Face Perception Research Articles

Differential late-stage face processing in autism: a magnetoencephalographic study of fusiform gyrus activation

BackgroundAutism is associated with alterations of social communication, such as during face-to-face interactions. This study aimed to probe face processing in autistics with normal IQ utilizing magnetoencephalography to examine event-related fields within the fusiform gyrus during face perception.MethodsA case–control cohort of 22 individuals diagnosed with autism and 20 age-matched controls (all male, age 29.3 ± 6.9 years) underwent magnetoencephalographic scanning during an active task while observing neutral faces, face-like pareidolic objects, and non-face objects. The fusiform face area was identified using a face localizer for each participant, and the cortical activation pattern was normalized onto an average brain for subsequent analysis.ResultsEarly post-stimulus activation amplitudes (before 100–200 ms) indicated differentiation between stimuli containing fundamental facial features and non-face objects in both groups. In contrast, later activation (400–550 ms) differentiated real faces from both pareidolic and non-face objects across both groups and faces from objects in controls but not in autistics. There was no effect of autistic-like traits.ConclusionsThe absence of group differences in early activation suggest intact face detection in autistics possessing a normal IQ. Later activation captures a greater degree of the complexity and social information from actual faces. Although both groups distinguished faces from pareidolic and non-face objects, the control group exhibited a slightly heightened differentiation at this latency, indicating a potential disadvantage for autistics in real face processing. The subtle difference in late-stage face processing observed in autistic individuals may reflect specific cognitive mechanisms related to face perception in autism.

The Impact of Social Stress on Trustworthiness Judgments in Schizophrenia.

The present study examines the impact of induced social stress on facial trustworthiness judgments in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) and the associations between symptoms and trustworthiness ratings. Thirty-three individuals with SCZ and forty healthy controls (HC) were asked to rate the trustworthiness of 24 digitally morphed faces in two counterbalanced conditions. Mild social stress was induced by listening to loud noises from a busy street. BPRS, CAPE-42, and the Paranoia Scale measured the severity of symptoms. We did not observe significant differences in trustworthiness judgments between the patient and control groups. Social stress did not impact trust judgments. Paranoia was negatively connected to trustworthiness ratings in the control group. Subjective rating of stress in noise condition was negatively associated with paranoia only in the control sample. In the patient group, a negative correlation was found between trustworthiness ratings in stress conditions and the severity of self-reported negative symptoms. Our results suggest that mild social stress does not significantly affect trustworthiness judgments in either patients with SCZ or in HC. Differences between the patient and control groups in trustworthiness judgments were negligible. Overall, the results of this study can be considered mainly negative and contrast with previous studies. The stress induction paradigm or a smaller sample size might cause observed results. In controls, biased face perception was linked to trait paranoia. By contrast, in SCZ, other factors might impact trust perception and need further examination.

Феномен групповой маски: истоки, варианты, смыслы

The article raises the issue of the functioning of a stable group of characters and examines the manifestation of archetypal themes and images in the form of a structure which the author of the article defines as a group mask. The research reveals the phenomenon of group mask formation based on a mythologem. The mythologem chosen for the study is ‘the Guardians of Earth’. It is concluded that through various eras and types of art, a group mask is transformed from primary characteristics of characters’ special abilities and functions to specification of psychological traits. A numerical marker loses its connection with the sacred meaning of numbers and becomes a marker of a mythologem and the psychological structure of a group. A mythologem is presented as a tool for identifying and interpreting various images and characters. In light of the mask-face dichotomy, the article touches upon the problem of perception of a face. Many characters without faces are proposed to be considered in line with the psychological data on special perception of faces. The image of the absence of a face in works of art is explored from the perspective of prosopagnosia. The connotations of depicting characters without faces are determined in the context of group mask research. The origins and transformation of a group mask in various eras and types of art are considered against the background of the existence of mythologems in modern audience perception. The article traces the intrusion of universal models in the language of popular culture and the emergence of novelty in the context of repeating universals.

Successful sensitization of 2.5-year-olds to other-race faces through bimodal training

The present study investigated the potential for sensitizing 2.5-year-old Caucasian infants to other-race faces (Asian faces). In the domain of face perception, infants become less sensitive to facial distinctions of other-race faces through perceptual narrowing at the end of the first year of life. Nevertheless, infants around 12 months can regain their sensitivity to other-race faces. For instance, exposing them to a specific statistical distribution and employing the mechanisms of statistical learning is one way to enhance their discriminatory abilities towards other-race faces. Following this idea, we investigated if even older infants around 2.5 years can be sensitized to other-race faces. We trained the infants with a bimodal distribution of a morphed continuum of Asian female faces with faces closer to the endpoints presented most frequently. We assessed infants’ discrimination of Asian faces by measuring their looking times after the training phase. The 2.5-year-olds showed a difference in looking times after the training, indicating that the exposure to a bimodal frequency distribution led to a successful discrimination between Asian faces. These findings demonstrate that 2.5-year-olds can be sensitized to other-race faces by exposing them to a bimodal distribution of such faces, underlining the plasticity of face perception in childhood.

A neuronal marker of eye contact spontaneously activated in neurotypical subjects but not in autistic spectrum disorders

Attention to faces and eye contact are key behaviors for establishing social bonds in humans. In Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a disturbance in neurodevelopment, impaired face processing and gaze avoidance are key clinical features for ASD diagnosis. The biological alterations underlying these impairments are not yet clearly established. Using high-density electroencephalography coupled with multi-variate pattern classification and group blind source separation methods we searched for face- and-face components-related neural signals that could best discriminate visual processing of neurotypical subjects (N = 38) from ASD participants (N = 27). We isolated a face-specific neural signal in the superior temporal sulcus peaking at 240 msec after face-stimulus onset. A machine learning algorithm applied on the extracted neural component reached 74% decoding accuracy at the same latencies, discriminating the neurotypical population from ASD subjects in whom this signal was weak. By manipulating attention on different parts of the face, we also found that the power of the evoked signal in neurotypical subjects varied depending on the region observed: it was strong when the eye region fell on the fovea to decrease on regions further away and outside the stimulus face. Such face and face-components selective neural modulations were not found in ASD, although they did show typical early face-related P100 and N170 signals. These results show that specialized cortical mechanisms for face perception show higher responses for eyes when attention is focused on gaze and that these mechanisms may be particularly affected in autism spectrum disorders.

O FENÓTIPO ESTENDIDO: A FACE E A MAQUIAGEM, A VANTAGEM FEMININA

O FENÓTIPO ESTENDIDO: A FACE E A MAQUIAGEM, A VANTAGEM FEMININA

Early Impairment of Face Perception in Post-Stroke Depression: An ERP Study.

Objective: Face recognition is an important cognitive function of the human brain. Post stroke depression (PSD) is a common mental complication after stroke, which has a serious impact on individual physical function recovery and quality of life. This study aims to explore the face perception characteristics of PSD through electrophysiological indicators N170 and VPP, and provide an objective basis for the early evaluation of facial cognitive dysfunction in PSD. Methods: 58 patients in the cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) with depressive symptoms (PSD) and 188 patients in the pure CSVD (NPSD). At the same time, 30 healthy subjects were selected as the healthy controls (HC). The differences of N170 and VPP components between the three groups were compared under the stimulation of inverted faces and upright faces. Results: PSD patients exhibited significantly longer peak latency and lower amplitude of N170 and VPP under both inverted and upright face stimulation compared to HC and NPSD. These results suggest that PSD patients have defects in early face recognition, there are abnormalities in the early perception and structural encoding of face information, and both the "overall mechanism" and "feature mechanism" of face recognition are damaged. Conclusions: These findings provide neuroelectrophysiological evidence for impaired emotionless face recognition in PSD patients.

Face cells encode object parts more than facial configuration of illusory faces

Humans perceive illusory faces in everyday objects with a face-like configuration, an illusion known as face pareidolia. Face-selective regions in humans and monkeys, believed to underlie face perception, have been shown to respond to face pareidolia images. Here, we investigated whether pareidolia selectivity in macaque inferotemporal cortex is explained by the face-like configuration that drives the human perception of illusory faces. We found that face cells responded selectively to pareidolia images. This selectivity did not correlate with human faceness ratings and did not require the face-like configuration. Instead, it was driven primarily by the “eye” parts of the illusory face, which are simply object parts when viewed in isolation. In contrast, human perceptual pareidolia relied primarily on the global configuration and could not be explained by “eye” parts. Our results indicate that face-cells encode local, generic features of illusory faces, in misalignment with human visual perception, which requires holistic information.

In the eye and mind of the beholder: The effects of familiarisation on the perception of atypical infant facial configurations.

Perception of infant faces plays a crucial role in adult-infant caretaking behaviour, with adults being found to demonstrate a reliable attraction towards infant faces over other stimuli. When affected by a congenital facial malformation such as cleft lip and/or palate, however, adults' visual scanning patterns and subjective appraisal of these faces have been found to be adversely affected. Little past work has explored how an observer's prior experience with this specific malformation might play a role in the perception of cleft-affected infant faces. To this end, two groups of adult female participants were recruited and presented with 48 images of infant faces (24 typical, 24 cleft-affected) with one group subjected to novel, purpose-built familiarisation training, where participants were exposed to infant cleft lip/palate related visual and informational stimuli prior to testing (n = 43). Eye gaze patterns and subjective "cuteness" ratings from this group were compared with an age matched control group which received no training (n = 41). No between group differences were found for "cuteness" ratings or eye gaze patterns to the cleft-affected mouth area in isolation, however, a significant negative relationship was found between gaze duration to the mouth region of cleft-affected images and subjective "cuteness" ratings, for control participants only. Notably, this relationship was not observed for the familiarised participants, suggesting their modified prior experience attenuated the effect that visual processing had on subjective appraisal of cleft-affected faces, when these two factors were assessed in tandem. Our findings suggest it is possible to attenuate the typically observed aversive behaviour towards cleft-affected infant faces. This may have implications for clinical practice concerned with supporting adult caretaking of malformation-affected infants and policies related to increasing positive perception of congenital facial disfigurement.

Better face-name recall is associated with better face recognition ability.

Face recognition is a highly developed and specialised human ability, distinct from other cognitive abilities. Previous studies examining individual differences in face recognition have focused on face perception and specialised perceptual mechanisms such as holistic face processing. However, the contribution of specific face memory processes to face recognition ability remains unclear. In 99 neurotypical individuals, we administered validated face perception assessments, three face memory tasks (old/new task, face-scene task, face-name/occupation task), and the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) to assess face recognition ability. We found that after accounting for face perception ability (which significantly predicted face recognition ability), face-name recall and recollection of faces in the face-scene task predicted unique variance in face recognition ability, with face-name recall being the strongest predictor. This highlights that associative memory mechanisms contribute to face recognition abilities and suggests that the ability to learn and recall proper names is particularly important to face recognition.

Face to face: Comparing ChatGPT with human performance on face matching.

ChatGPT's large language model, GPT-4V, has been trained on vast numbers of image-text pairs and is therefore capable of processing visual input. This model operates very differently from current state-of-the-art neural networks designed specifically for face perception and so I chose to investigate whether ChatGPT could also be applied to this domain. With this aim, I focussed on the task of face matching, that is, deciding whether two photographs showed the same person or not. Across six different tests, ChatGPT demonstrated performance that was comparable with human accuracies despite being a domain-general 'virtual assistant' rather than a specialised tool for face processing. This perhaps surprising result identifies a new avenue for exploration in this field, while further research should explore the boundaries of ChatGPT's ability, along with how its errors may relate to those made by humans.

Spatiotemporal hierarchies of face representation in the human ventral temporal cortex

In this study, we examined the relatively unexplored realm of face perception, investigating the activities within human brain face-selective regions during the observation of faces at both subordinate and superordinate levels. We recorded intracranial EEG signals from the ventral temporal cortex in neurosurgical patients implanted with subdural electrodes during viewing of face subcategories (human, mammal, bird, and marine faces) as well as various non-face control stimuli. The results revealed a noteworthy correlation in response patterns across all face-selective areas in the ventral temporal cortex, not only within the same face category but also extending to different face categories. Intriguingly, we observed a systematic decrease in response correlation coupled with an increased response onset time from human face to mammalian face, bird face and marine faces. Our result aligns with the notion that distinctions at the basic level category (e.g., human face versus non-human face) emerges earlier than those at the superordinate level (e.g., animate versus inanimate). This indicates response gradient in the representation of facial images within human face-sensitive regions, transitioning progressively from human faces to non-face stimuli. Our findings provide insights into spatiotemporal dynamic of face representations which varies spatially and at different timescales depending on the face subcategory represented.

IMAGERY AND PERCEPTION IN ACQUIRED PROSOPAGNOSIA: FUNCTIONAL VARIANTS AND THEIR RELATION TO STRUCTURE

Current models of face perception and the face-processing network suggest that acquired prosopagnosia may not be a single disorder but rather a family of variants differing in mechanism. It has been proposed that tests of perception and face imagery can probe component processes to support apperceptive, associative, and amnestic distinctions. However, validating this proposal is hampered by the rarity of this condition. Here we report observations gathered over two-and-a-half decades on the perception of facial shape and imagery for famous faces in twenty-three patients.Patients with lesions limited to the occipitotemporal lobes had an apperceptive profile, with impaired perception of facial shape but no or mild deficits for face imagery. The apperceptive defect affected not just configuration but also feature size and external contour, especially in the upper face, and was more severe when subjects attended to multiple aspects of the face. An amnestic profile, with severely impaired imagery and minimally affected perception, was seen in two patients, one with right and one with bilateral anterior temporal damage. Four patients had an apperceptive/amnestic combination, all with bilateral occipitotemporal and right anterior temporal damage. Right anterior temporal damage alone often caused only mild imagery deficits: along with their relatively intact face perception, these subjects came closest to meeting proposed exclusionary criteria for an associative variant, i.e., relative preservation of both imagery and perception.These results confirm a link between apperceptive prosopagnosia and occipitotemporal lesions. Damage to the right anterior temporal lobe was common to all with a severe amnestic deficit, but often requiring additional damage.

What will we judge a book by its cover?—Content analysis of face perception in a Chinese sample

People can perceive various information from faces. Most of previous studies of face perception only focused on one of attributes, such as gender, expression, personality etc., the whole picture of face perception is far from clear. Therefore, the present study recruited Chinese participants to provide spontaneous descriptions of unfamiliar Chinese faces without any constraints of content. It turned out that descriptions employed a broad spectrum of descriptors, as well as a consistent pattern across different identities: descriptions that incorporated psychological characteristics were most prevalent, whereas mentions of physiological attributes generally occurred earlier in the description than other types of descriptive vocabulary. These results underscore the special role of free description analysis in revealing the panorama of face perception, where perceivers swiftly infer a plenty of character traits in an organized way, ultimately forming a comprehensive impression of others.

Investigating Potential Interactive Effects Between Limbal Rings and Facial Attractiveness

AbstractLimbal rings are dark bands in the eyes that circle the iris. Previous research suggests that the presence of limbal rings augments perceptions of male faces as healthy and attractive, particularly among female perceivers. Nonetheless, a degree of heterogeneity exists in attractiveness effects across different stimulus sets. One possibility of this discrepancy could be previously undetected differences in attractiveness across different social targets that impede a clearer understanding for the signal value of limbal rings. Namely, it could be possible that the attractiveness advantage of faces with limbal rings is most apparent among highly attractive stimuli. This study sought to reconcile this discrepancy by developing a novel stimulus set that systematically varies the attractiveness of social targets in addition to the presence of limbal rings in male faces. Women evaluated these targets based on perceptions of their health and attractiveness. Although limbal rings continued to augment perceptions of health in male faces, no differences emerged in the attractiveness of faces with and without limbal rings.

Perceptual and semantic deficits in face recognition in semantic dementia

State of the artSemantic dementia (SD) patients including semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) and semantic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (sbvFTD) patients show semantic difficulties identifying faces and known people related to right anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy. However, it remains unclear whether they also have perceptual deficits in face recognition. MethodologyWe selected 74 SD patients (54 with svPPA and predominant left ATL atrophy and 20 with sbvFTD and predominant right ATL atrophy) and 36 cognitively healthy controls (HC) from UCSF Memory and Aging Center. They underwent a perceptual face processing test (Benton facial recognition test-short version; BFRT-S), and semantic face processing tests (UCSF Famous people battery – Recognition, Naming, Semantic associations – pictures and words subtests), as well as structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Neural correlates with the task's performance were conducted with a Voxel-based morphometry approach using CAT12. ResultssvPPA and sbvFTD patients were impaired on all semantic face processing tests, with sbvFTD patients performing significantly lower on the famous faces’ recognition task in comparison to svPPA, and svPPA performing significantly lower on the naming task in comparison to sbvFTD. These tasks predominantly correlated with grey matter (GM) volumes in the right and left ATL, respectively. Compared to HC, both svPPA and sbvFTD patients showed preserved performance on the perceptual face processing test (BFRT-S), and performance on the BFRT-S negatively correlated with GM volume in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). ConclusionOur results suggest that early in the disease, with the atrophy mostly restricted to the anterior temporal regions, SD patients do not present with perceptual deficits. However, more severe SD cases with atrophy in right posterior temporal regions might show lower performance on face perception tests, in addition to the semantic face processing deficits. Early sparing of face perceptual deficits in SD patients, regardless of hemispheric lateralization, furthers our understanding of clinical phenomenology and therapeutical approaches of this complex disease.

Social conformity updates the neural representation of facial attractiveness

People readily change their behavior to comply with others. However, to which extent they will internalize the social influence remains elusive. In this preregistered electroencephalogram (EEG) study, we investigated how learning from one’s in-group or out-group members about facial attractiveness would change explicit attractiveness ratings and spontaneous neural representations of facial attractiveness. Specifically, we quantified the neural representational similarities of learned faces with prototypical attractive faces during a face perception task without overt social influence and intentional evaluation. We found that participants changed their explicit attractiveness ratings to both in-group and out-group influences. Moreover, social conformity updated spontaneous neural representation of facial attractiveness, an effect particularly evident when participants learned from their in-group members and among those who perceived tighter social norms. These findings offer insights into how group affiliations and individual differences in perceived social norms modulate the internalization of social influence.

Impact of Bell's palsy in facial emotion recognition: a prospective observational study of 60 patients.

Patients with Bell's palsy suffer from functional deficits and cannot convey their emotions through the face as well as they used to. According to embodied cognition, automatic mimicry and facial feedback modulate emotion perception. The aim of our study was to determine the impact of Bell's palsy on facial emotion perception. Facial motor skills, the use of botulinum toxin injections, and anxiety were studied. 60 patients completed Emotest-VA, an assessment tool of facial emotion perception, facial motor assessment and affective questionnaires. Facial perception scores of patients were compared to the normative data provided by Emotest-VA. Relationships between facial motor skills, anxiety and perceptual abilities were carried out with Pearson's correlations. Perception accuracy scores were abnormal in 12% of patients. Patients were more ambiguous than normative population to perceive emotion (t(23) = 4.14, p < .001). Happiness arousal was negatively correlated to smile asymmetry (n = 60, r=-.294 p = .022). Patients who received botulinum toxin were more accurate to perceive disgust (Z = 3.60, p < .001). State anxiety decreased when patients could improve their horizontal smile (r = - 440, p < .001). Bell's palsy impaired sensorimotor simulation, thereby reducing emotional contagion. Smile measures could indicate patients' recovery and patients' anxiety. It could also predict patient's perceptual abilities. These results provide new directions in the management of Bell's palsy. Additionally to physical therapy, it is relevant to improve emotional contagion both in its productive and perceptive aspects through facial feedback.

Hawai‘i face database: a racially and ethnically diverse set of facial stimuli

ABSTRACT Within psychology, face perception processes have been widely studied, examining traits and social categories that a face can communicate. However, much of this research has predominately focused on White faces. We review existing face databases that include racially diverse stimuli and note the lack of representation of Asian subgroups (e.g. East, South, and Southeast Asian), Pacific Islanders, as well as both Multiracial and multiethnic faces (especially with multiple minoritized backgrounds). We provide a new racially diverse set of free, standardized images including 140 unique faces representing eight different groups that vary in ethnicity and race (Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, Hispanic/Latinx, White, Multiracial, and Multiracial Asian), along with norming data. These images and data are available for access use in research: https://osf.io/fkn7y

Individual variation in the functional lateralization of human ventral temporal cortex: Local competition and long-range coupling.

The ventral temporal cortex (VTC) of the human cerebrum is critically engaged in computations related to high-level vision. One intriguing aspect of this region is its asymmetric organization and functional lateralization. Notably, in the VTC, neural responses to words are stronger in the left hemisphere, whereas neural responses to faces are stronger in the right hemisphere. Converging evidence has suggested that left-lateralized word responses emerge to couple efficiently with left-lateralized frontotemporal language regions, but evidence is more mixed regarding the sources of the right-lateralization for face perception. Here, we use individual differences as a tool to adjudicate between three theories of VTC organization arising from: 1) local competition between words and faces, 2) local competition between faces and other categories, 3) long-range coupling with VTC and frontotemporal areas subject to their own local competition. First, in an in-house functional MRI experiment, we demonstrated that individual differences in laterality are both substantial and reliable within a right-handed population of young adults. We found no (anti-)correlation in the laterality of word and face selectivity relative to object responses, and a positive correlation when using selectivity relative to a fixation baseline, challenging ideas of local competition between words and faces. We next examined broader local competition with faces using the large-scale Human Connectome Project (HCP) dataset. Face and tool laterality were significantly anti-correlated, while face and body laterality were positively correlated, consistent with the idea that generic local representational competition and cooperation may shape face lateralization. Last, we assessed the role of long-range coupling in the development of VTC laterality. Within our in-house experiment, substantial correlation was evident between VTC text laterality and several other nodes of a distributed text-processing circuit. In the HCP data, VTC face laterality was both negatively correlated with frontotemporal language laterality, and positively correlated with social perception laterality in the same areas, consistent with a long-range coupling effect between face and social processing representations, driven by local competition between language and social processing. We conclude that both local and long-range interactions shape the heterogeneous hemispheric specializations in high-level visual cortex.