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Related Experiment Videos

Orientation-contingent face aftereffects and implications for face-coding mechanisms.

Gillian Rhodes1, Linda Jeffery, Tamara L Watson

  • 1University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. gill@psy.uwa.edu.au

Current Biology : CB
|December 14, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Distinct neural populations process upright and inverted faces, revealing selective adaptation of expert face-coding mechanisms. This finding resolves paradoxes in face recognition research.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Human Perception
  • Visual Processing

Background:

  • Human face recognition relies on configural or holistic coding, primarily for upright faces.
  • Inverted faces engage different, more feature-based coding mechanisms.
  • The fusiform face area (FFA) is crucial for face expertise but shows limited orientation selectivity in neuroimaging.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether distinct neural populations code upright and inverted faces.
  • To determine if expert face-coding mechanisms can be selectively adapted.
  • To resolve the paradox of FFA orientation selectivity in face recognition.

Main Methods:

  • Inducing simultaneous, opposite figural aftereffects for upright and inverted faces.
  • Testing aftereffects on judgments of face normality and gender.

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  • Assessing robustness to changes in face size to rule out low-level adaptations.

    • Main Results:

    • Opposite figural aftereffects were induced concurrently for upright and inverted faces.
    • These aftereffects were observed for face normality and gender judgments.
    • The effects persisted despite variations in face size, indicating higher-level coding.

    Conclusions:

    • Distinct neural populations selectively code upright and inverted faces.
    • Expert face-coding mechanisms, particularly for upright faces, can be selectively adapted.
    • The FFA's observed lack of orientation selectivity may stem from averaging across separate upright and inverted face-processing populations.