Week 4 lecture

Question 1

What can faces tell us?

Answer 1

Identity, eye gaze, emotions, intentions, traits …

Question 2

what is the Bruce & Young (1986) model?

Answer 2

The Face Recognition System is a cognitive model that explains how humans recognize faces

Question 3

How does the brain process faces (two streams)?

Answer 3

Ventral visual stream: what is it?

Dorsal visual stream: where is it?

Question 4

The three specialized regions in processing faces?

Answer 4

Occipital face area (OFA)
Fusiform face area (FFA)
Superior temporal sulcus (STS)

Question 5

What is the Occipital face area (OFA)?

Answer 5

specifically involved in processing faces. It helps recognize and analyze facial features and is thought to play an important role in the early stages of face perception

Question 6

Give an example of how a BOLD signal habituates to ‘same’ stimuli

Answer 6

Florence Pugh!

Initially, when you see her face, the BOLD signal in brain regions involved in face processing will show a strong response. This is because your brain is actively encoding her face and features.

However, as you continue to watch multiple clips of her without any significant changes, the BOLD signal will gradually decrease. This is known as habituation. Your brain becomes more efficient at recognizing her face, and the repeated exposure leads to a reduced neural response over time

Question 7

The OFA is sensitive to ______ changes in stimulus.

Answer 7

physical

Question 8

what is the Fusiform face area (FFA)?

Answer 8

A brain region that codes invariant aspects of faces, such as identity, and shows a greater response to faces than other things.

Question 9

explain habituation in the Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

Answer 9

initially, when you see a face, the FFA shows a strong BOLD signal, indicating active processing. However, if you keep seeing the same face multiple times, the FFA’s response diminishes over time. This is because the brain becomes more efficient at recognizing familiar stimuli, so it requires less neural effort to process the same face again.

Question 10

compare Habituation in the FFA and OFA

Answer 10

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

Helps recognize and distinguish between faces.

When you see the same face multiple times, the brain’s response to the FFA decreases. This means it gets better at recognizing that familiar face over time.

Occipital Face Area (OFA)

Involved in the early detection of facial features.

The OFA also shows a decrease in response when you see the same face repeatedly, but it happens faster since it focuses on basic features.

The OFA deals with initial detection, while the FFA is about recognizing who the person is.

Question 11

The FFA is sensitive to changes in _______.

Answer 11

identity

Question 12

___________ is a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces, including one’s own face

Answer 12

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness

Question 13

what is the Superior temporal sulcus (STS)

Answer 13

It plays an important role in social perception, particularly in processing dynamic and motion aspects of faces, such as emotions and gaze direction

Question 14

What does the ventral visual stream do?

Answer 14

It processes “what” information, such as identifying objects and faces.

Question 15

What is the Haxby et al. (2000) model?

Answer 15

it suggests that face processing involves specialized brain regions and an extended system.

Question 15

What does the dorsal visual stream do?

Answer 15

It processes “where” information, such as spatial location and movement.