most within-category discriminations (e.g.,
“Is that a poodle?”)
■Some objects lack invariant geons but are easy to recognise (e.g., clouds)

Question 16

What’s the influence of viewpoint on object recognition?

Answer 16

■Categorisation of objects (e.g., “Is that a dog?) doesn’t depend on viewpoint
■Identification of objects (e.g., “Is that a bulldog?”) does depend on viewpoint
■With learning, object recognition often becomes increasingly viewpoint-invariant
■With learning, viewpoint dependent and viewpoint-
invariant representations often
both formed in LTM (Tarr & Hayward, 2017)

Question 17

Explain the Interactive-iterative framework (Baruch et al., 2018)

Answer 17

*There are complex interactions between top-down processes
and bottom-up processes in object recognition
*Hypotheses top-down influences
attention which then influences
bottom-up processes
*Top-down processes more
important with degraded (e.g.,
blurred) stimuli as level of attention required differs

Question 18

Define Holistic processing

Answer 18

Faces are processed in an integrated manner; it is claimed this is less true of objects

Question 19

Define the Face inversion effect

Answer 19

Inverted faces are disproportionately harder to recognise than upright faces
relative to objects (Bruyer, 2011)

Question 20

Define the Part–whole effect

Answer 20

Recognition of a face part more accurate when presented within the whole face (Farah, 1994)

Question 21

Define the Composite effect

Answer 21

Perceiving half a face is more difficult when it appears against a different complementary half
(Richler et al., 2011)

Question 22

Define Prosopagnosia and the 2 types

Answer 22

Known as “face blindness”
■Acquired prosopagnosia:caused by brain damage
■Developmental prosopagnosia: no obvious damage (often there’s also impaired object recognition)

Question 23

What did Busigny et al., 2010 find in Selective “face blindness”

Answer 23

■Patient with acquired prosopagnosia (GG) had intact object recognition for birds, boats, cars etc. but not faces (shows specific brain area which processes faces)
■Thus, GG had a face-specific impairment rather than general
impairment of object recognition

Question 24

If face recognition involves different processes to object recognition, what do double dissocation do we expect to see?

Answer 24

(1) Some patients with intact face recognition but impaired object recognition
(2) Some patients with intact object recognition but impaired face recognition
■few individuals in category (1)
GG (Busigny et al., 2010); AW (Germine et al., 2010)
■More individuals in category (2)
 Geskin and Behrmann (2018): 20% of developmental prosopagnosics had intact object recognition
■Findings suggest face recognition harder than object recognition because it involves finer
discrimination

Question 25

What is the Fusiform face area (FFA)?

Answer 25

–In the ventral temporal cortex
–Often damaged in prosopagnosics (but face processing involves a brain
network so damage not limited to FFA)
–Generally more responsive to faces>objects HOWEVER FFA less responsive to faces than other objects in 20% of individuals (Kanwisher et al., 1997)
–Developmental prosopagnosics have less selectivity for faces in 12 areas (including FFA) (Jiahui et al., 2018)

Question 26

What brain areas (networks) are activated during face processing? (Duchaine & Yovel, 2015)

Answer 26

1.OFA=occipital face area
2.pSTS-FA and aSTS-FA=posterior and anterior temporal superior sulcus face areas
3.temporal FFA=fusiform face area
4.IFG-FA=inferior frontal gyrus face area
5.ATL-FA=anterior temporal lobe face area

Question 27

Define the controversial Expertise hypothesis: face perception

Answer 27

brain areas and processes allegedly specific to faces are also involved in processing ANY objects for which we possess expertise

Question 28

What findings support the Expertise hypothesis?

Answer 28

Holistic processing found for objects of expertise (e.g., interpreting medical images)
Fusiform face area is sometimes more activated for objects where
individuals have expertise
(McGugin et al., 2014): fusiform expertise area?

Question 29

Bruce & Young’s (1986) model on face perception: Define Structural encoding/Expression analysis/ Facial speech analysis/Directed visual processing

Answer 29

SE-Various facial representations and descriptions
EA-Inferring an emotional state from facial features
FSA-Speech perception can be aided by observing lip movements
DVP-Specific facial info may be selectively processed

Question 30

Bruce & Young’s (1986) model on face perception: Define Face recognition units/Person identity nodes/Name generation/Cognitive system

Answer 30

FRU-Structural info about known faces
PIN-Info about individuals (e.g., their occupation, interests)
NG-A person’s name
CS-Contains additional info (e.g., that actors and actresses tend
to have attractive faces) influencing which other components receive attention

Question 31

What were Bruce & Young’s (1986) findings in their model + face perception?

Answer 31

*Familiar faces should be easier to recognise>unfamiliar ones as more info available (e.g., face recognition units/person identity nodes) greater than predicted effects
*Separate processing routes for facial identity and facial expression (BUT expressive facial info can interfere with identity perception (Redfern & Benton, 2017))
*Personal info (e.g., occupation) should be retrieved before an
individual’s name (not always the case)
*Several forms of impaired face recognition based on brain areas damaged (Davies-Thompson et al. (2014) linked 3 forms of impaired face recognition to specific areas of damage as predicted)

Question 32

Give 3 strengths of Bruce & Young’s (1986) model

Answer 32

■Extremely influential model
identifying several key structures and processes
■Developed a plausible serial
stage approach to understanding face processing and recognition
■Provided a detailed account of
differences in the processing of
familiar and unfamiliar faces

Question 33

Give 5 Bruce & Young’s (1986) model

Answer 33

■Facial identity and facial expression not entirely independent
■Oversimplified; there may be multiple systems for facial expressions (e.g., emotional system may play a far more
integral role)
■Gaze perception should be included
■Assumption that name processing is last occasionally wrong
■Model omits initial face detection stage: is it a face?

Question 34

How could recognition be viewed as an evolutionary tool?

Answer 34

-Cognitive abilities are limited
-Recognition saves time
-Recognition saves energy
-Recognition is to detect relevant info

Question 35

What’s the importance of face recognition?

Answer 35

-Recognise the emotional state of the person
-Communication
-Theory of mind

Question 36

Why are we interested in patterns?

Answer 36

Patterns reflect processes=Processes shape reality=Understanding processes makes us more adaptive= Mastering the processes is
technology

Question 37

Explain Complex adaptive systems

Answer 37

-Simple unit
-Coordination between units creates behaviour (swarm intelligence)
-System might evolve under (artificial) evolutionary pressure
-The behaviour of the system emerges from the interaction between the numerous elements
-It’s a self-organising system (RECOGNISE THEN REACT TO PATTERN)