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Gonzalez-Franco M, Bellido AI, Blom KJ, Slater M, Rodriguez-Fornells A. The Neurological Traces of Look-Alike Avatars. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:392. [PMID: 27536228 PMCID: PMC4971066 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2016] [Accepted: 07/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
We designed an observational study where participants (n = 17) were exposed to pictures and look-alike avatars pictures of themselves, a familiar friend or an unfamiliar person. By measuring participants’ brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG), we found face-recognition event related potentials (ERPs) in the visual cortex, around 200–250 ms, to be prominent for the different familiarity levels. A less positive component was found for self-recognized pictures (P200) than pictures of others, showing similar effects in both real faces and look-alike avatars. A rapid adaptation in the same component was found when comparing the neural processing of avatar faces vs. real faces, as if avatars in general were assimilated as real face representations over time. ERP results also showed that in the case of the self-avatar, the P200 component correlated with more complex conscious encodings of self-representation, i.e., the difference in voltage in the P200 between the self-avatar and the self-picture was reduced in participants that felt the avatar looked like them. This study is put into context within the literature of self-recognition and face recognition in the visual cortex. Additionally, the implications of these results on look-alike avatars are discussed both for future virtual reality (VR) and neuroscience studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mar Gonzalez-Franco
- Microsoft ResearchRedmond, WA, USA; Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain
| | - Anna I Bellido
- Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain
| | - Kristopher J Blom
- Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mel Slater
- Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREABarcelona, Spain; Department of Computer Science, University College LondonLondon, UK
| | - Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREABarcelona, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de LlobregatBarcelona, Spain; Department of Basic Psychology, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain
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Laird AR, Riedel MC, Sutherland MT, Eickhoff SB, Ray KL, Uecker AM, Fox PM, Turner JA, Fox PT. Neural architecture underlying classification of face perception paradigms. Neuroimage 2015; 119:70-80. [PMID: 26093327 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2015] [Revised: 05/27/2015] [Accepted: 06/02/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a novel strategy for deriving a classification system of functional neuroimaging paradigms that relies on hierarchical clustering of experiments archived in the BrainMap database. The goal of our proof-of-concept application was to examine the underlying neural architecture of the face perception literature from a meta-analytic perspective, as these studies include a wide range of tasks. Task-based results exhibiting similar activation patterns were grouped as similar, while tasks activating different brain networks were classified as functionally distinct. We identified four sub-classes of face tasks: (1) Visuospatial Attention and Visuomotor Coordination to Faces, (2) Perception and Recognition of Faces, (3) Social Processing and Episodic Recall of Faces, and (4) Face Naming and Lexical Retrieval. Interpretation of these sub-classes supports an extension of a well-known model of face perception to include a core system for visual analysis and extended systems for personal information, emotion, and salience processing. Overall, these results demonstrate that a large-scale data mining approach can inform the evolution of theoretical cognitive models by probing the range of behavioral manipulations across experimental tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela R Laird
- Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA; Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
| | - Michael C Riedel
- Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA; Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | | | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute for Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany
| | - Kimberly L Ray
- Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Angela M Uecker
- Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - P Mickle Fox
- Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Jessica A Turner
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Peter T Fox
- Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; Research Service, South Texas Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Antonio, TX, USA; State Key Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Apps MAJ, Tajadura-Jiménez A, Sereno M, Blanke O, Tsakiris M. Plasticity in unimodal and multimodal brain areas reflects multisensory changes in self-face identification. Cereb Cortex 2013; 25:46-55. [PMID: 23964067 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Nothing provides as strong a sense of self as seeing one's face. Nevertheless, it remains unknown how the brain processes the sense of self during the multisensory experience of looking at one's face in a mirror. Synchronized visuo-tactile stimulation on one's own and another's face, an experience that is akin to looking in the mirror but seeing another's face, causes the illusory experience of ownership over the other person's face and changes in self-recognition. Here, we investigate the neural correlates of this enfacement illusion using fMRI. We examine activity in the human brain as participants experience tactile stimulation delivered to their face, while observing either temporally synchronous or asynchronous tactile stimulation delivered to another's face on either a specularly congruent or incongruent location. Activity in the multisensory right temporo-parietal junction, intraparietal sulcus, and the unimodal inferior occipital gyrus showed an interaction between the synchronicity and the congruency of the stimulation and varied with the self-reported strength of the illusory experience, which was recorded after each stimulation block. Our results highlight the important interplay between unimodal and multimodal information processing for self-face recognition, and elucidate the neurobiological basis for the plasticity required for identifying with our continuously changing visual appearance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A J Apps
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK, Lab of Action and Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
| | | | - Marty Sereno
- Department of Psychological Science, Birkbeck, University of London, WC1H 0DS, UK
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain-Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, SV 2805, Switzerland
| | - Manos Tsakiris
- Lab of Action and Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
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Apps MAJ, Tsakiris M. The free-energy self: a predictive coding account of self-recognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2013; 41:85-97. [PMID: 23416066 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 263] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2012] [Revised: 01/10/2013] [Accepted: 01/28/2013] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Recognising and representing one's self as distinct from others is a fundamental component of self-awareness. However, current theories of self-recognition are not embedded within global theories of cortical function and therefore fail to provide a compelling explanation of how the self is processed. We present a theoretical account of the neural and computational basis of self-recognition that is embedded within the free-energy account of cortical function. In this account one's body is processed in a Bayesian manner as the most likely to be "me". Such probabilistic representation arises through the integration of information from hierarchically organised unimodal systems in higher-level multimodal areas. This information takes the form of bottom-up "surprise" signals from unimodal sensory systems that are explained away by top-down processes that minimise the level of surprise across the brain. We present evidence that this theoretical perspective may account for the findings of psychological and neuroimaging investigations into self-recognition and particularly evidence that representations of the self are malleable, rather than fixed as previous accounts of self-recognition might suggest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A J Apps
- Laboratory of Action and Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
| | - Manos Tsakiris
- Laboratory of Action and Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
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Apps MAJ, Tajadura-Jiménez A, Turley G, Tsakiris M. The different faces of one's self: an fMRI study into the recognition of current and past self-facial appearances. Neuroimage 2012; 63:1720-9. [PMID: 22940117 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2012] [Revised: 08/09/2012] [Accepted: 08/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mirror self-recognition is often considered as an index of self-awareness. Neuroimaging studies have identified a neural circuit specialised for the recognition of one's own current facial appearance. However, faces change considerably over a lifespan, highlighting the necessity for representations of one's face to continually be updated. We used fMRI to investigate the different neural circuits involved in the recognition of the childhood and current, adult, faces of one's self. Participants viewed images of either their own face as it currently looks morphed with the face of a familiar other or their childhood face morphed with the childhood face of the familiar other. Activity in areas which have a generalised selectivity for faces, including the inferior occipital gyrus, the superior parietal lobule and the inferior temporal gyrus, varied with the amount of current self in an image. Activity in areas involved in memory encoding and retrieval, including the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate gyrus, and areas involved in creating a sense of body ownership, including the temporo-parietal junction and the inferior parietal lobule, varied with the amount of childhood self in an image. We suggest that the recognition of one's own past or present face is underpinned by different cognitive processes in distinct neural circuits. Current self-recognition engages areas involved in perceptual face processing, whereas childhood self-recognition recruits networks involved in body ownership and memory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A J Apps
- Laboratory of Action and Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
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