The prototype effect revisited: Evidence for an abstract feature model of face recognition.

Humans typically have a remarkable memory for faces. Nonetheless, in some cases they can be fooled. Experiments described in this paper provide new evidence for an effect in which observers falsely "recognize" a face that they have never seen before. The face is a chimera (prototype) built from parts extracted from previously viewed faces. It is known that faces of this kind can be confused with truly familiar faces, a result referred to as the prototype effect. However, recent studies have failed to find evidence for a full effect, one in which the prototype is regarded not only as familiar, but as more familiar than faces which have been seen before. This study sought to reinvestigate the effect. In a pair of experiments, evidence is reported for the full effect based on both an old/new discrimination task and a familiarity ranking task. The results are shown to be consistent with a recognition model in which faces are represented as combinations of reusable, abstract features. In a final experiment, novel predictions of the model are verified by comparing the size of the prototype effect for upright and upside-down faces. Despite the fundamentally piecewise nature of the model, an explanation is provided as to how it can also account for the sensitivity of observers to configural and holistic cues. This discussion is backed up with the use of an unsupervised network model. Overall, the paper describes how an abstract feature-based model can reconcile a range of results in the face recognition literature and, in turn, lessen currently perceived differences between the representation of faces and other objects.

[1]  M. Farah,et al.  Parts and Wholes in Face Recognition , 1993, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[2]  V. Bruce,et al.  Local and Relational Aspects of Face Distinctiveness , 1998, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[3]  A. O'Toole,et al.  Simulating the ‘Other-race Effect* as a Problem in Perceptual Learning , 1991 .

[4]  Markus Graf,et al.  Coordinate transformations in object recognition. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  Alice J. O'Toole,et al.  Face Recognition Algorithms Surpass Humans Matching Faces Over Changes in Illumination , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[6]  A. Ishai,et al.  Distributed and Overlapping Representations of Faces and Objects in Ventral Temporal Cortex , 2001, Science.

[7]  Y. Miyashita.  Inferior temporal cortex: where visual perception meets memory. , 1993, Annual review of neuroscience.

[8]  E. Rolls,et al.  Neurons in the amygdala of the monkey with responses selective for faces , 1985, Behavioural Brain Research.

[9]  Kris McDaniel,et al.  Parts and Wholes , 2010 .

[10]  P. Thompson,et al.  Margaret Thatcher: A New Illusion , 1980, Perception.

[11]  H. Ellis,et al.  Perceiving and remembering faces , 1983 .

[12]  R. L. Solso,et al.  Prototype formation of faces: A case of pseudo-memory , 1981 .

[13]  N. Logothetis,et al.  Object recognition: holistic representations in the monkey brain. , 2000, Spatial vision.

[14]  D. C. Howell.  Statistical methods for psychology, 3rd ed. , 1992 .

[15]  F. Tong,et al.  Neuroscience. The face of controversy. , 2001, Science.

[16]  Keiji Tanaka,et al.  Prior experience of rotation is not required for recognizing objects seen from different angles , 2005, Nature Neuroscience.

[17]  M. Tarr,et al.  Can Face Recognition Really be Dissociated from Object Recognition? , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[18]  Y. Yamane,et al.  Complex objects are represented in macaque inferotemporal cortex by the combination of feature columns , 2001, Nature Neuroscience.

[19]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  The Fusiform Face Area: A Module in Human Extrastriate Cortex Specialized for Face Perception , 1997, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[20]  Keiji Tanaka,et al.  Coding visual images of objects in the inferotemporal cortex of the macaque monkey. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[21]  S. Edelman,et al.  Orientation dependence in the recognition of familiar and novel views of three-dimensional objects , 1992, Vision Research.

[22]  D. Maurer,et al.  The many faces of configural processing , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[23]  M. Young,et al.  Sparse population coding of faces in the inferotemporal cortex. , 1992, Science.

[24]  H. Damasio,et al.  IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence: Special Issue on Perceptual Organization in Computer Vision , 1998 .

[25]  Thomas Vetter,et al.  Synthesis of Novel Views from a Single Face Image , 1998, International Journal of Computer Vision.

[26]  T. Allison,et al.  Face-sensitive regions in human extrastriate cortex studied by functional MRI. , 1995, Journal of neurophysiology.

[27]  S. Yamane,et al.  What facial features activate face neurons in the inferotemporal cortex of the monkey? , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[28]  Frank Tong,et al.  The Face of Controversy , 2001, Science.

[29]  E. Rolls,et al.  INVARIANT FACE AND OBJECT RECOGNITION IN THE VISUAL SYSTEM , 1997, Progress in Neurobiology.

[30]  M. Behrmann,et al.  Impact of learning on representation of parts and wholes in monkey inferotemporal cortex , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[31]  Edmund T. Rolls,et al.  Neuronal responses in the ventral striatum of the behaving macaque , 1993, Behavioural Brain Research.

[32]  D I Perrett,et al.  Organization and functions of cells responsive to faces in the temporal cortex. , 1992, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[33]  Keiji Tanaka,et al.  Optical Imaging of Functional Organization in the Monkey Inferotemporal Cortex , 1996, Science.

[34]  R. Desimone.  Face-Selective Cells in the Temporal Cortex of Monkeys , 1991, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[35]  J. B. Demb,et al.  Role of attention in face encoding , 1994 .

[36]  R. Yin.  Looking at Upside-down Faces , 1969 .

[37]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  Distributed Representations , 1986, The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.

[38]  Anders Krogh,et al.  Introduction to the theory of neural computation , 1994, The advanced book program.

[39]  A. G. Goldstein,et al.  Development of differential recognition for own- and other-race faces. , 1982, The Journal of psychology.

[40]  A. Baddeley,et al.  When face recognition fails. , 1977, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[41]  N. Logothetis,et al.  IS FACE RECOGNITION NOT SO UNIQUE AFTER ALL? , 2000, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[42]  M. Farah,et al.  What is "special" about face perception? , 1998, Psychological review.

[43]  M. Hasselmo,et al.  The effect of learning on the face selective responses of neurons in the cortex in the superior temporal sulcus of the monkey , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[44]  Roberto Cabeza,et al.  Features are Also Important: Contributions of Featural and Configural Processing to Face Recognition , 2000, Psychological science.

[45]  V. Bruce,et al.  Remembering facial configurations , 1991, Cognition.

[46]  J. Bartlett,et al.  Inversion and Configuration of Faces , 1993, Cognitive Psychology.

[47]  M. Tovée,et al.  Representational capacity of face coding in monkeys. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[48]  A. Young,et al.  Configurational Information in Face Perception , 1987, Perception.

[49]  V. Bruce,et al.  The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology When Inverted Faces Are Recognized: the Role of Configural Information in Face Recognition , 2022 .

[50]  S. Carey,et al.  Are faces perceived as configurations more by adults than by children , 1994 .

[51]  D. C. Howell.  Statistical Methods for Psychology , 1987 .

[52]  Tomaso Poggio,et al.  Models of object recognition , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[53]  V. Bruce,et al.  The prototype effect in face recognition: Extension and limits , 1999, Memory & cognition.

[54]  P. Goldman-Rakic,et al.  Dissociation of object and spatial processing domains in primate prefrontal cortex. , 1993, Science.

[55]  E T Rolls,et al.  Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying face processing within and beyond the temporal cortical visual areas. , 1992, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[56]  Antonio Torralba,et al.  Sharing Visual Features for Multiclass and Multiview Object Detection , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[57]  Doris Y. Tsao,et al.  A Cortical Region Consisting Entirely of Face-Selective Cells , 2006, Science.

[58]  Keiji Tanaka,et al.  Effects of shape-discrimination training on the selectivity of inferotemporal cells in adult monkeys. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[59]  G. Hole.  Configurational Factors in the Perception of Unfamiliar Faces , 1994, Perception.

[60]  M. Tarr,et al.  Unraveling mechanisms for expert object recognition: bridging brain activity and behavior. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[61]  K. Grill-Spector,et al.  High-resolution imaging reveals highly selective nonface clusters in the fusiform face area , 2006, Nature Neuroscience.

[62]  J. Sergent,et al.  Functional neuroanatomy of face and object processing. A positron emission tomography study. , 1992, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[63]  Kunihiko Fukushima,et al.  Neocognitron: A hierarchical neural network capable of visual pattern recognition , 1988, Neural Networks.