Abstract
Face aftereffects are proving to be an effective means of examining the properties of face-specific processes in the human visual system. We examined the role of gender in the neural representation of faces using a contrast-based adaptation method. If faces of different genders share the same representational face space, then adaptation to a face of one gender should affect both same- and different-gender faces. Further, if these aftereffects differ in magnitude, this may indicate distinct gender-related factors in the organization of this face space. To control for a potential confound between physical similarity and gender, we used a Bayesian ideal observer and human discrimination data to construct a stimulus set in which pairs of different-gender faces were equally dissimilar as same-gender pairs. We found that the recognition of both same-gender and different-gender faces was suppressed following a brief exposure of 100ms. Moreover, recognition was more suppressed for test faces of a different-gender than those of the same-gender as the adaptor, despite the equivalence in physical and psychophysical similarity. Our results suggest that male and female faces likely occupy the same face space, allowing transfer of aftereffects between the genders, but that there are special properties that emerge along gender-defining dimensions of this space.
Highlights
Adaptation aftereffects are changes in the perception of a stimulus following exposure to another
The finding of cross-gender transfer of adaptation is consistent with a number of previous reports that showed either complete cross-gender transfer for expression [14] and shape aftereffects [21], or partial cross-gender transfer of ethnicity aftereffects [22]
These contrast with another report that variations in the degree of ‘average-ness’ or sexual dimorphism did not generate cross-gender aftereffects in ratings of attractiveness [20]. This discrepancy is likely due to the differences in the properties being adapted in each study
Summary
Adaptation aftereffects are changes in the perception of a stimulus following exposure to another. One key aspect of adaptation aftereffects is their selectivity, in that the size of the aftereffect is modulated by the similarity between adapting stimuli and test stimuli. This selectivity is thought to reflect the tuning of the mechanisms that encode these stimuli [8]. According to this view, perception is based on a population of units, each tuned to a limited range of values for a stimulus property (e.g., orientation, direction of motion, spatial frequency). Adaptation has been successfully used as a psychophysical tool to infer the tuning properties of various mechanisms underlying the perception of basic visual properties such as orientation, spatial frequency and direction of motion [1,9,10,11]
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