Familiar Faces Research Articles

Fixation durations on familiar items are longer due to attenuation of exploration.

Previous studies have shown that fixations on familiar stimuli tend to be longer than on unfamiliar stimuli, theorized to be a result of retrieval of information from memory. We hypothesize that extended fixations are due to a lesser need to explore an already familiar stimulus. Participant's gaze was tracked as they tried to encode or retrieve a familiar face displayed either alone or alongside other unfamiliar faces. Regardless of the memory task (encoding\retrieval), longer fixation durations were observed when a single familiar face was presented alone, and not when presented among unfamiliar ones. Thus, fixations were not prolonged when it was possible to explore other, unfamiliar stimuli. We conclude that prolonged fixations on familiar stimuli reflect a lesser need to explore an already familiar percept. The results underscore how memory representations influence active sensing, yielding fresh insights into efficient deployment of attention resources. We conclude that fixation durations could be used in applied memory detection tests, preferably together with other measures and when the familiar stimulus is presented alone.

Horizontal face information is the main gateway to the shape and surface cues to familiar face identity.

Humans preferentially rely on horizontal cues when recognizing face identity. The reasons for this preference are largely elusive. Past research has proposed the existence of two main sources of face identity information: shape and surface reflectance. The access to surface and shape is disrupted by picture-plane inversion while contrast negation selectively impedes access to surface cues. Our objective was to characterize the shape versus surface nature of the face information conveyed by the horizontal range. To do this, we tracked the effects of inversion and negation in the orientation domain. Participants performed an identity recognition task using orientation-filtered (0° to 150°, 30° steps) pictures of familiar male actors presented either in a natural upright position and contrast polarity, inverted, or negated. We modelled the inversion and negation effects across orientations with a Gaussian function using a Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effects modelling approach. The effects of inversion and negation showed strikingly similar orientation tuning profiles, both peaking in the horizontal range, with a comparable tuning strength. These results suggest that the horizontal preference of human face recognition is due to this range yielding a privileged access to shape and surface cues, i.e. the two main sources of face identity information.

An Evaluation of the Important Aspects of Community Nursing Day Care Services for Older People, a Qualitative Review

Abstract Background Day Care Services can support healthy ageing and help prevent social isolation and loneliness amongst older people. However, there is little evidence about the aspects of Day Care Services that are most important and how it effects their overall health and wellbeing. This survey was developed to evaluate the benefits of Day Care Services from the perspectives of the service user. The aim was to: Methods The qualitative evaluation asked two questions. 7 Day Care Services participated, the survey was given to over 300 people and there was over 50% response rate. The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify themes and opportunities for improvement. Results The participants described every aspect of Day Care Services as very important for them. It supports routine, social activity (“gets me out of the house”) and interaction (“meeting people”), provides meals and appropriate nursing interventions. Staff acted as “familiar faces” that can be approached easily and support their service user’s health and well-being. Overall, the majority of attendees would recommend Day Care Services to other people. Conclusion The findings suggest that all aspects of Day Care Services are important for older people to feel part of a community and have healthcare workers to support them on a regular basis. Day Care Services positively affect service users overall health and wellbeing, in particular the social aspect. This would suggest that Day Care Services play an important role in older people's experience of loneliness or social isolation.

No influence of face familiarity on the cheerleader effect

ABSTRACT The cheerleader effect describes how faces are perceived as more attractive when presented in a group rather than alone. Given differences in how familiar versus unfamiliar faces are perceived and represented, we hypothesized that the cheerleader effect may be diminished/absent for familiar faces. In Experiment 1, targets were rated for attractiveness when presented alone and in groups, with these selected to span the continuum of prior familiarity. Our results identified the cheerleader effect, alongside an increase in attractiveness with increasing familiarity, but no interaction between these two effects. In Experiment 2, we instructed participants to rate the target “person” rather than “face” to increase the salience of any pre-existing impressions. Again, the results showed no influence of familiarity on the size of the cheerleader effect. Taken together, the cheerleader effect was robust with respect to face familiarity, perhaps suggesting underlying mechanisms that are more general rather than face specific.

Involuntary Eye-Movement Signatures Differ for Recognition of Oneself, Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces

Involuntary Eye-Movement Signatures Differ for Recognition of Oneself, Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces

Neural correlates of familiar face recognition do not benefit from colour information

Neural correlates of familiar face recognition do not benefit from colour information

Taylor Swift does not boost face recognition in reaction time-based Concealed Information Test: investigating target-familiarity effects

Eyewitness identifications from lineups are prone to error. More indirect identification procedures, such as the reaction-time based Concealed Information Test (RT-CIT) could be a viable alternative to lineups. The RT-CIT uses response times to assess facial familiarity. Theory and initial evidence with autobiographical stimuli suggests that the accuracy of RT-CIT can be augmented when participants’ reliance on familiarity-based responding increases. We tested this assumption in two pre-registered experiments with 173 participants. Participants witnessed a mock crime. In the subsequent RT-CIT protocol, participants reacted to probe faces from the mock crime video, to irrelevant faces, and to target faces that required a unique response. Targets were either unknown people or were well-known celebrities (e.g., Taylor Swift). As expected, reaction times were longer to probes than to irrelevants in all conditions, indicating a CIT effect. Contrasting our pre-registered predictions, the CIT effect was not larger in the familiar condition (Experiment 1: unfamiliar targets: d = 0.77 vs. celebrity targets: d = 0.24; Experiment 2: unfamiliar targets: d = 1.09 vs. celebrity targets: d = 0.79). This suggests that familiar targets did not increase the validity of the RT-CIT in diagnosing concealed face recognition. A potential lack of saliency of the familiar targets might explain these unexpected findings. Of note, we did find medium to large effect sizes overall, speaking to the potential of diagnosing face recognition with the RT-CIT.

An Explanation of the Psycho-Social Factors Driving Child Sexual Perpetrators Towards Sexual Abuse in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a severe global child rights issue. This native research finding is the first of its kind and will explore the persuading factors and pave the way for future research exploration. The study explores the psychosocial factors driving perpetrators to commit child sexual abuse. The integrated theory of sexual offending by Ward and Beech 2002 guided the research. This study used a phenomenological qualitative methodology and purposive sampling to select participants. Twenty-five child sexual perpetrators were interviewed in a private room at central jail, Peshawar, after receiving formal approval from jail authorities and verbal consent from the participants. They were allowed to withdraw from the interview at any time. Data collection involved 60 to 80-minute in-depth interviews guided by a structured protocol. Ethical standards, including verbal informed consent and ensuring anonymity and confidentiality, were strictly adhered to throughout the research process. NVIVO software was used for thematic analysis. The analysis revealed a myriad of psychosocial factors influencing perpetrators, such as childhood victimization, substance abuse, cognitive distortions, notions of masculinity, delayed marriage, sexual gratification, social isolation, and exposure to pornography. Perpetrators are often familiar faces within the child's and family's proximity, typically with no prior convictions and mostly first-time offenders. The study highlights the complex interplay of psychosocial factors that drive perpetrators to child sexual abuse.

Prosopagnosie et syndrome de Capgras : deux syndromes en miroir ?

First described in the 19th century in patients with brain lesions, prosopagnosia was named in 1947 by Joachim Bodamer (1910–1985), a German neuropsychiatrist. The term refers to the inability to recognise a familiar face, a rarely isolated symptom. Prosopagnosia is thought to result from brain lesions, predominantly at the ventral right temporo-occipital junction. There are more common cases of developmental prosopagnosia, where no lesion has been identified. Capgras syndrome (CS), described by Joseph Capgras (1873–1950), a psychiatrist, consists of the persistent belief that a close relative, identified, has been replaced by a look-alike. SC, considered a delusional disorder of identification or familiarity, has been described in chronic psychoses, mainly schizophrenia. It is also reported in the course of neurodegenerative diseases (mainly Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's dementia). Lesion-based forms have recently been described. Prosopagnosia and SC were initially thought to result from mirror-image lesions involving a single factor, one affecting an overt ventral circuit for face recognition (in the case of prosopagnosia), the other a covert dorsal circuit involved in emotional and vegetative responses (in the case of CS). Lesion network mapping has been used in both lesion-related conditions and suggests a more complex figure. Lesions causing prosopagnosia were correlated with one of the main regions associated with face recognition, the right fusiform face area, and anticorrelated with left frontal regions possibly involved in visual attentional control. In lesional forms of CS or other delusional misidentification syndromes, there was a correlation with left retrosplenial cortex, an area associated with familiarity processing, and a correlation with right frontal regions associated with belief evaluation. This finding supports the intervention of two factors in CS, one generating the impaired familiarity associated with perception and the other the genesis and persistence of a delusional idea. The debate on the mechanisms of CS is not settled, especially as it is limited to its lesional forms, but studies using lesion network mapping already mark a more general paradigm shift, with attention shifting from lesions (clinico-anatomical method) to circuit dysfunction.

Atypical daily visual exposure to faces in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Expert face processes are refined and tuned through a protracted development. Exposure statistics of the daily visual experience of neurotypical adults (the face diet) show substantial exposure to familiar faces. People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not show the same expertise with faces as their non-autistic counterparts. This may be due to an impoverished visual experience with faces, according to experiential models of autism. Here, we present the first empirical report on the day-to-day visual experience of the faces of adults with ASD. Our results, based on over 360h of first-person perspective footage of daily exposure, show striking qualitative and quantitative differences in the ASD face diet compared with those of neurotypical observers, which is best characterized by a pattern of reduced and atypical exposure to familiar faces in ASD. Specifically, duration of exposure to familiar faces was lower in ASD, and faces were viewed from farther distances and from viewpoints that were biased toward profile pose. Our results provide strong evidence that individuals with ASD may not be getting the experience needed for the typical development of expert face processes.

The temporal dynamics of familiar face recognition: Event-related brain potentials reveal the efficient activation of facial identity representations

While it is widely known that humans are typically highly accurate at recognizing familiar faces, it is less clear how efficiently recognition is achieved. In a series of three experiments, we used event-related brain potentials (ERP) in a repetition priming paradigm to examine the efficiency of familiar face recognition. Specifically, we varied the presentation time of the prime stimulus between 500 ms and 33 ms (Experiments 1 and 2), and additionally used backward masks (Experiment 3) to prevent the potential occurrence of visual aftereffects. Crucially, to test for the recognition of facial identity rather than a specific picture, we used different images of the same facial identities in repetition conditions. We observed clear ERP repetition priming effects between 300 and 500 ms after target onset at all prime durations, which suggests that the prime stimulus was sufficiently well processed to allow for facilitated recognition of the target in all conditions. This finding held true even in severely restricted viewing conditions including very brief prime durations and backward masks. We conclude that the facial recognition system is both highly effective and efficient, thus allowing for our impressive ability to recognise the faces that we know.

EXPRESS: Prosopagnosia is highly comorbid in individuals with probable developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is characterised by difficulties in motor control and coordination from early childhood. While problems processing facial identity are often associated with neurodevelopmental conditions, such issues have never been directly tested in adults with DCD. We tested this possibility through a range of tasks, and assessed the prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia (i.e., lifelong difficulties with faces), in a group comprising individuals who self-reported a diagnosis of, or suspected that they had, DCD. Strikingly, we found 53% of this probable DCD group met recently recommended criteria for a diagnosis of prosopagnosia, with 22% acquiring a diagnosis using traditional cognitive task-based methods. Moreover, their problems with faces were apparent on both unfamiliar and familiar face memory tests, as well as on a facial perception task (i.e., could they tell faces apart). Positive correlations were found between self-report measures assessing movement and coordination problems, and objective difficulties on experimental face identity processing tasks, suggesting widespread neurocognitive disruption in DCD. Importantly, issues in identity processing in our probable DCD group remained even after excluding participants with comorbid conditions traditionally associated with difficulties in face recognition, i.e., autism and dyslexia. We recommend that any diagnostic test for DCD should include an assessment for prosopagnosia. Given the high prevalence of prosopagnosia in our probable DCD group, and the positive correlations between DCD and prosopagnosia symptoms, there may be a stronger link between movement and facial identity abilities than previously thought.

Shared neural codes of recognition memory

Recognition memory research has identified several electrophysiological indicators of successful memory retrieval, known as old-new effects. These effects have been observed in different sensory domains using various stimulus types, but little attention has been given to their similarity or distinctiveness and the underlying processes they may share. Here, a data-driven approach was taken to investigate the temporal evolution of shared information content between different memory conditions using openly available EEG data from healthy human participants of both sexes, taken from six experiments. A test dataset involving personally highly familiar and unfamiliar faces was used. The results show that neural signals of recognition memory for face stimuli were highly generalized starting from around 200 ms following stimulus onset. When training was performed on non-face datasets, an early (around 200–300 ms) to late (post-400 ms) differentiation was observed over most regions of interest. Successful cross-classification for non-face stimuli (music and object/scene associations) was most pronounced in late period. Additionally, a striking dissociation was observed between familiar and remembered objects, with shared signals present only in the late window for correctly remembered objects, while cross-classification for familiar objects was successful in the early period as well. These findings suggest that late neural signals of memory retrieval generalize across sensory modalities and stimulus types, and the dissociation between familiar and remembered objects may provide insight into the underlying processes.

A Dynamic Multi-Scale Convolution Model for Face Recognition Using Event-Related Potentials.

With the development of data mining technology, the analysis of event-related potential (ERP) data has evolved from statistical analysis of time-domain features to data-driven techniques based on supervised and unsupervised learning. However, there are still many challenges in understanding the relationship between ERP components and the representation of familiar and unfamiliar faces. To address this, this paper proposes a model based on Dynamic Multi-Scale Convolution for group recognition of familiar and unfamiliar faces. This approach uses generated weight masks for cross-subject familiar/unfamiliar face recognition using a multi-scale model. The model employs a variable-length filter generator to dynamically determine the optimal filter length for time-series samples, thereby capturing features at different time scales. Comparative experiments are conducted to evaluate the model's performance against SOTA models. The results demonstrate that our model achieves impressive outcomes, with a balanced accuracy rate of 93.20% and an F1 score of 88.54%, outperforming the methods used for comparison. The ERP data extracted from different time regions in the model can also provide data-driven technical support for research based on the representation of different ERP components.

Normative data of the Italian Famous Face Test

The faces we see in daily life exist on a continuum of familiarity, ranging from personally familiar to famous to unfamiliar faces. Thus, when assessing face recognition abilities, adequate evaluation measures should be employed to discriminate between each of these processes and their relative impairments. We here developed the Italian Famous Face Test (IT-FFT), a novel assessment tool for famous face recognition in typical and clinical populations. Normative data on a large sample (N = 436) of Italian individuals were collected, assessing both familiarity (d′) and recognition accuracy. Furthermore, this study explored whether individuals possess insights into their overall face recognition skills by correlating the Prosopagnosia Index-20 (PI-20) with the IT-FFT; a negative correlation between these measures suggests that people have a moderate insight into their face recognition skills. Overall, our study provides the first online-based Italian test for famous faces (IT-FFT), a test that could be used alongside other standard tests of face recognition because it complements them by evaluating real-world face familiarity, providing a more comprehensive assessment of face recognition abilities. Testing different aspects of face recognition is crucial for understanding both typical and atypical face recognition.

A familiar face and person processing area in the human temporal pole

How does the brain process the faces of familiar people? Neuropsychological studies have argued for an area of the temporal pole (TP) linking faces with person identities, but magnetic susceptibility artifacts in this region have hampered its study with fMRI. Using data acquisition and analysis methods optimized to overcome this artifact, we identify a familiar face response in TP, reliably observed in individual brains. This area responds strongly to visual images of familiar faces over unfamiliar faces, objects, and scenes. However, TP did not just respond to images of faces, but also to a variety of high-level social cognitive tasks, including semantic, episodic, and theory of mind tasks. The response profile of TP contrasted with a nearby region of the perirhinal cortex that responded specifically to faces, but not to social cognition tasks. TP was functionally connected with a distributed network in the association cortex associated with social cognition, while PR was functionally connected with face-preferring areas of the ventral visual cortex. This work identifies a missing link in the human face processing system that specifically processes familiar faces, and is well placed to integrate visual information about faces with higher-order conceptual information about other people. The results suggest that separate streams for person and face processing reach anterior temporal areas positioned at the top of the cortical hierarchy.

Neuronal Mechanisms Underlying Face Recognition in Non‐human Primates

AbstractHumans and primates rely on visual face recognition for social interactions. Damage to specific brain areas causes prosopagnosia, a condition characterized by the inability to recognize familiar faces, indicating the presence of specialized brain areas for facial‐recognition processing. A breakthrough finding came from a non‐human primate (NHP) study conducted in the early 2000s; it was the first to identify multiple face‐processing areas in the temporal lobe, termed “face patches.” Subsequent studies have demonstrated the unique role of each face patch in the structural analysis of faces. More recent studies have expanded these findings by exploring the role of face‐patch networks in social and memory functions and the importance of early face exposure in the development of the system. In this review, we discuss the neuronal mechanisms responsible for analyzing facial features, categorizing faces, and associating faces with memory and social contexts within both the cerebral cortex and subcortical areas. Use of NHPs in neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies can highlight the mechanistic aspects of the neuronal circuit underlying face recognition at both the single‐neuron and whole‐brain network levels.

The importance of conceptual knowledge when becoming familiar with faces during naturalistic viewing

Although the ability to recognise familiar faces is a critical part of everyday life, the process by which a face becomes familiar in the real world is not fully understood. Previous research has focussed on the importance of perceptual experience. However, in natural viewing, perceptual experience with faces is accompanied by increased knowledge about the person and the context in which they are encountered. Although conceptual information is known to be crucial for the formation of new episodic memories, it requires a period of consolidation. It is unclear, however, whether a similar process occurs when we learn new faces. Using a natural viewing paradigm, we investigated how the context in which events are presented influences our understanding of those events and whether, after a period of consolidation, this has a subsequent effect on face recognition. The context was manipulated by presenting events in 1) the original sequence, or 2) a scrambled sequence. Although this manipulation was predicted to have a significant effect on conceptual understanding of events, it had no effect on overall visual experience with the faces. Our prediction was that this contextual manipulation would affect face recognition after the information has been consolidated into memory. We found that understanding of the narrative was greater for participants who viewed the movie in the original sequence compared to those that viewed the movie in a scrambled order. To determine if the context in which the movie was viewed had an effect on face recognition, we compared recognition in the original and scrambled condition. We found an overall effect of conceptual knowledge on face recognition. That is, participants who viewed the original sequence had higher face recognition compared to participants who viewed the scrambled sequence. However, our planned comparisons did not reveal a greater effect of conceptual knowledge on face recognition after consolidation. In an exploratory analysis, we found that overlap in conceptual knowledge between participants was significantly correlated with the overlap in face recognition. We also found that this relationship was greater after a period of consolidation. Together, these findings provide new insights into the role of non-visual, conceptual knowledge for face recognition during natural viewing.

Alzheimer's Patient Support System Based on IoT and ML

Alzheimer's disease poses significant challenges as it progressively erodes memory and identity, severely impacting daily functioning. Patients often experience disorientation, wandering, and are at risk of falls, leading to heightened concerns for caregivers. These difficulties can result in a loss of independence and increased caregiver burden. In response to these challenges, this study introduces an innovative assistive system designed to enhance the safety and quality of life for Alzheimer's patients. The system comprises of two main components: a smart arm band and a facial recognition system. The smart arm band is equipped with a suite of sensors including GPS, accelerometer, and heart rate sensor. These sensors enable real-time monitoring of the patient's location, movement, and physiological parameters. By leveraging these data streams, caregivers can track the patient's activities, detect falls or emergencies, and provide timely assistance when needed. The facial recognition system employs state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, specifically the CAFFE and Local Binary Patterns Histograms (LBPH), to recognize familiar faces in the patient's environment. This capability promotes social interaction and enhances the patient's sense of familiarity and security. Through rigorous testing, the facial recognition system achieves an impressive accuracy of 97% with a low error rate of 3%, validating its effectiveness in real-world scenarios. Overall, the integrative assistive system presented in this study offers a promising solution to address the multifaceted challenges associated with Alzheimer's disease. This system provides caregivers with invaluable support in ensuring the safety and well-being of Alzheimer's patients while fostering social engagement and autonomy.

A Review of the Interrelationships between Painting, Photography, Facial Recognition, and Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Portraiture Aesthetics

We see faces every day, and all of them leave us with different impressions. Our brains also respond emotionally to new and familiar faces we find in non-animated objects, paintings, and sculptures. To retain such memory of a face or express our feelings, we create portraits. Portraits have fascinated us for millennia. This paper reviews the interrelationships between painting, photography, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence technologies in portraiture aesthetics. The importance of portraits as a subject in artistic creation, studies, and research has led to various advancements in technological innovations. The inevitable role that portraits play in different mediums of art, history of art, communication, and security marks the intersection between humanity and identity, art and technology, as well as its undeniable position within the genre of art. Today the rapid development of digital tools, mobile software, and artificial intelligence allows not only the artist and designer to create portraitures but is also widely used by the public in all walks of life to create portraitures instantly. Driven by the marriage and momentum of art and technology in the field of new media art, will artificial intelligence and modern facial recognition technology take over the role of artists? Keywords: portrait, painting, photography, facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence