1
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Bennetts RJ, Gregory NJ, Bate S. Both identity and non-identity face perception tasks predict developmental prosopagnosia and face recognition ability. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6626. [PMID: 38503841 PMCID: PMC10951298 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57176-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by deficits in face identification. However, there is debate about whether these deficits are primarily perceptual, and whether they extend to other face processing tasks (e.g., identifying emotion, age, and gender; detecting faces in scenes). In this study, 30 participants with DP and 75 controls completed a battery of eight tasks assessing four domains of face perception (identity; emotion; age and gender; face detection). The DP group performed worse than the control group on both identity perception tasks, and one task from each other domain. Both identity perception tests uniquely predicted DP/control group membership, and performance on two measures of face memory. These findings suggest that deficits in DP may arise from issues with face perception. Some non-identity tasks also predicted DP/control group membership and face memory, even when face identity perception was accounted for. Gender perception and speed of face detection consistently predicted unique variance in group membership and face memory; several other tasks were only associated with some measures of face recognition ability. These findings indicate that face perception deficits in DP may extend beyond identity perception. However, the associations between tasks may also reflect subtle aspects of task demands or stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel J Bennetts
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK.
| | | | - Sarah Bate
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
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2
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Samonds JM, Szinte M, Barr C, Montagnini A, Masson GS, Priebe NJ. Mammals Achieve Common Neural Coverage of Visual Scenes Using Distinct Sampling Behaviors. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0287-23.2023. [PMID: 38164577 PMCID: PMC10860624 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0287-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Most vertebrates use head and eye movements to quickly change gaze orientation and sample different portions of the environment with periods of stable fixation. Visual information must be integrated across fixations to construct a complete perspective of the visual environment. In concert with this sampling strategy, neurons adapt to unchanging input to conserve energy and ensure that only novel information from each fixation is processed. We demonstrate how adaptation recovery times and saccade properties interact and thus shape spatiotemporal tradeoffs observed in the motor and visual systems of mice, cats, marmosets, macaques, and humans. These tradeoffs predict that in order to achieve similar visual coverage over time, animals with smaller receptive field sizes require faster saccade rates. Indeed, we find comparable sampling of the visual environment by neuronal populations across mammals when integrating measurements of saccadic behavior with receptive field sizes and V1 neuronal density. We propose that these mammals share a common statistically driven strategy of maintaining coverage of their visual environment over time calibrated to their respective visual system characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason M Samonds
- Center for Learning and Memory and the Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin 78712, Texas
| | - Martin Szinte
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (UMR 7289), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, 13385 Marseille, France
| | - Carrie Barr
- Center for Learning and Memory and the Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin 78712, Texas
| | - Anna Montagnini
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (UMR 7289), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, 13385 Marseille, France
| | - Guillaume S Masson
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (UMR 7289), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, 13385 Marseille, France
| | - Nicholas J Priebe
- Center for Learning and Memory and the Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin 78712, Texas
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3
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Singletary NM, Horga G, Gottlieb J. A Distinct Neural Code Supports Prospection of Future Probabilities During Instrumental Information-Seeking. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.27.568849. [PMID: 38076800 PMCID: PMC10705234 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.27.568849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
To make adaptive decisions, we must actively demand information, but relatively little is known about the mechanisms of active information gathering. An open question is how the brain estimates expected information gains (EIG) when comparing the current decision uncertainty with the uncertainty that is expected after gathering information. We examined this question using fMRI in a task in which people placed bids to obtain information in conditions that varied independently by prior decision uncertainty, information diagnosticity, and the penalty for an erroneous choice. Consistent with value of information theory, bids were sensitive to EIG and its components of prior certainty and expected posterior certainty. Expected posterior certainty was decoded above chance from multivoxel activation patterns in the posterior parietal and extrastriate cortices. This representation was independent of instrumental rewards and overlapped with distinct representations of EIG and prior certainty. Thus, posterior parietal and extrastriate cortices are candidates for mediating the prospection of posterior probabilities as a key step to estimate EIG during active information gathering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas M Singletary
- Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Guillermo Horga
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- These authors contributed equally
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4
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Leger K, Dong J, DeBruine LM, Jones BC, Shiramizu VKM. Assessing the roles of shape prototypicality and sexual dimorphism in ratings of the trustworthiness of faces. Sci Rep 2023; 13:15662. [PMID: 37731069 PMCID: PMC10511419 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-42990-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceptions of the trustworthiness of faces predict important social outcomes, including economic exchange and criminal sentencing decisions. However, the specific facial characteristics that drive trustworthiness perceptions remain poorly understood. Here we investigated this issue by exploring possible relationships between ratings of the trustworthiness of face images and objective assessments of two aspects of face shape that researchers have previously argued are important for perceptions of trustworthiness: distinctiveness and sexual dimorphism. Here we report that faces with more distinctive shapes are rated as less trustworthy, but that sexual dimorphism of face shape is not significantly correlated with trustworthiness ratings. These results suggest that distinctiveness of face shape plays a more important role in trustworthiness perceptions than does sexual dimorphism and suggest that perceptions of trustworthiness may stem, at least in part, from the 'anomalous-is-bad' stereotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathlyne Leger
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Junzhi Dong
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Lisa M DeBruine
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Benedict C Jones
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
| | - Victor K M Shiramizu
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
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5
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Neural Dynamics during Binocular Rivalry: Indications from Human Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0470-22.2022. [PMID: 36609303 PMCID: PMC9840381 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0470-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
When two sufficiently different stimuli are presented to each eye, perception alternates between them. This binocular rivalry is conceived as a competition for representation in the single stream of visual consciousness. The magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) pathways, originating in the retina, encode disparate information, but their potentially different contributions to binocular rivalry have not been determined. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure the human lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), where the M and P neurons are segregated into layers receiving input from a single eye. We had three participants (one male, two females) and used achromatic stimuli to avoid contributions from color opponent neurons that may have confounded previous studies. We observed activity in the eye-specific regions of LGN correlated with perception, with similar magnitudes during rivalry or physical stimuli alternations, also similar in the M and P regions. These results suggest that LGN activity reflects our perceptions during binocular rivalry and is not simply an artifact of color opponency. Further, perception appears to be a global phenomenon in the LGN, not just limited to a single information channel.
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6
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Ossandón JP, Zerr P, Shareef I, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. Active vision in sight recovery individuals with a history of long-lasting congenital blindness. eNeuro 2022; 9:ENEURO.0051-22.2022. [PMID: 36163106 PMCID: PMC9532021 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0051-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
What we see is intimately linked to how we actively and systematically explore the world through eye movements. However, it is unknown to what degree visual experience during early development is necessary for such systematic visual exploration to emerge. The present study investigated visual exploration behavior in ten human participants whose sight had been restored only in childhood or adulthood, after a period of congenital blindness due to dense bilateral congenital cataracts. Participants freely explored real-world images while their eye movements were recorded. Despite severe residual visual impairments and gaze instability (nystagmus), visual exploration patterns were preserved in individuals with reversed congenital cataract. Modelling analyses indicated that similar to healthy controls, visual exploration in individuals with reversed congenital cataract was based on the low-level (luminance contrast) and high-level (object components) visual content of the images. Moreover, participants used visual short-term memory representations for narrowing down the exploration space. More systematic visual exploration in individuals with reversed congenital cataract was associated with better object recognition, suggesting that active vision might be a driving force for visual system development and recovery. The present results argue against a sensitive period for the development of neural mechanisms associated with visual exploration.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTHumans explore the visual world with systematic patterns of eye movements, but it is unknown whether early visual experience is necessary for the acquisition of visual exploration. Here, we show that sight recovery individuals who had been born blind demonstrate highly systematic eye movements while exploring real-world images, despite visual impairments and pervasive gaze instability. In fact, their eye movement patterns were predicted by those of normally sighted controls and models calculating eye movements based on low- and high-level visual features, and they moreover took memory information into account. Since object recognition performance was associated with systematic visual exploration it was concluded that eye movements might be a driving factor for the development of the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- José P Ossandón
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Paul Zerr
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Idris Shareef
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany
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7
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Gwinn OS, Retter TL, O'Neil SF, Webster MA. Contrast Adaptation in Face Perception Revealed Through EEG and Behavior. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:701097. [PMID: 34776882 PMCID: PMC8585838 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.701097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Exposure to a face can produce biases in the perception of subsequent faces. Typically, these face aftereffects are studied by adapting to an individual face or category (e.g., faces of a given gender) and can result in renormalization of perceptions such that the adapting face appears more neutral. These shifts are analogous to chromatic adaptation, where a renormalization for the average adapting color occurs. However, in color vision, adaptation can also adjust to the variance or range of colors in the distribution. We examined whether this variance or contrast adaptation also occurs for faces, using an objective EEG measure to assess response changes following adaptation. An average female face was contracted or expanded along the horizontal or vertical axis to form four images. Observers viewed a 20 s sequence of the four images presented in a fixed order at a rate of 6 Hz, while responses to the faces were recorded with EEG. A 6 Hz signal was observed over right occipito-temporal channels, indicating symmetric responses to the four images. This test sequence was repeated after 20 s adaptation to alternations between two of the faces (e.g., horizontal contracted and expanded). This adaptation resulted in an additional signal at 3 Hz, consistent with asymmetric responses to adapted and non-adapted test faces. Adapting pairs have the same mean (undistorted) as the test sequence and thus should not bias responses driven only by the mean. Instead, the results are consistent with selective adaptation to the distortion axis. A 3 Hz signal was also observed after adapting to face pairs selected to induce a mean bias (e.g., expanded vertical and expanded horizontal), and this signal was not significantly different from that observed following adaption to a single image that did not form part of the test sequence (e.g., a single image expanded both vertically and horizontally). In a further experiment, we found that this variance adaptation can also be observed behaviorally. Our results suggest that adaptation calibrates face perception not only for the average characteristics of the faces we experience but also for the gamut of faces to which we are exposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- O Scott Gwinn
- Visual Perception Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States
| | - Talia L Retter
- Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Science & Assessment, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Sean F O'Neil
- Visual Perception Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States
| | - Michael A Webster
- Visual Perception Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States
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8
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Soto FA, Escobar K, Salan J. Adaptation aftereffects reveal how categorization training changes the encoding of face identity. J Vis 2020; 20:18. [PMID: 33064122 PMCID: PMC7571276 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.10.18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that learning to categorize faces along a novel dimension changes the perceptual representation of such dimension, increasing its discriminability, its invariance, and the information used to identify faces varying along the dimension. A common interpretation of these results is that categorization training promotes the creation of novel dimensions, rather than simply the enhancement of already existing representations. Here, we trained a group of participants to categorize faces that varied along two morphing dimensions, one of them relevant to the categorization task and the other irrelevant to the task. An untrained group did not receive such categorization training. In three experiments, we used face adaptation aftereffects to explore how categorization training changes the encoding of face identities at the extremes of the category-relevant dimension and whether such training produces encoding of the category-relevant dimension as a preferred direction in face space. The pattern of results suggests that categorization training enhances the already existing norm-based coding of face identity, rather than creating novel category-relevant representations. We formalized this conclusion in a model that explains the most important results in our experiments and serves as a working hypothesis for future work in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian A Soto
- Florida International University, Department of Psychology, Miami, FL, USA.,
| | - Karla Escobar
- Florida International University, Department of Psychology, Miami, FL, USA.,
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9
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Reindl A, Schubert T, Strobach T, Becker C, Scholtz G. Adaptation Aftereffects in the Perception of Crabs and Lobsters as Examples of Complex Natural Objects. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1905. [PMID: 30356769 PMCID: PMC6189407 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2018] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
To recognize a familiar object, incoming perceptual information is matched against object representations in memory. Mounting evidence suggests that these representations are not stable, but adapt flexibly to recently encountered perceptual information. This is evident in the form of aftereffects, where prolonged exposure to one object (adaptor) influences perception of the next (test stimulus). So far, adaptation aftereffects have been mainly shown for human faces and simple geometric shapes, and it has been concluded that face aftereffects partially derive from shape adaptation. However, it is largely unknown whether adaptation aftereffects generalize to other categories of complex, naturalistic biological objects, and if so, whether these effects can be explained by shape adaptation. To answer these questions, we conducted three experiments in which images of crabs and lobsters were presented in two versions: as complex, naturalistic images, or reduced to their simplified geometric shapes. In Experiment 1, we found robust adaptation aftereffects for the complex versions of the images, indicating that adaptation aftereffects generalize to animate objects other than faces. Experiment 2 showed adaptation aftereffects for the simplified stimuli, replicating previous findings on geometric shapes. Experiment 3 demonstrated that adaptation to the simplified animal shapes results in aftereffects on the complex naturalistic stimuli. Comparisons between experiments revealed that aftereffects were largest in the first experiment, in which complex stimuli served as adaptor and test stimuli. Together, these experiments show that the magnitude of adaptation aftereffects depends on the complexity of the adaptor, but not on that of the test stimuli, and that shape adaptation plays a role in - but cannot entirely account for - the object aftereffects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antónia Reindl
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung – An Interdisciplinary Laboratory” Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Torsten Schubert
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung – An Interdisciplinary Laboratory” Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Tilo Strobach
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Carola Becker
- Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung – An Interdisciplinary Laboratory” Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
- Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gerhard Scholtz
- Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung – An Interdisciplinary Laboratory” Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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10
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Challinor KL, Mond J, Stephen ID, Mitchison D, Stevenson RJ, Hay P, Brooks KR. Body size and shape misperception and visual adaptation: An overview of an emerging research paradigm. J Int Med Res 2017; 45:2001-2008. [PMID: 29076380 PMCID: PMC5805224 DOI: 10.1177/0300060517726440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Although body size and shape misperception (BSSM) is a common feature of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa
and muscle dysmorphia, little is known about its underlying
neural mechanisms. Recently, a new approach has emerged, based on the long-established
non-invasive technique of perceptual adaptation, which allows for inferences about the
structure of the neural apparatus responsible for alterations in visual appearance. Here,
we describe several recent experimental examples of BSSM, wherein exposure to “extreme”
body stimuli causes visual aftereffects of biased perception. The implications of these
studies for our understanding of the neural and cognitive representation of human bodies,
along with their implications for clinical practice are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten L Challinor
- 1 School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jonathan Mond
- 2 Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,3 Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Ian D Stephen
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,5 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Deborah Mitchison
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,7 Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,8 School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Richard J Stevenson
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Phillipa Hay
- 8 School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kevin R Brooks
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,5 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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11
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Abstract
Face adaptation generates striking face aftereffects, but is this adaptation useful? The answer appears to be yes, with several lines of evidence suggesting that it contributes to our face-recognition ability. Adaptation to face identity is reduced in a variety of clinical populations with impaired face recognition. In addition, individual differences in face adaptation are linked to face-recognition ability in typical adults. People who adapt more readily to new faces are better at recognizing faces. This link between adaptation and recognition holds for both identity and expression recognition. Adaptation updates face norms, which represent the typical or average properties of the faces we experience. By using these norms to code how faces differ from average, the visual system can make explicit the distinctive information that we need to recognize faces. Thus, adaptive norm-based coding may help us to discriminate and recognize faces despite their similarity as visual patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Rhodes
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia
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12
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Balzarini V, Taborsky M, Villa F, Frommen JG. Computer animations of color markings reveal the function of visual threat signals in Neolamprologus pulcher. Curr Zool 2017; 63:45-54. [PMID: 29491962 PMCID: PMC5804153 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2016] [Accepted: 07/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual signals, including changes in coloration and color patterns, are frequently used by animals to convey information. During contests, body coloration and its changes can be used to assess an opponent's state or motivation. Communication of aggressive propensity is particularly important in group-living animals with a stable dominance hierarchy, as the outcome of aggressive interactions determines the social rank of group members. Neolamprologus pulcher is a cooperatively breeding cichlid showing frequent within-group aggression. Both sexes exhibit two vertical black stripes on the operculum that vary naturally in shape and darkness. During frontal threat displays these patterns are actively exposed to the opponent, suggesting a signaling function. To investigate the role of operculum stripes during contests we manipulated their darkness in computer animated pictures of the fish. We recorded the responses in behavior and stripe darkness of test subjects to which these animated pictures were presented. Individuals with initially darker stripes were more aggressive against the animations and showed more operculum threat displays. Operculum stripes of test subjects became darker after exposure to an animation exhibiting a pale operculum than after exposure to a dark operculum animation, highlighting the role of the darkness of this color pattern in opponent assessment. We conclude that (i) the black stripes on the operculum of N. pulcher are a reliable signal of aggression and dominance, (ii) these markings play an important role in opponent assessment, and (iii) 2D computer animations are well suited to elicit biologically meaningful short-term aggressive responses in this widely used model system of social evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Balzarini
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Behavioral Ecology Division, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
| | - Michael Taborsky
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Behavioral Ecology Division, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
| | - Fabienne Villa
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Behavioral Ecology Division, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
| | - Joachim G. Frommen
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Behavioral Ecology Division, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
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13
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Wilming N, Kietzmann TC, Jutras M, Xue C, Treue S, Buffalo EA, König P. Differential Contribution of Low- and High-level Image Content to Eye Movements in Monkeys and Humans. Cereb Cortex 2017; 27:279-293. [PMID: 28077512 PMCID: PMC5942390 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2016] [Accepted: 12/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Oculomotor selection exerts a fundamental impact on our experience of the environment. To better understand the underlying principles, researchers typically rely on behavioral data from humans, and electrophysiological recordings in macaque monkeys. This approach rests on the assumption that the same selection processes are at play in both species. To test this assumption, we compared the viewing behavior of 106 humans and 11 macaques in an unconstrained free-viewing task. Our data-driven clustering analyses revealed distinct human and macaque clusters, indicating species-specific selection strategies. Yet, cross-species predictions were found to be above chance, indicating some level of shared behavior. Analyses relying on computational models of visual saliency indicate that such cross-species commonalities in free viewing are largely due to similar low-level selection mechanisms, with only a small contribution by shared higher level selection mechanisms and with consistent viewing behavior of monkeys being a subset of the consistent viewing behavior of humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Wilming
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.,Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.,Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, WA 09195, USA
| | - Tim C Kietzmann
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.,Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Megan Jutras
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.,Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, WA 09195, USA
| | - Cheng Xue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Faculty of Biology and Psychology, Goettingen University, Goettingen, Germany.,Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Elizabeth A Buffalo
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.,Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, WA 09195, USA
| | - Peter König
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.,Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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14
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Kouider S, Barbot A, Madsen KH, Lehericy S, Summerfield C. Task relevance differentially shapes ventral visual stream sensitivity to visible and invisible faces. Neurosci Conscious 2016; 2016:niw021. [PMID: 30109131 PMCID: PMC6084556 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niw021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Top-down modulations of the visual cortex can be driven by task relevance. Yet, several accounts propose that the perceptual inferences underlying conscious recognition involve similar top-down modulations of sensory responses. Studying the pure impact of task relevance on sensory responses requires dissociating it from the top-down influences underlying conscious recognition. Here, using visual masking to abolish perceptual consciousness in humans, we report that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to invisible faces in the fusiform gyrus are enhanced when they are task-relevant, but suppressed when they are task-irrelevant compared to other object categories. Under conscious perceptual conditions, task-related modulations were also present but drastically reduced, with visible faces always eliciting greater activity in the fusiform gyrus compared to other object categories. Thus, task relevance crucially shapes the sensitivity of fusiform regions to face stimuli, leading from enhancement to suppression of neural activity when the top-down influences accruing from conscious recognition are prevented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sid Kouider
- Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), École Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, Paris, France.,Section for Cognitive Systems, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.,Science division, Psychology, New York University-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Antoine Barbot
- Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), École Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, Paris, France.,Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
| | - Kristoffer H Madsen
- Section for Cognitive Systems, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.,Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark
| | - Stéphane Lehericy
- Centre de NeuroImagerie de Recherche, Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris, France
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15
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Wang Y, Zhou L. Long-Term Exposure to American and European Movies and Television Series Facilitates Caucasian Face Perception in Young Chinese Watchers. Perception 2016; 45:1151-65. [DOI: 10.1177/0301006616652052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Most young Chinese people now learn about Caucasian individuals via media, especially American and European movies and television series (AEMT). The current study aimed to explore whether long-term exposure to AEMT facilitates Caucasian face perception in young Chinese watchers. Before the experiment, we created Chinese, Caucasian, and generic average faces (generic average face was created from both Chinese and Caucasian faces) and tested participants’ ability to identify them. In the experiment, we asked AEMT watchers and Chinese movie and television series (CMT) watchers to complete a facial norm detection task. This task was developed recently to detect norms used in facial perception. The results indicated that AEMT watchers coded Caucasian faces relative to a Caucasian face norm better than they did to a generic face norm, whereas no such difference was found among CMT watchers. All watchers coded Chinese faces by referencing a Chinese norm better than they did relative to a generic norm. The results suggested that long-term exposure to AEMT has the same effect as daily other-race face contact in shaping facial perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yamin Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Lu Zhou
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
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16
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Lynch C, LaGasse AB. Training Endogenous Task Shifting Using Music Therapy: A Feasibility Study. J Music Ther 2016; 53:279-307. [PMID: 27235114 DOI: 10.1093/jmt/thw008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 05/10/2016] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND People with acquired brain injury (ABI) are highly susceptible to disturbances in executive functioning (EF), and these effects are pervasive. Research studies using music therapy for cognitive improvement in this population are limited. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of a Musical Executive Function Training (MEFT) intervention to address task-shifting skills in adults with ABI and to obtain preliminary evidence of intervention effect on task shifting. METHODS Fourteen participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a music therapy intervention group (MTG), a singing group (SG), or the no-intervention control group (CG). The SG and MTG met for one hour a day for five days. Feasibility measures included participant completion rates and intervention fidelity. Potential benefits were measured using the Trail Making Test and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task as a pre- and posttest measure. RESULTS Participant completion rates and interventionist fidelity to the protocol supported feasibility. One-way ANOVA of the pre- and posttest group differences revealed a trend toward improvement in the MTG over the SG. CONCLUSIONS Feasibility and effect size data support a larger trial of the MEFT protocol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colleen Lynch
- Colorado State University Colleen Lynch, MM, MT-BC, is a music therapist currently working in the psychosomatic clinic of Ostalb Klinikum Aalen, Germany. Blythe LaGasse, PhD, MT-BC, is an associate professor of music therapy at Colorado State University
| | - A Blythe LaGasse
- Colorado State University Colleen Lynch, MM, MT-BC, is a music therapist currently working in the psychosomatic clinic of Ostalb Klinikum Aalen, Germany. Blythe LaGasse, PhD, MT-BC, is an associate professor of music therapy at Colorado State University.
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17
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Short LA, Proietti V, Mondloch CJ. Representing young and older adult faces: Shared or age-specific prototypes? VISUAL COGNITION 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2015.1115794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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18
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Grainger SA, Henry JD, Phillips LH, Vanman EJ, Allen R. Age Deficits in Facial Affect Recognition: The Influence of Dynamic Cues. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2015; 72:622-632. [DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbv100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2015] [Accepted: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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19
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Relative judgment in facial identity perception as revealed by sequential effects. Atten Percept Psychophys 2015; 78:264-77. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-0979-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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20
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Rhodes G, Neumann MF, Ewing L, Palermo R. Reduced set averaging of face identity in children and adolescents with autism. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2015; 68:1391-403. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2014.981554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with autism have difficulty abstracting and updating average representations from their diet of faces. These averages function as perceptual norms for coding faces, and poorly calibrated norms may contribute to face recognition difficulties in autism. Another kind of average, known as an ensemble representation, can be abstracted from briefly glimpsed sets of faces. Here we show for the first time that children and adolescents with autism also have difficulty abstracting ensemble representations from sets of faces. On each trial, participants saw a study set of four identities and then indicated whether a test face was present. The test face could be a set average or a set identity, from either the study set or another set. Recognition of set averages was reduced in participants with autism, relative to age- and ability-matched typically developing participants. This difference, which actually represents more accurate responding, indicates weaker set averaging and thus weaker ensemble representations of face identity in autism. Our finding adds to the growing evidence for atypical abstraction of average face representations from experience in autism. Weak ensemble representations may have negative consequences for face processing in autism, given the importance of ensemble representations in dealing with processing capacity limitations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Rhodes
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Markus F. Neumann
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Louise Ewing
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Romina Palermo
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
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21
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Abstract
Stopping is a critical aspect of brain function. Like other voluntary actions, it is defined by its context as much as by its execution. Its neural substrate must therefore reflect both. Here, we distinguish those elements of the underlying brain circuit that preferentially reflect contextual aspects of stopping from those related to its execution. Contextual complexity of stopping was modulated using a novel "Stop/Change-signal" task, which also allowed us to parameterize the duration of the stopping process. Human magnetoencephalographic activity and behavioral responses were simultaneously recorded. Whereas theta/alpha frequency activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus was most closely associated with the duration of the stopping process, earlier gamma frequency activity in the pre-supplementary motor area was unique in showing contextual modulation. These results differentiate the roles of 2 key frontal regions involved in stopping, a crucial aspect of behavioral control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashwani Jha
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3BG, UK Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Parashkev Nachev
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Gareth Barnes
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Peter Brown
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Vladimir Litvak
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3BG, UK
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22
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Seymour KJ, Williams MA, Rich AN. The Representation of Color across the Human Visual Cortex: Distinguishing Chromatic Signals Contributing to Object Form Versus Surface Color. Cereb Cortex 2015; 26:1997-2005. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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23
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Short LA, Lee K, Fu G, Mondloch CJ. Category-specific face prototypes are emerging, but not yet mature, in 5-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 126:161-77. [PMID: 24937629 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2014] [Revised: 04/21/2014] [Accepted: 04/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Adults' expertise in face recognition has been attributed to norm-based coding. Moreover, adults possess separable norms for a variety of face categories (e.g., race, sex, age) that appear to enhance recognition by reducing redundancy in the information shared by faces and ensuring that only relevant dimensions are used to encode faces from a given category. Although 5-year-old children process own-race faces using norm-based coding, little is known about the organization and refinement of their face space. The current study investigated whether 5-year-olds rely on category-specific norms and whether experience facilitates the development of dissociable face prototypes. In Experiment 1, we examined whether Chinese 5-year-olds show race-contingent opposing aftereffects and the extent to which aftereffects transfer across face race among Caucasian and Chinese 5-year-olds. Both participant races showed partial transfer of aftereffects across face race; however, there was no evidence for race-contingent opposing aftereffects. To examine whether experience facilitates the development of category-specific prototypes, we investigated whether race-contingent aftereffects are present among Caucasian 5-year-olds with abundant exposure to Chinese faces (Experiment 2) and then tested separate groups of 5-year-olds with two other categories with which they have considerable experience: sex (male/female faces) and age (adult/child faces) (Experiment 3). Across all three categories, 5-year-olds showed no category-contingent opposing aftereffects. These results demonstrate that 5 years of age is a stage characterized by minimal separation in the norms and associated coding dimensions used for faces from different categories and suggest that refinement of the mechanisms that underlie expert face processing occurs throughout childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey A Short
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada
| | - Genyue Fu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321004, China
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
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24
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Bartsch MV, Boehler CN, Stoppel CM, Merkel C, Heinze HJ, Schoenfeld MA, Hopf JM. Determinants of Global Color-Based Selection in Human Visual Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:2828-41. [PMID: 24770709 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Feature attention operates in a spatially global way, with attended feature values being prioritized for selection outside the focus of attention. Accounts of global feature attention have emphasized feature competition as a determining factor. Here, we use magnetoencephalographic recordings in humans to test whether competition is critical for global feature selection to arise. Subjects performed a color/shape discrimination task in one visual field (VF), while irrelevant color probes were presented in the other unattended VF. Global effects of color attention were assessed by analyzing the response to the probe as a function of whether or not the probe's color was a target-defining color. We find that global color selection involves a sequence of modulations in extrastriate cortex, with an initial phase in higher tier areas (lateral occipital complex) followed by a later phase in lower tier retinotopic areas (V3/V4). Importantly, these modulations appeared with and without color competition in the focus of attention. Moreover, early parts of the modulation emerged for a task-relevant color not even present in the focus of attention. All modulations, however, were eliminated during simple onset-detection of the colored target. These results indicate that global color-based attention depends on target discrimination independent of feature competition in the focus of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mandy V Bartsch
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Carsten N Boehler
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Christian M Stoppel
- Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Christian Merkel
- Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Hans-Jochen Heinze
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Mircea A Schoenfeld
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Jens-Max Hopf
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
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25
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McKone E, Jeffery L, Boeing A, Clifford CWG, Rhodes G. Face identity aftereffects increase monotonically with adaptor extremity over, but not beyond, the range of natural faces. Vision Res 2014; 98:1-13. [PMID: 24582798 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2013] [Revised: 01/16/2014] [Accepted: 01/21/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Face identity aftereffects have been used to test theories of the neural coding underlying expert face recognition. Previous studies reported larger aftereffects for adaptors that are morphed further from the average face than for adaptors closer to the average, which appeared to support opponent coding along face-identity dimensions. However, only two levels were tested and it is not clear where they were located relative to the range of naturally occurring faces. This range is of interest given the functional need of the visual system both to produce good discrimination of real everyday faces and to process novel kinds of faces that we may encounter. Here, Experiment 1 establishes the boundary of faces judged as being able to occur in everyday life. Experiment 2 then shows that aftereffects increase with adaptor extremity up to this natural-range boundary, drop significantly immediately outside the boundary, and then remain stable with no drop towards zero even for highly distorted adaptors far beyond the boundary. Computational modelling shows that this unexpected pattern cannot be explained either by a simple opponent or by a classic multichannel model. However, its qualitative features can be captured either by a combination of opponent and multichannel coding (raising the possibility that not all identity-related face dimensions are opponent coded), or by a 3-pool model containing two S-shaped-response channels and a central bell-shaped channel around the average face (raising the possibility of unexpected similarities with coding of eye and head direction).
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Affiliation(s)
- Elinor McKone
- Research School of Psychology, Australian National University & ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia.
| | - Linda Jeffery
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia
| | - Alexandra Boeing
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia
| | - Colin W G Clifford
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, and Australian Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, Australia
| | - Gillian Rhodes
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia
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26
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Ross DA, Deroche M, Palmeri TJ. Not just the norm: exemplar-based models also predict face aftereffects. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 21:47-70. [PMID: 23690282 PMCID: PMC4151123 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-013-0449-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The face recognition literature has considered two competing accounts of how faces are represented within the visual system: Exemplar-based models assume that faces are represented via their similarity to exemplars of previously experienced faces, while norm-based models assume that faces are represented with respect to their deviation from an average face, or norm. Face identity aftereffects have been taken as compelling evidence in favor of a norm-based account over an exemplar-based account. After a relatively brief period of adaptation to an adaptor face, the perceived identity of a test face is shifted toward a face with attributes opposite to those of the adaptor, suggesting an explicit psychological representation of the norm. Surprisingly, despite near universal recognition that face identity aftereffects imply norm-based coding, there have been no published attempts to simulate the predictions of norm- and exemplar-based models in face adaptation paradigms. Here, we implemented and tested variations of norm and exemplar models. Contrary to common claims, our simulations revealed that both an exemplar-based model and a version of a two-pool norm-based model, but not a traditional norm-based model, predict face identity aftereffects following face adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Ross
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, 301 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA,
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27
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Vingilis-Jaremko L, Maurer D, Gao X. The influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness: no own-age or own-sex advantage among children attending single-sex schools. J Exp Child Psychol 2013; 120:1-16. [PMID: 24326246 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Revised: 10/11/2013] [Accepted: 10/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
We examined how recent biased face experience affects the influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness among 8- and 9-year-old children attending a girls' school, a boys' school, and a mixed-sex school. We presented pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 50% toward its group average, whereas the other face was transformed 50% away from that average. Across blocks, the faces varied in age (adult, 9-year-old, or 5-year-old) and sex (male or female). We expected that averageness might influence attractiveness judgments more strongly for same-age faces and, for children attending single-sex schools, same-sex faces of that age because their prototype(s) should be best tuned to the faces they see most frequently. Averageness influenced children's judgments of attractiveness, but the strength of the influence was not modulated by the age of the face, nor did the effects of sex of face differ across schools. Recent biased experience might not have affected the results because of similarities between the average faces of different ages and sexes and/or because a minimum level of experience with a particular group of faces may be adequate for the formation of a veridical prototype and its influence on judgments of attractiveness. The results suggest that averageness affects children's judgments of the attractiveness of the faces they encounter in everyday life regardless of age or sex of face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Daphne Maurer
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Xiaoqing Gao
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
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28
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Gao X, Wilson HR. The neural representation of face space dimensions. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:1787-93. [PMID: 23850598 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2013] [Revised: 06/17/2013] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Functional neural imaging studies have identified a network of brain areas that are more active to faces than to other objects. However, it remains largely unclear how these areas encode individual facial identity. To investigate the neural representations of facial identity, we constructed a multidimensional face space structure, whose dimensions were derived from geometric information of faces using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Using fMRI, we recorded participants' neural responses when viewing blocks of faces that differed only on one dimension within a block. Although the response magnitudes to different blocks of faces did not differ in a univariate analysis, multi-voxel pattern analysis revealed distinct patterns related to different face space dimensions in brain areas that have a higher response magnitude to faces than to other objects. The results indicate that dimensions of the face space are encoded in the face-selective brain areas in a spatially distributed way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqing Gao
- Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3.
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29
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Strobach T, Carbon CC. Face adaptation effects: reviewing the impact of adapting information, time, and transfer. Front Psychol 2013; 4:318. [PMID: 23760550 PMCID: PMC3669756 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2013] [Accepted: 05/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to adapt is essential to live and survive in an ever-changing environment such as the human ecosystem. Here we review the literature on adaptation effects of face stimuli to give an overview of existing findings in this area, highlight gaps in its research literature, initiate new directions in face adaptation research, and help to design future adaptation studies. Furthermore, this review should lead to better understanding of the processing characteristics as well as the mental representations of face-relevant information. The review systematizes studies at a behavioral level in respect of a framework which includes three dimensions representing the major characteristics of studies in this field of research. These dimensions comprise (1) the specificity of adapting face information, e.g., identity, gender, or age aspects of the material to be adapted to (2) aspects of timing (e.g., the sustainability of adaptation effects) and (3) transfer relations between face images presented during adaptation and adaptation tests (e.g., images of the same or different identities). The review concludes with options for how to combine findings across different dimensions to demonstrate the relevance of our framework for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tilo Strobach
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University , Berlin , Germany ; Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University , Munich , Germany
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30
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Implicit face prototype learning from geometric information. Vision Res 2013; 82:1-12. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2011] [Revised: 01/30/2013] [Accepted: 02/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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31
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Short LA, Mondloch CJ. Aging Faces and Aging Perceivers: Young and Older Adults are Less Sensitive to Deviations from Normality in Older Than in Young Adult Faces. Perception 2013; 42:795-812. [DOI: 10.1068/p7380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Past studies examining the other-age effect, the phenomenon in which own-age faces are recognized more accurately than other-age faces, are limited in number and report inconsistent results. Here we examine whether the perceptual system is preferentially tuned to differences among young adult faces. In experiment 1 young (18–25 years) and older adult (63–87 years) participants were shown young and older face pairs in which one member of each pair was undistorted and the other had compressed or expanded features. Participants indicated which member of each pair was more normal and which was more expanded. Both age groups were more accurate when tested with young compared with older faces—but only when judging normality. In experiment 2 we tested a separate group of young adults on the same two tasks but with upright and inverted face pairs to examine the differential pattern of results between the normality and discrimination tasks. Inversion impaired performance on the normality task but not the discrimination task and eliminated the young adult advantage in the normality task. Collectively, these results suggest that the face processing system is optimized for young adult faces and that abundant experience with older faces later in life does not reverse this perceptual tuning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey A Short
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
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32
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Macchi Cassia V, Pisacane A, Gava L. No own-age bias in 3-year-old children: More evidence for the role of early experience in building face-processing biases. J Exp Child Psychol 2012; 113:372-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2011] [Revised: 06/24/2012] [Accepted: 06/29/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Graewe B, Lemos R, Ferreira C, Santana I, Farivar R, De Weerd P, Castelo-Branco M. Impaired processing of 3D motion-defined faces in mild cognitive impairment and healthy aging: an fMRI study. Cereb Cortex 2012; 23:2489-99. [PMID: 22879351 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which shows high risk for conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD), is accompanied by progressive visual deteriorations that so far are poorly understood. Here, we compared dorsal and ventral visual stream functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity among amnestic MCI, healthy elderly, and young participants during structure-from-motion (SFM) face categorization performance. Task performance varied with stimulus depth and duration levels and differences among groups were highly correlated with face-related fMRI activation patterns. Young participants showed larger activation to faces than scrambled faces (face sensitivity) in the right fusiform face area (FFA) and right occipital face area (OFA) whereas in elderly, this difference was reduced. Surprisingly, in MCI, scrambled faces elicited larger activation in right FFA/OFA than faces. The latter observation may be related to the additional finding of elevated depth sensitivity in left FFA/OFA of MCI, suggesting that an increased representation of low-level stimulus aspects may impair face perception in MCI. Discriminant function analysis using face and depth sensitivity indices in FFA/OFA classified MCI and healthy elderly with 88.2% accuracy, marking a fundamental distinction between groups. Potentially related findings include altered activation patterns in dorsal-ventral stream integration regions and attention-related networks of MCI patients. Our results highlight aberrant visual and additional potentially compensatory processes that identify dispositions of (preclinical) AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta Graewe
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
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Oculomotor inhibition of return: How soon is it “recoded” into spatiotopic coordinates? Atten Percept Psychophys 2012; 74:1145-53. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-012-0312-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Little AC, Hancock PJB, Debruine LM, Jones BC. Adaptation to antifaces and the perception of correct famous identity in an average face. Front Psychol 2012; 3:19. [PMID: 22363301 PMCID: PMC3281280 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2011] [Accepted: 01/14/2012] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous experiments have examined exposure to anti-identities (faces that possess traits opposite to an identity through a population average), finding that exposure to antifaces enhances recognition of the plus-identity images. Here we examine adaptation to antifaces using famous female celebrities. We demonstrate: that exposure to a color and shape transformed antiface of a celebrity increases the likelihood of perceiving the identity from which the antiface was manufactured in a composite face and that the effect shows size invariance (experiment 1), equivalent effects are seen in internet and laboratory-based studies (experiment 2), adaptation to shape-only antifaces has stronger effects on identity recognition than adaptation to color-only antifaces (experiment 3), and exposure to male versions of the antifaces does not influence the perception of female faces (experiment 4). Across these studies we found an effect of order where aftereffects were more pronounced in early than later trials. Overall, our studies delineate several aspects of identity aftereffects and support the proposal that identity is coded relative to other faces with special reference to a relatively sex-specific mean face representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony C Little
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling Stirling, Scotland
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Jeffery L, Rhodes G. Insights into the development of face recognition mechanisms revealed by face aftereffects. Br J Psychol 2011; 102:799-815. [DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02066.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Kondo HM, Kitagawa N, Kitamura MS, Koizumi A, Nomura M, Kashino M. Separability and commonality of auditory and visual bistable perception. Cereb Cortex 2011; 22:1915-22. [PMID: 21965442 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhr266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
It is unclear what neural processes induce individual differences in perceptual organization in different modalities. To examine this issue, the present study used different forms of bistable perception: auditory streaming, verbal transformations, visual plaids, and reversible figures. We performed factor analyses on the number of perceptual switches in the tasks. A 3-factor model provided a better fit to the data than the other possible models. These factors, namely the "auditory," "shape," and "motion" factors, were separable but correlated with each other. We compared the number of perceptual switches among genotype groups to identify the effects of neurotransmitter functions on the factors. We focused on polymorphisms of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158)Met and serotonin 2A receptor (HTR2A) -1438G/A genes, which are involved in the modulation of dopamine and serotonin, respectively. The number of perceptual switches in auditory streaming and verbal transformations differed among COMT genotype groups, whereas that in reversible figures differed among HTR2A genotype groups. The results indicate that the auditory and shape factors reflect the functions of the dopamine and serotonin systems, respectively. Our findings suggest that the formation and selection of percepts involve neural processes in cortical and subcortical areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirohito M Kondo
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan
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Zhao C, Seriès P, Hancock PJB, Bednar JA. Similar neural adaptation mechanisms underlying face gender and tilt aftereffects. Vision Res 2011; 51:2021-30. [PMID: 21810438 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2011.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2010] [Revised: 07/12/2011] [Accepted: 07/15/2011] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Visual aftereffects have been found for a wide variety of stimuli, ranging from oriented lines to human faces, but previous results suggested that face aftereffects were qualitatively different from orientation (tilt) aftereffects. Using computational models, we predicted that these differences were due to the limited range of faces used in previous studies. Here we report psychophysical results verifying this prediction. We used the same paradigm to test tilt aftereffects (TAE) and face gender aftereffects (FAE) and found that they exhibited qualitatively similar aftereffect curves, when a sufficiently large range of test faces was used. Overall, the results suggest that similar adaptation mechanisms may underlie both high-level and low-level visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Zhao
- Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, School of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, UK
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Rhodes G, Jeffery L, Evangelista E, Ewing L, Peters M, Taylor L. Enhanced attention amplifies face adaptation. Vision Res 2011; 51:1811-9. [PMID: 21704059 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2011.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2011] [Revised: 05/31/2011] [Accepted: 06/09/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual adaptation not only produces striking perceptual aftereffects, but also enhances coding efficiency and discrimination by calibrating coding mechanisms to prevailing inputs. Attention to simple stimuli increases adaptation, potentially enhancing its functional benefits. Here we show that attention also increases adaptation to faces. In Experiment 1, face identity aftereffects increased when attention to adapting faces was increased using a change detection task. In Experiment 2, figural (distortion) face aftereffects increased when attention was increased using a snap game (detecting immediate repeats) during adaptation. Both were large effects. Contributions of low-level adaptation were reduced using free viewing (both experiments) and a size change between adapt and test faces (Experiment 2). We suggest that attention may enhance adaptation throughout the entire cortical visual pathway, with functional benefits well beyond the immediate advantages of selective processing of potentially important stimuli. These results highlight the potential to facilitate adaptive updating of face-coding mechanisms by strategic deployment of attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Rhodes
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia.
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