Week 3: Face Processing Flashcards
What are the 3 ways to process facial information?
Holistic
Featural
Configural
What is the holistic way to process faces?
They pop out at you naturally so you don’t need to actively look for them
What is the featural way to process faces?
Looking at specific aspects of the face to tell you someone’s attention or mood
What is the configural way to process faces?
Intergrating all the features of the face
What is the inversion effect?
Faces are harder to identify when presented upside down
What is the biological route for facial processing?
Inferior occupital gyrus (eyes)
Lateral fusiform gyrus
Superior temporal gyrus
What is the role of the lateral fusiform gyrus?
Linked to recognition and episodic memory
What is the role of the superior temporal gyrus?
Linked to higher processing and motor function
How does the monkey experiment show we have a biological predisposition to favour faces?
Even though the monkeys had never seen faces before, the FFA was activated which shows our facial processing abilities are innate
What is the Johnson and Mortson 2 systems model?
In newborns, behaviour is guided by the subcortical structures but as we mature, the infant will begin to show a perference for orientaed faces
How does infant attention link to eye contact?
When you look at the baby, they’re more likely to look back. If you look away, they will too
How do we know facial processing develops slowly?
There’s a componant that has a negative deflection 170ms after seeing a face which indicates it’s been processed.
In babies it occurs after 290 seconds which indicates it’s delayed due to myelination
What is prosopagnosia?
The inability to recognise known faces and learn noew ones
How is prosopagnosia a double disassociation?
Facial processing but not object processing is impaired
What is the difference between congenital and aquired prosopagnosia?
Congenital shows larger defects but their brain activity is the same as normal people
