Internal and External Features of the Face Are Represented Holistically in Face-Selective Regions of Visual Cortex

The perception and recognition of familiar faces depends critically on an analysis of the internal features of the face (eyes, nose, mouth). We therefore contrasted how information about the internal and external (hair, chin, face outline) features of familiar and unfamiliar faces is represented in face-selective regions. There was a significant response to both the internal and external features of the face when presented in isolation. However, the response to the internal features was greater than the response to the external features. There was significant adaptation to repeated images of either the internal or external features of the face in the fusiform face area (FFA). However, the magnitude of this adaptation was greater for the internal features of familiar faces. Next, we asked whether the internal features of the face are represented independently from the external features. There was a release from adaptation in the FFA to composite images in which the internal features were varied but the external features were unchanged, or when the internal features were unchanged but the external features varied, demonstrating a holistic response. Finally, we asked whether the holistic response to faces could be influenced by the context in which the face was presented. We found that adaptation was still evident to composite images in which the face was unchanged but body features were varied. Together, these findings show that although internal features are important in the neural representation of familiar faces, the face's internal and external features are represented holistically in face-selective regions of the human brain.

[1]  E K Warrington,et al.  Prosopagnosia: A Face-Specific Disorder , 1993, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[2]  Timothy J. Andrews,et al.  Distinct representations for facial identity and changeable aspects of faces in the human temporal lobe , 2004, NeuroImage.

[3]  V. Bruce,et al.  Recognition of unfamiliar faces , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

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

[5]  Timothy J. Andrews,et al.  Differential sensitivity for viewpoint between familiar and unfamiliar faces in human visual cortex , 2008, NeuroImage.

[6]  Bruno Rossion,et al.  Faces are represented holistically in the human occipito-temporal cortex , 2006, NeuroImage.

[7]  H. Ellis,et al.  Identification of Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces from Internal and External Features: Some Implications for Theories of Face Recognition , 1979, Perception.

[8]  A. Young,et al.  Matching Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces on Internal and External Features , 1985, Perception.

[9]  John Stobo,et al.  United We Stand , 1993, Annals of Internal Medicine.

[10]  P. Hancock,et al.  Robust representations for face recognition: The power of averages , 2005, Cognitive Psychology.

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

[12]  D. Maurer,et al.  Neural correlates of processing facial identity based on features versus their spacing , 2007, Neuropsychologia.

[13]  A. Treves,et al.  Morphing Marilyn into Maggie dissociates physical and identity face representations in the brain , 2005, Nature Neuroscience.

[14]  J. Haxby,et al.  The distributed human neural system for face perception , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[15]  T. Valentine The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology a Unified Account of the Effects of Distinctiveness, Inversion, and Race in Face Recognition , 2022 .

[16]  Hugh R. Wilson,et al.  Heterogeneous Structure in Face-selective Human Occipito-temporal Cortex , 2010, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[17]  R. Dolan,et al.  fMRI-adaptation reveals dissociable neural representations of identity and expression in face perception. , 2004, Journal of neurophysiology.

[18]  S. Edelman,et al.  Differential Processing of Objects under Various Viewing Conditions in the Human Lateral Occipital Complex , 1999, Neuron.

[19]  Ethan M. Meyers,et al.  Contextually Evoked Object-Specific Responses in Human Visual Cortex , 2004, Science.

[20]  A. Ishai,et al.  Effective connectivity within the distributed cortical network for face perception. , 2007, Cerebral cortex.

[21]  J. Haxby,et al.  Distinct representations of eye gaze and identity in the distributed human neural system for face perception , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[22]  A. Young,et al.  Matching familiar and unfamiliar faces on identity and expression , 1986, Psychological research.

[23]  V Bruce,et al.  Familiarisation with Faces Selectively Enhances Sensitivity to Changes Made to the Eyes , 2001, Perception.

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

[25]  P. Downing,et al.  Selectivity for the human body in the fusiform gyrus. , 2005, Journal of neurophysiology.

[26]  A. O'Toole,et al.  Prototype-referenced shape encoding revealed by high-level aftereffects , 2001, Nature Neuroscience.

[27]  Rebecca F. Schwarzlose,et al.  Separate face and body selectivity on the fusiform gyrus. , 2010, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[28]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  Face perception: domain specific, not process specific. , 2004, Neuron.

[29]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  The Neural Basis of the Behavioral Face-Inversion Effect , 2005, Current Biology.

[30]  T. Poggio,et al.  I think I know that face... , 1996, Nature.

[31]  M Moscovitch,et al.  SUPER FACE-INVERSION EFFECTS FOR ISOLATED INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL FEATURES, AND FOR FRACTURED FACES , 2000, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[32]  A. Young,et al.  Understanding face recognition. , 1986, British journal of psychology.

[33]  J. Devlin,et al.  Triple Dissociation of Faces, Bodies, and Objects in Extrastriate Cortex , 2009, Current Biology.

[34]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  The fusiform face area subserves face perception, not generic within-category identification , 2004, Nature Neuroscience.

[35]  Doris Y. Tsao,et al.  A face feature space in the macaque temporal lobe , 2009, Nature Neuroscience.

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