Holistic Face Processing Research Articles

Ageing faces in ageing minds: A review on the own-age bias in face recognition

Similar to the well-established own-race bias, participants are more accurate at remembering own- relative to other-age faces. An own-age bias (OAB) in face memory was demonstrated in participants older than approximately 5 years. Crucially, the OAB is modulated by contact—participants with substantial contact with other-age persons show either reduced or absent OAB effects. In line with a perceptual expertise account of the phenomenon, holistic processing of other-age faces is less efficient when tested with young adult versus child faces, and differential holistic processing may therefore reflect one mechanism contributing to the OAB. A possible additional contribution of sociocognitive factors to the OAB remains largely untested. Importantly, event-related brain potential studies suggest that the own-race and own-age biases are based on at least partly different mechanisms. Theoretical explanations for different group-based biases in face memory will need to consider these findings.

Evaluation of the Presence of a Face Search Advantage in Chernoff Faces

Chernoff faces (Chernoff, 1973) are an early attempt at large scale multivariate data representation and are based on underlying assumptions that have not been empirically tested. This study investigated i) whether data coded as Chernoff faces benefit from face perception, and ii) whether each feature of a Chernoff face is equally salient. We tested four pairs of oppositely coded Chernoff faces (e.g. smile, frown) in an oddball search paradigm with set sizes of 5, 10 and 15. To evaluate whether face perception aided search, we used a control condition with inverted faces, a manipulation known to diminish holistic face processing. Equivalent search efficiencies for upright and inverted Chernoff faces demonstrates that they do not receive any significant benefit from face perception. Additionally, none of the features tested together produced significantly different search efficiencies from one another. It also appears that overall Chernoff faces do not allow for particularly efficient visual search.

Predicting Face Recognition Skills in Children from Holistic Face Processing and Eye Tracking

Predicting Face Recognition Skills in Children from Holistic Face Processing and Eye Tracking

The nature of 5-year-old children's holistic face processing: Evidence from eye-gaze contingency

The nature of 5-year-old children's holistic face processing: Evidence from eye-gaze contingency

Sex-Differences of Face Coding: Evidence from Larger Right Hemispheric M170 in Men and Dipole Source Modelling

The processing of faces relies on a specialized neural system comprising bilateral cortical structures with a dominance of the right hemisphere. However, due to inconsistencies of earlier findings as well as more recent results such functional lateralization has become a topic of discussion. In particular, studies employing behavioural tasks and electrophysiological methods indicate a dominance of the right hemisphere during face perception only in men whereas women exhibit symmetric and bilateral face processing. The aim of this study was to further investigate such sex differences in hemispheric processing of personally familiar and opposite-sex faces using whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG). We found a right-lateralized M170-component in occipito-temporal sensor clusters in men as opposed to a bilateral response in women. Furthermore, the same pattern was obtained in performing dipole localization and determining dipole strength in the M170-timewindow. These results suggest asymmetric involvement of face-responsive neural structures in men and allow to ascribe this asymmetry to the fusiform gyrus. This specifies findings from previous investigations employing event-related potentials (ERP) and LORETA reconstruction methods yielding rather extended bilateral activations showing left asymmetry in women and right lateralization in men. We discuss our finding of an asymmetric fusiform activation pattern in men in terms of holistic face processing during face evaluation and sex differences with regard to visual strategies in general and interest for opposite faces in special. Taken together the pattern of hemispheric specialization observed here yields new insights into sex differences in face perception and entails further questions about interactions between biological sex, psychological gender and influences that might be stimulus-driven or task dependent.

Effects of aging on face identification and holistic face processing

Several studies have shown that face identification accuracy is lower in older than younger adults. This effect of aging might be due to age differences in holistic processing, which is thought to be an important component of human face processing. Currently, however, there is conflicting evidence as to whether holistic face processing is impaired in older adults. The current study therefore re-examined this issue by measuring response accuracy in a 1-of-4 face identification task and the composite face effect (CFE), a common index of holistic processing, in older adults. Consistent with previous reports, we found that face identification accuracy was lower in older adults than in younger adults tested in the same task. We also found a significant CFE in older adults that was similar in magnitude to the CFE measured in younger subjects with the same task. Finally, we found that there was a significant positive correlation between the CFE and face identification accuracy. This last result differs from the results obtained in a previous study that used the same tasks and which found no evidence of an association between the CFE and face identification accuracy in younger adults. Furthermore, the age difference was found with subtraction-, regression-, and ratio-based estimates of the CFE. The current findings are consistent with previous claims that older adults rely more heavily on holistic processing to identify objects in conditions of limited processing resources.

The fusiform face area responds equivalently to faces and abstract shapes in the left and central visual fields

The fusiform face area (FFA) is widely believed to be specialized for processing faces. Although the FFA is most responsive to faces, this region also consistently responds to non-face items. This suggests that the FFA may be tuned to a feature that is shared by faces and non-face items. Based on the known left visual field face-processing bias along with evidence that the FFA responds to the visual feature of shape, we hypothesized that the FFA may be particularly tuned to shapes presented in the left visual field. We tested this hypothesis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In a face localizer run, participants viewed blocks of faces or objects. In a separate run, blocks of intact or scrambled abstract shapes were presented in the left, the central, or the right visual field. Within each of the eleven face-processing regions-of-interest (identified by contrasting faces and objects), the magnitude of activity associated with faces was compared to the magnitude of activity associated with intact shapes. Consistent with previous results, collapsing over shape visual field location, the magnitude of activity associated with faces was greater than the magnitude of activity associated with shapes in the FFA. However, separating by shape visual field location revealed an equivalent magnitude of activity associated with faces and shapes in the FFA when shapes were presented in the left and central visual fields. These findings indicate that the FFA, rather than being specialized for holistic face processing, mediates shape processing in the left and central visual fields.

Toddlers with Williams Syndrome Process Upright but not Inverted Faces Holistically

Holistic processing of upright, but not inverted, faces is a marker of perceptual expertise for faces. This pattern is shown by typically developing individuals beginning at age 7months. Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by extreme interest in faces from a very young age. Research on the effects of inversion on holistic processing of faces by older children and adults with WS has produced mixed results. Younger children with WS were not included in these previous studies. Using the habituation switch paradigm, we demonstrated that 15-35-month-olds with WS process upright, but not inverted, faces holistically. This study provides evidence of perceptual expertise for faces in individuals with WS early in life.

Holistic face processing of own- and other-age faces in young and older adults: ERP evidence from the composite face task

Participants more accurately remember own-age relative to other-age faces (own-age bias, OAB). The present study tested whether this effect is related to more efficient holistic processing of own-age faces. Young adult and older participants performed a composite face task with young and old faces, in which they indicated whether the upper half of two subsequent composite faces was identical or not. The lower half of the second face was always different, and face halves were horizontally misaligned in 50% of the trials. Both participant groups were more efficient to correctly identify same upper halves in the misaligned relative to the aligned condition, and this composite face effect (CFE), a marker of holistic face processing, was stronger for young faces. Analysis of event-related potentials revealed strong misalignment effects in the N170, which were more pronounced for young faces in both groups. Critically, in the subsequent N250r a stronger misalignment effect for young faces was detected in young participants only. Since N250r may reflect the facilitated access of a perceptual representation of a previously presented face, this finding is interpreted to reflect young participants' more efficient representation of own-age faces as a whole, which may contribute to their OAB in memory.

The Evolution of Holistic Processing of Faces

In this paper we examine the holistic processing of faces from an evolutionary perspective, clarifying what such an approach entails, and evaluating the extent to which the evidence currently available permits any strong conclusions. While it seems clear that the holistic processing of faces depends on mechanisms evolved to perform that task, our review of the comparative literature reveals that there is currently insufficient evidence (or sometimes insufficiently compelling evidence) to decide when in our evolutionary past such processing may have arisen. It is also difficult to assess what kinds of selection pressures may have led to evolution of such a mechanism, or even what kinds of information holistic processing may have originally evolved to extract, given that many sources of socially relevant face-based information other than identity depend on integrating information across different regions of the face – judgments of expression, behavioral intent, attractiveness, sex, age, etc. We suggest some directions for future research that would help to answer these important questions.

Holistic Processing for Other-Race Faces in Chinese Participants Occurs for Upright but Not Inverted Faces

Recent evidence suggests stronger holistic processing for own-race faces may underlie the own-race advantage in face memory. In previous studies Caucasian participants have demonstrated larger holistic processing effects for Caucasian over Asian faces. However, Asian participants have consistently shown similar sized effects for both Asian and Caucasian faces. We investigated two proposed explanations for the holistic processing of other-race faces by Asian participants: (1) greater other-race exposure, (2) a general global processing bias. Holistic processing was tested using the part-whole task. Participants were living in predominantly own-race environments and other-race contact was evaluated. Despite reporting significantly greater contact with own-race than other-race people, Chinese participants displayed strong holistic processing for both Asian and Caucasian upright faces. In addition, Chinese participants showed no evidence of holistic processing for inverted faces arguing against a general global processing bias explanation. Caucasian participants, in line with previous studies, displayed stronger holistic processing for Caucasian than Asian upright faces. For inverted faces there were no race-of-face differences. These results are used to suggest that Asians may make more general use of face-specific mechanisms than Caucasians.

Holistic Face Processing is Induced by Shape and Texture

There is increasing evidence that shape and texture are integral parts of face identity. However, it is less clear whether face-specific processing mechanisms are triggered by face shape alone, or if texture might play an important role. We address this question by studying mechanisms involved in holistic face processing. Face stimuli were either full-color pictures of real faces (shape and texture) or line drawings of the same faces (shape without texture). In a change detection task subjects judged whether eyes and eyebrows in two otherwise identical, sequentially presented faces were different in size or not. Afterwards, subjects had to identify the just presented face among two distractor faces (forced-choice identification task). The results obtained from the two tasks give rise to the conclusion that face identification and change detection tasks engage different processing strategies, which capture different aspects of holistic processing. Real faces were processed holistically, irrespective of task requirements, whereas line drawings were processed holistically only if face identification was required. On the basis of the data we conclude that face shape is relevant for the initial processing stage and feature binding, whereas face texture seems to be involved in processing of face configuration more specifically. Moreover, results demonstrate considerable flexibility of the face processing systems allowing for goal-directed and task-specific recall of face information.

Behavioral and neural evidence of increased attention to the bottom half of the face in deaf signers

This study examined the effects of deafness and sign language use on the distribution of attention across the top and bottom halves of faces. In a composite face task, congenitally deaf signers and typically hearing controls made same/different judgments of the top or bottom halves of faces presented with the halves aligned or spatially misaligned, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Both groups were more accurate when judging misaligned than aligned faces, which indicates holistic face processing. Misalignment affected all ERP components examined, with effects on the N170 resembling those of face inversion. Hearing adults were similarly accurate when judging the top and bottom halves of the faces, but deaf signers were more accurate when attending to the bottom than the top. Attending to the top elicited faster P1 and N170 latencies for both groups; within the deaf group, this effect was greatest for individuals who produced the highest accuracies when attending to the top. These findings dovetail with previous research by providing behavioral and neural evidence of increased attention to the bottom half of the face in deaf signers, and by documenting that these effects generalize to a speeded task, in the absence of gaze shifts, with neutral facial expressions.

Modulation of the face-sensitive N170 by competition between faces and their features

Event Abstract Back to Event Modulation of the face-sensitive N170 by competition between faces and their features Sreekari Vogeti1* and Paul M. Corballis1* 1 The University of Auckland, New Zealand i. Background: When two or more faces are presented at the same time, they appear to ‘compete’ for representation in the visual system (R. Desimone & J. Duncan, Ann. Rev. Neurosci., 1995). Evidence for this idea comes from several studies investigating the modulation of the face-sensitive N170 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) by competition between faces (e.g., C. Jacques & B. Rossion, J. Vis., 2006). The N170 evoked by the presentation of a face image is attenuated in amplitude when the face is flanked by other face images compared to when it is flanked by other objects or by phase-scrambled faces. Here, we explore the role that the features of the face play in competition for representation. Some studies have suggested that the internal features of the face – in particular the eye region – may be especially important in the face-sensitivity of the N170; however a majority of studies have failed to report modulations of the N170 that support this idea. ii. Methods: We employed the competitive modulation of N170 amplitude as a paradigm to explore what drives the N170 face effect. We presented face stimuli drawn from three categories of face stimuli: features intact (FI), no eye region (NER), or no internal features (NIF). These stimuli were presented flanked either by stimuli from the same category, a different category or phase-scrambled control images. iii. Results: In all conditions target faces showed greater N170 attenuation when presented in the context of ‘same category’ versus ‘different category’ flankers. Target faces competed more with ‘different category’ flankers that were more similar to the target face (i.e. FI targets competed more with NER than with NIF flankers; NIF targets competed more with NER than with FI flankers). Furthermore, N170 amplitude was more attenuated for targets that were less ‘face like’ (i.e. NIF had the lowest N170 amplitude and FI had the greatest amplitude). iv. Discussion: This graded modulation of N170 suggests that the ‘face effect’ may be driven more by holistic face processing rather than exclusively by the eye region. Keywords: N170, Face-processing, event-related potentials (ERPs), faces, features Conference: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Attention Citation: Vogeti S and Corballis PM (2013). Modulation of the face-sensitive N170 by competition between faces and their features. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00144 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Sep 2013; Published Online: 25 Nov 2013. * Correspondence: Miss. Sreekari Vogeti, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, svog576@aucklanduni.ac.nz Dr. Paul M Corballis, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, p.corballis@auckland.ac.nz Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sreekari Vogeti Paul M Corballis Google Sreekari Vogeti Paul M Corballis Google Scholar Sreekari Vogeti Paul M Corballis PubMed Sreekari Vogeti Paul M Corballis Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Local Discriminability Determines the Strength of Holistic Processing for Faces in the Fusiform Face Area

Recent evidence suggests that the Fusiform Face Area (FFA) is not exclusively dedicated to the interactive processing of face features, but also contains neurons sensitive to local features. This suggests the existence of both interactive and local processing modes, consistent with recent behavioral findings that the strength of interactive feature processing (IFP) engages most strongly when similar features need to be disambiguated. Here we address whether the engagement of the FFA into interactive versus featural representational modes is governed by local feature discriminability. We scanned human participants while they matched target features within face pairs, independently of the context of distracter features. IFP was operationalized as the failure to match the target without being distracted by distracter features. Picture-plane inversion was used to disrupt IFP while preserving input properties. We found that FFA activation was comparably strong, irrespective of whether similar target features were embedded in dissimilar contexts(i.e., inducing robust IFP) or dissimilar target features were embedded in the same context (i.e., engaging local processing). Second, inversion decreased FFA activation to faces most robustly when similar target features were embedded in dissimilar contexts, indicating that FFA engages into IFP mainly when features cannot be disambiguated at a local level. Third, by means of Spearman rank correlation tests, we show that the local processing of feature differences in the FFA is supported to a large extent by the Occipital Face Area, the Lateral Occipital Complex, and early visual cortex, suggesting that these regions encode the local aspects of face information. The present findings confirm the co-existence of holistic and featural representations in the FFA. Furthermore, they establish FFA as the main contributor to the featural/holistic representational mode switches determined by local discriminability.

Importance of the Inverted Control in Measuring Holistic Face Processing with the Composite Effect and Part-Whole Effect

Holistic coding for faces is shown in several illusions that demonstrate integration of the percept across the entire face. The illusions occur upright but, crucially, not inverted. Converting the illusions into experimental tasks that measure their strength – and thus index degree of holistic coding – is often considered straightforward yet in fact relies on a hidden assumption, namely that there is no contribution to the experimental measure from secondary cognitive factors. For the composite effect, a relevant secondary factor is size of the “spotlight” of visuospatial attention. The composite task assumes this spotlight can be easily restricted to the target half (e.g., top-half) of the compound face stimulus. Yet, if this assumption were not true then a large spotlight, in the absence of holistic perception, could produce a false composite effect, present even for inverted faces and contributing partially to the score for upright faces. We review evidence that various factors can influence spotlight size: race/culture (Asians often prefer a more global distribution of attention than Caucasians); sex (females can be more global); appearance of the join or gap between face halves; and location of the eyes, which typically attract attention. Results from five experiments then show inverted faces can sometimes produce large false composite effects, and imply that whether this happens or not depends on complex interactions between causal factors. We also report, for both identity and expression, that only top-half face targets (containing eyes) produce valid composite measures. A sixth experiment demonstrates an example of a false inverted part-whole effect, where encoding-specificity is the secondary cognitive factor. We conclude the inverted face control should be tested in all composite and part-whole studies, and an effect for upright faces should be interpreted as a pure measure of holistic processing only when the experimental design produces no effect inverted.

Implications of holistic face processing in autism and schizophrenia.

People with autism and schizophrenia have been shown to have a local bias in sensory processing and face recognition difficulties. A global or holistic processing strategy is known to be important when recognizing faces. Studies investigating face recognition in these populations are reviewed and show that holistic processing is employed despite lower overall performance in the tasks used. This implies that holistic processing is necessary but not sufficient for optimal face recognition and new avenues for research into face recognition based on network models of autism and schizophrenia are proposed.

A U-shaped relation between sitting ability and upright face processing in infants.

A growing body of research indicates connections exist between action, perception, and cognition in infants. In this study, associated changes between sitting ability and upright face processing were tested in 111 infants. Using the visual habituation "switch" task (C. H. Cashon & L. B. Cohen, 2004; L. B. Cohen & C. H. Cashon, 2001), holistic processing of faces was assessed in same-aged non- and near sitters (22-25 weeks) and same-aged new and expert sitters (27-32 weeks). U-shaped relation was found between sitting stage and holistic face processing such that only nonsitters and expert sitters processed faces holistically. It is posited that the results are due to a reorganization of the upright face-processing system resulting from infants' learning to sit independently and trying to incorporate the meaning of upright faces.

Disrupting perceptual grouping of face parts impairs holistic face processing

Face perception is widely believed to involve integration of facial features into a holistic perceptual unit, but the mechanisms underlying this integration are relatively unknown. We examined whether perceptual grouping cues influence a classic marker of holistic face perception, the “composite-face effect.” Participants made same–different judgments about a cued part of sequentially presented chimeric faces, and holistic processing was indexed as the degree to which the task-irrelevant face halves impacted performance. Grouping was encouraged or discouraged by adjusting the backgrounds behind the face halves: Although the face halves were always aligned, their respective backgrounds could be misaligned and of different colors. Holistic processing of face, but not of nonface, stimuli was significantly reduced when the backgrounds were misaligned and of different colors, cues that discouraged grouping of the face halves into a cohesive unit (Exp. 1). This effect was sensitive to stimulus orientation at short (200 ms) but not at long (2,500 ms) encoding durations, consistent with the previously documented temporal properties of the holistic processing of upright and inverted faces (Exps. 2 and 3). These results suggest that grouping mechanisms, typically involved in the perception of objecthood more generally, might contribute in important ways to the holistic perception of faces.

Hemispheric asymmetry in the fusiform gyrus distinguishes Homo sapiens from chimpanzees

While the neural basis for linguistic communication has been linked to brain structural asymmetries found only in humans (wider connective spacing is found between the minicolumns of neurons in the left hemisphere language areas), it is unknown if the opposite microanatomical asymmetry exists in the fusiform gyrus which typically supports a right hemisphere bias for face processing. Unlike language, face processing is an ability shared with chimpanzees and, as Darwin observed, the widespread use of facial expressions in animal communication suggests a biological basis. We tested the principle that minicolumn asymmetry follows typical functional dominance in humans, and tested its evolutionary continuity, by measuring minicolumn width, neuronal size and density in the mid-fusiform cortex in 14 humans and 14 chimpanzees. We found that microanatomical asymmetry distinguishes humans from chimpanzees although the direction of asymmetry is the same as in language areas-the right hemisphere contained narrower minicolumns and smaller pyramidal neurons, as in auditory language areas. Uniformly narrow minicolumns in chimpanzees and in the human right hemisphere are consistent with mechanistic predictions supporting the apparent bias towards holistic face processing. Wider minicolumns and larger neurons in the human left hemisphere may be consistent with a language function such as word-form processing. Microanatomical asymmetry in the neocortex therefore provides a correlate of hemispheric specialisation.