Face-matching Task Research Articles

A correlational study investigating whether semantic knowledge facilitates face identity processing

ABSTRACT The ability to recognize faces is a fundamental skill in human social interaction. While much research has focused on the recognition of familiar faces, there is growing interest in understanding the cognitive processes underlying the recognition of unfamiliar faces. Previous studies have suggested that both semantic knowledge and physical features play a role in unfamiliar face recognition, but the nature of their relationship is not well understood. This study examines the relationship between unfamiliar face recognition ability and the encoding abilities of semantic knowledge and physical features for famous faces. Using the Gorilla platform, a large group of participants (N = 66) with a broad age range completed three tasks: a challenging unfamiliar face matching task and Famous People Recognition Tests 1 and 2 to evaluate semantic and physical feature encoding abilities, respectively. Results indicate positive correlations between encoding abilities for both semantic knowledge and physical features of familiar faces with Model Face Matching Task scores. Additionally, the encoding ability for semantic knowledge was found to be positively associated with that of physical features.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Face Identity Recognition Deficit across Ages

The purpose of this review was to assess the face identity recognition deficit and the developmental difference that manifested in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. Based on the meta-analysis using a random-effect model of 94 studies, with 144 effect sizes, for both adult and pediatric subjects with simultaneous and delayed face identity recognition paradigms, the underperformance in ASD was significant and persistent across ages. In addition, a higher level of deficit was found in adult ASD when performing simultaneous face-matching tasks while other subgroups showed homogenous effect sizes. This suggested a dissociation between the difficulties of the two mechanisms of face recognition: face perception (perceiving identity from the face with minimal memory load required) and face memory (recall of identity from the face that requires memory load), which was only shown in adults but not in children. The result indicated the possibility of using face identity recognition deficit as a diagnostic trait for ASD.

Investigating the other race effect: Human and computer face matching and similarity judgements

ABSTRACT The other race effect (ORE) in part describes how people are poorer at identifying faces of other races compared to own-race faces. While well-established with face memory, more recent studies have begun to demonstrate its presence in face matching tasks, with minimal memory requirements. However, several of these studies failed to compare both races of faces and participants in order to fully test the predictions of the ORE. Here, we utilized images of both Black and White individuals, and Black and White participants, as well as tasks measuring perceptions of face matching and similarity. In addition, human judgements were directly compared with computer algorithms. First, we found only partial support for an ORE in face matching. Second, a deep convolutional neural network (residual network with 29 layers) performed exceptionally well with both races. The DCNN’s representations were strongly associated with human perceptions. Taken together, we found that the ORE was not robust or compelling in our human data, and was absent in the computer algorithms we tested. We discuss our results in the context of ORE literature, and the importance of state-of-the-art algorithms.

Sex differences in externalizing and internalizing traits and ventral striatal responses to monetary loss

Ventral striatum (VS) processes rewarding and punishing stimuli. Women and men vary in externalizing and internalizing traits, which may influence neural responses to reward and punishment. To investigate sex differences in how individual traits influence VS responses to reward and punishment, we curated the data of the Human Connectome Project and identified 981 (473 men) subjects evaluated by the Achenbach Adult Self-Report Syndrome Scales. We processed the imaging data with published routines and extracted VS response (β) to win and to loss vs. baseline in a gambling task for correlation with externalizing and internalizing symptom severity. Men vs. women showed more severe externalizing symptoms and higher VS response to monetary losses (VS-loss β) but not to wins. Men but not women showed a significant, positive correlation between VS-loss β and externalizing traits, and the sex difference was confirmed by a slope test. The correlations of VS-loss vs. externalizing and of VS-win vs. externalizing and those of VS-loss vs. externalizing and of VS-loss vs. internalizing traits both differed significantly in slope, confirming its specificity, in men. Further, the sex-specific relationship between VS-loss β and externalizing trait did not extend to activities during exposure to negative emotion in the face matching task. To conclude, VS responses to loss but not to win and their correlation with externalizing rather than internalizing symptom severity showed sex differences in young adults. The findings highlight the relationship of externalizing traits and VS response to monetary loss and may have implications for psychological models of externalizing behaviors in men.

Aberrant Intrinsic Brain Network Functional Connectivity During a Face-Matching Task in Women Diagnosed With Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

BackgroundPremenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is characterized by affective, cognitive, and physical symptoms, suggesting alterations at the brain network level. Women with PMDD demonstrate aberrant discrimination of facial emotions during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and altered reactivity to emotional stimuli. However, previous studies assessing emotional task-related brain reactivity using region-of-interest or whole-brain analysis have reported conflicting findings. Therefore, we utilized both region-of-interest task-reactivity and seed-voxel functional connectivity (FC) approaches to test for differences in the default mode network, salience network, and central executive network between women with PMDD and control participants during an emotional-processing task that yields an optimal setup for investigating brain network changes in PMDD. MethodsTwenty-four women with PMDD and 27 control participants were classified according to the Daily Record of Severity of Problems. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while completing the emotional face-matching task during the midfollicular and late-luteal phases of their menstrual cycle. ResultsNo significant between-group differences in brain reactivity were found using region-of-interest analysis. In the FC analysis, a main effect of diagnosis was found showing decreased default mode network connectivity, increased salience network connectivity, and decreased central executive network connectivity in women with PMDD compared with control participants. A significant interaction between menstrual cycle phase and diagnosis was found in the central executive network for right posterior parietal cortex and left inferior lateral occipital cortex connectivity. A post hoc analysis revealed stronger FC during the midfollicular than the late-luteal phase of PMDD. ConclusionsAberrant FC in the 3 brain networks involved in PMDD may indicate vulnerability to experience affective and cognitive symptoms of the disorder.

Unfamiliar face matching ability predicts the slope of face learning

We provide the first examination of individual differences in the efficiency of face learning. Investigating individual differences in face learning can illuminate potential mechanisms and provide greater understanding of why certain individuals might be more efficient face learners. Participants completed two unfamiliar face matching tasks and a learning task in which learning was assessed after viewing 1, 3, 6, and 9 images of to-be-learned identities. Individual differences in the slope of face learning (i.e., increases in sensitivity to identity) were predicted by the ability to discriminate between matched (same-identity) vs. mismatched (different-identity) pairs of wholly unfamiliar faces. A Dual Process Signal Detection model showed that three parameters increased with learning: Familiarity (an unconscious type of memory that varies in strength), recollection-old (conscious recognition of a learned identity), and recollection-new (conscious/confident rejection of novel identities). Good (vs. poor) matchers had higher Recollection-Old scores throughout learning and showed a steeper increase in Recollection-New. We conclude that good matchers are better able to capitalize on exposure to within-person variability in appearance, an effect that is attributable to their conscious memory for both learned and novel faces. These results have applied implications and will inform contemporary and traditional models of face identification.

Face matching and metacognition: investigating individual differences and a training intervention.

Although researchers have begun to consider metacognitive insight during face matching, little is known about the underlying mechanism. Here, I investigated whether objective ability, as well as self-assessed ability, were able to predict metacognitive performance, that is, the ability to differentiate correct and incorrect responses in terms of confidence. In addition, I considered whether a training intervention resulted in improvements to both face matching performance and metacognitive insight. In this experiment (N = 220), participants completed a face matching task, with either a diagnostic feature training course or a control course presented at the halfway point. In addition, a second face matching task, as well as a self-report questionnaire regarding ability, were completed to provide measures of objective and self-assessed ability respectively. Higher self-assessed ability with faces, as well as higher objective ability with face matching, predicted better metacognitive performance, i.e., greater confidence in correct, in comparison with incorrect, responses. This pattern of results was evident both when objective ability was measured through performance on the same task used to measure metacognitive insight and when a different task was used. Finally, the training intervention failed to produce improvements in face matching performance and showed no evidence of altering metacognitive ability. The current work begins to address the mechanism underlying individual differences in metacognitive insight during face matching. Although support was provided for a competence-based account, where better face matchers showed greater performance on the task and were more successful in monitoring their performance, further work might focus on decoupling task performance and competence in order to more conclusively explain why some people are more insightful than others.

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits.

Quantitative autistic-like traits (QATs) are a constellation of traits that mirror those of clinical autism and are thought to share the same mechanisms as the condition. There is great interest in identifying the genetic and neurobiological basis of QATs, but progress is hindered by the composite nature of these clinically based constructs. Social QATs are defined according to the diagnostic criteria for autism, comprising multiple potential neural mechanisms that may contribute to varying degrees. The objective of this study was to decompose social QATs into more specific constructs, in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We chose constructs with trait-like properties and known or suggested significance for autistic social function: (1) social anhedonia, (2) prosopagnosia (face blindness), and (3) mentalizing (attributing mental states to images of eyes). We hypothesized that these constructs may all contribute to observed variance in social QATs. We recruited 148 adults with a broad range of QATs (mean age 37.9 years, range 18-69; 50% female; 5.4% autistic) to an experimental behavioral study conducted online. We estimated social QATs using the social factor of the Comprehensive Autistic Traits Inventory. We used the Oxford Face Matching Task and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test to measure face matching ability and mentalizing, respectively. Social anhedonia traits were measured with the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale, and prosopagnosic traits with the 20-item Prosopagnosia Index. A combination of frequentist and Bayesian statistics was used to test the social constructs as predictors of social QATs. We found that social anhedonic traits, prosopagnosic traits, and face matching performance were likely predictors of social QATs, whereas mentalizing showed limited contribution. The findings support prosopagnosic and anhedonic traits, but not mentalizing deficits, as dimensional predictors of individual differences in social function across the autistic spectrum. Further, the study strongly suggests that social reward systems and face processing networks play significant and independent roles in autistic-like social function.

High-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation enhances unfamiliar face matching of high resolution and pixelated faces

Face identification is useful for social interactions and its impairment can lead to severe social and mental problems. This ability is also remarkably important in applied settings, including eyewitness identification and ID verification. Several studies have demonstrated the potential of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) to enhance different cognitive skills. However, research has produced inconclusive results about the effectiveness of tRNS to improve face identification. The present study aims to further explore the effect of tRNS on face identification using an unfamiliar face matching task. Observers firstly received either high-frequency bilateral tRNS or sham stimulation for 20 min. The stimulation targeted occipitotemporal areas, which have been previously involved in face processing. In a subsequent stage, observers were asked to perform an unfamiliar face matching task consisting of unaltered and pixelated face pictures. Compared to the sham stimulation group, the high-frequency tRNS group showed better unfamiliar face matching performance with both unaltered and pixelated faces. Our results show that a single high-frequency tRNS session might suffice to improve face identification abilities. These results have important consequences for the treatment of face recognition disorders, and potential applications in those scenarios whereby the identification of faces is primordial.

Unfamiliar faces might as well be another species: Evidence from a face matching task with human and monkey faces

ABSTRACT Humans are good at recognizing familiar faces, but are more error-prone at recognizing an unfamiliar person across different images. It has been suggested that familiar and unfamiliar faces are processed qualitatively differently. But are unfamiliar faces at least processed differently from monkey faces? Here we tested 366 volunteers on a face matching test – two images presented side-by-side with participants judging whether the images show the same identity or two different identities – comparing performance with familiar and unfamiliar human faces, and monkey faces. The results showed that performance was most accurate for familiar faces, and was above chance for monkey faces. Although accuracy was higher for unfamiliar humans than monkeys on different identity trials, there was no unfamiliar human advantage over monkeys on same identity trials. The results give new insights into unfamiliar face processing, showing that in some ways unfamiliar faces might as well be another species.

Reading emotional faces in deaf and hard-of-hearing and typically hearing children.

Reading emotions from other people's facial expressions is an important skill that guides social interactions. With limited auditory input and atypical emotion socialization, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children may develop atypical processing patterns when reading emotional faces. The current study aimed at understanding whether and how DHH and typically hearing (TH) children differed at 3 emotion processing levels: gaze patterns, physiological arousal, and interpretation. Fifty-five DHH children and 72 TH children completed an emotional face matching task in which they were presented with happy, angry, fearful, and emotionally neutral faces. During the task participants' eye gazes and pupil diameter were measured by an eye-tracking device. The DHH and TH children both paid most attention to the eye region when reading emotional faces. Yet, a contrast between happy faces and nonhappy faces was observed in physiological arousal and interpretation tendency in the DHH children only: Nonhappy facial expressions were more arousing and were confused more often than happy expressions, which may reflect the DHH children being less experienced in processing nonhappy expressions due to limited access to the social environment. The results highlighted the importance of looking into the qualitative differences between typical and atypical development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Image variability and face matching.

This study investigates whether variability in perceived trait judgements disrupts our ability to match unfamiliar faces. In this preregistered study, 174 participants completed a face matching task where they were asked to indicate whether two ambient face images belonged to the same person or different people (17,748 total data points). Participants completed 51 match trials consisting of images of the same person that differed substantially on one trait (either trustworthiness, dominance or attractiveness) with minimal differences in the alternate traits. Participants also completed 51 mismatch trials which contained two photos of similar-looking individuals. We hypothesised that participants would make more errors on match trials when images differed in terms of attractiveness ratings than when they differed on trustworthiness or dominance. Contrary to expectations, images that differed in terms of attractiveness were matched most accurately, and there was no relationship between the extent of differences in attractiveness ratings and accuracy. There was some evidence that differences in perceived dominance and, to a lesser extent, trustworthiness were associated with lower face matching performance. However, these relationships were not significant when alternate traits were accounted for. The findings of our study suggest that face matching performance is largely robust against variation in trait judgements.

Covariation in the recognition of own-race and other-race faces argues against the role of group bias in the other race effect

A dominant theory of the other race effect (ORE) is that group-bias causes us to process own-race and other-race faces using different cognitive processes. To test this theory, we measured individual differences across two face recognition tasks. Our predictions were that the magnitude and pattern of performance on own-race faces would not predict performance on other-race faces and that participants would take more time with own-race faces. In a face matching task, we found that participants were more accurate with own-race faces compared to other-race faces. However, performance on own-race faces was highly correlated with performance on other-race faces. In a face sorting task, participants made fewer piles and fewer errors (i.e. higher accuracy) with own-race faces compared to other-race faces. However, we again found that performance on own-race faces was highly correlated with performance on other-race faces. The covariation in performance between own-race and other-race faces suggests that they engage similar perceptual processes. Finally, we found that participants did not spend more time on tasks involving own-race faces suggesting that different levels of motivation do not explain the ORE. Together, these findings argue against the idea that group bias leads to different perceptual processing of own-race and other-race faces.

A neural measure of the degree of face familiarity

Recognizing a face as familiar is essential in our everyday life. However, ‘familiarity’ covers a wide range – from people we see every day to those we barely know. Although face recognition is studied extensively, little is known about how the degree of familiarity affects neural face processing, despite the critical social importance of this dimension. Here we report the results of a multivariate cross-classification EEG experiment, where we study the temporal representational dynamics of the degree of familiarity. Participants viewed highly variable face images of 20 identities. Importantly, we measured face familiarity using subjective familiarity ratings in addition to testing explicit knowledge and reaction times in a face matching task. A machine learning algorithm, trained to discriminate familiar and unfamiliar faces from a separate study, was used to predict the degree of face familiarity from the pattern of the EEG data. We found that the neural representations of the degree of familiarity emerge between 400 - 600 msec post-stimulus onset for famous persons. The correlation between decoding performance and behavioral familiarity was more reliable, occurred earlier and lasted longer when personally familiar and viewers' own faces were included in the analysis. Our findings provide new insights into how the brain represents faces with various degrees of familiarity and show that the degree of familiarity can be decoded reliably from the EEG at a relatively late time window. These results support the idea that representations of familiar faces form part of a general neural signature of the familiarity component of recognition memory processes.

Emotion processing in depression with and without comorbid anxiety disorder

BackgroundAmong mental disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly prevalent and associated with emotional dysfunctions linked to activity alterations in the brain, mainly in prefrontal regions, the insula, the anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala. However, this evidence is heterogeneous, perhaps because magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies on MDD tend to neglect comorbid anxiety (COM-A). MethodsTo address this, here a sample of age- and sex-matched patients, nMDD = 90 and nCOM-A = 85, underwent functional MRI to assess neurofunctional group differences during a negative emotional face-matching task using a hypothesis-driven region of interest approach (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala) and an explorative whole-brain approach. We also assessed these relationships with state-trait anxiety measures, a state depression measure, general functioning and medication load. ResultsDuring face processing, COM-A (compared to MDD) had significantly increased bilateral insula activity. No activity differences were found in the anterior cingulate cortex or the amygdala. Whole-brain analyses revealed increased inferior temporal activation and frontal activation (comprising the inferior and middle frontal gyrus) in COM-A that was positively linked to state anxiety as well as general functioning across groups. LimitationsStill, the lack of a healthy control and small effects mean this study should be replicated to further interpret the results. ConclusionsThe findings highlight a discriminative activation pattern between MDD and COM-A regarding emotion processing and may present a correlate of potentially anxiety-related psychopathology. In future, further investigations in potential discriminative activity patterns could help to elucidate the origin, development and treatment of depression.

Two face masks are better than one: congruency effects in face matching.

Although the positive effects of congruency between stimuli are well replicated in face memory paradigms, mixed findings have been found in face matching. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, face masks are now very common during daily life outdoor activities. Thus, the present study aims to further explore congruency effects in matching faces partially occluded by surgical masks. Observers performed a face matching task consisting of pairs of faces presented in full view (i.e., full-view condition), pairs of faces in which only one of the faces had a mask (i.e., one-mask condition), and pairs of faces in which both faces had a mask (i.e., two-mask condition). Although face masks disrupted performance in identity match and identity mismatch trials, in match trials, we found better performance in the two-mask condition compared to the one-mask condition. This finding highlights the importance of congruency between stimuli on face matching when telling faces together.

Dysfunctional temporal stages of eye-gaze perception in adults with ADHD: A high-density EEG study

ADHD has been associated with social cognitive impairments across the lifespan, but no studies have specifically addressed the presence of abnormalities in eye-gaze processing in the adult brain. This study investigated the neural basis of eye-gaze perception in adults with ADHD using event-related potentials (ERP). Twenty-three ADHD and 23 controls performed a delayed face-matching task with neutral faces that had either direct or averted gaze. ERPs were classified using microstate analyses. ADHD and controls displayed similar P100 and N170 microstates. ADHD was associated with cluster abnormalities in the attention-sensitive P200 to direct gaze, and in the N250 related to facial recognition. For direct gaze, source localization revealed reduced activity in ADHD for the P200 in the left/midline cerebellum, as well as in a cingulate-occipital network at the N250. These results suggest brain impairments involving eye-gaze decoding in adults with ADHD, suggestive of neural signatures associated with this disorder in adulthood.

Effective connectivity during face processing in major depression - distinguishing markers of pathology, risk, and resilience.

Aberrant brain connectivity during emotional processing, especially within the fronto-limbic pathway, is one of the hallmarks of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the methodological heterogeneity of previous studies made it difficult to determine the functional and etiological implications of specific alterations in brain connectivity. We previously reported alterations in psychophysiological interaction measures during emotional face processing, distinguishing depressive pathology from at-risk/resilient and healthy states. Here, we extended these findings by effective connectivity analyses in the same sample to establish a refined neural model of emotion processing in depression. Thirty-seven patients with MDD, 45 first-degree relatives of patients with MDD and 97 healthy controls performed a face-matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used dynamic causal modeling to estimate task-dependent effective connectivity at the subject level. Parametric empirical Bayes was performed to quantify group differences in effective connectivity. MDD patients showed decreased effective connectivity from the left amygdala and left lateral prefrontal cortex to the fusiform gyrus compared to relatives and controls, whereas patients and relatives showed decreased connectivity from the right orbitofrontal cortex to the left insula and from the left orbitofrontal cortex to the right fusiform gyrus compared to controls. Relatives showed increased connectivity from the anterior cingulate cortex to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to patients and controls. Our results suggest that the depressive state alters top-down control of higher visual regions during face processing. Alterations in connectivity within the cognitive control network present potential risk or resilience mechanisms.

Masked face identification is improved by diagnostic feature training

To slow the spread of COVID-19, many people now wear face masks in public. Face masks impair our ability to identify faces, which can cause problems for professional staff who identify offenders or members of the public. Here, we investigate whether performance on a masked face matching task can be improved by training participants to compare diagnostic facial features (the ears and facial marks)—a validated training method that improves matching performance for unmasked faces. We show this brief diagnostic feature training, which takes less than two minutes to complete, improves matching performance for masked faces by approximately 5%. A control training course, which was unrelated to face identification, had no effect on matching performance. Our findings demonstrate that comparing the ears and facial marks is an effective means of improving face matching performance for masked faces. These findings have implications for professions that regularly perform face identification.

Differential extrinsic brain network connectivity and social cognitive task-specific demands in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Few studies have used task-based functional connectivity (FC) magnetic resonance imaging to examine emotion-processing during the critical neurodevelopmental period of adolescence in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Moreover, task designs with pervasive confounds (e.g., lack of appropriate controls) persist because they activate neural circuits of interest reliably. As an alternative approach to “subtracting” activity from putative control conditions, we propose examining FC across an entire task run. By pivoting our analysis and interpretation of existing paradigms, we may better understand neural response to non-focal instances of socially-relevant stimuli that approximate real-world experiences more closely. Hence, using two well-established affective tasks (face-viewing, face-matching) with diverging social-cognitive demands, we investigated extrinsic FC from amygdala (AMG) and fusiform gyrus (FG) seeds in typically-developing (TD; N = 17) and ASD (N = 17) male adolescents (10–18 yo) and clinical correlations (Social Communication Questionnaire; SCQ) of group FC differences. Participant data (4TD, 6ASD) with excessive head-motion were excluded from final analysis. Direct between-group comparisons revealed significant differences between groups for neural response but not task performance (accuracy, reaction time). During face-viewing, we found greater FC from AMG and FG seeds for ASD participants (ASD > TD) in regions involved in the Default Mode and Fronto-Parietal Task Control Networks. During face-matching, we found greater FC from AMG and FG seeds for TD participants (TD > ASD), in regions associated with the Salience, Dorsal Attention, and Somatosensory Networks. SCQ scores correlated positively with regions with group differences on the face-viewing task and negatively with regions identified for the face-matching task. Task-dependent group differences in FC despite comparable behavioral performance suggest that high-functioning ASD may wield compensatory strategies; clinically-correlated FC patterns may associate with differential task-demands, ecological validity, and context-dependent processing. Employing this novel approach may further the development of targeted therapeutic interventions informed by individual differences in the highly heterogeneous ASD population.