Facial Recognition

Question 1

Differentiating one type of object from another

Answer 1

Object recognition

Question 2

Discriminating many different faces of the same types

Answer 2

Facial recognition

Question 3

Do facial recognition theories assume we differentiate using structural descriptions or through templates?

Answer 3

Most facial recognition theories assume we make discriminations via templates and not structural descriptions

Question 4

Do we recognize people through individual features or overall facial configuration the most?

Answer 4

We use configuration to recognize people the most- (spacing between eyes, eyebrows and foreheads, etc.)

Question 5

Name all forms of evidence for configural processing

Answer 5

Inversion effect
Composite effect
Feature alteration effects
Part-whole effects
Face recognition by prospagnosics

Question 6

How does the configuration processing theory align with template matching theory?

Answer 6

We have an innate template for a face composition (eyes above nose, nose above mouth, etc), and we recognize people based on how they fit onto that facial template

Question 7

When keeping images upright, average adults have how much recognition error for faces versus houses?

Answer 7

5% error for faces, 10% fedora houses

Question 8

When inverting/flipping images upside down, what is the face recogniton error versus house recognition error?

Answer 8

20% facial recogniton error, 15% for houses

Question 9

How are inversion effects evidence for configural processing?

Answer 9

We are used to our mental template for a face composition being in a certain way- we are used to faces being eyes above nose, nose above mouth

Question 10

Describe composite effects

Answer 10

When showing two faces with a different bottom half, only half of the adults judge the faces as the same, implying we recognize the face as a whole- when the bottom halves are different we assume a different face

Question 11

Describe feature alteration

Answer 11

It is possible to notice oddities when a face is flipped, but when it is upright it is much easier to notice oddities, implying that we are used to seeing faces upright

Question 12

Describe the part-whole effect

Answer 12

People tend to get 70% correct when recognizing a feature in isolation, but increases when it is in the context of one’s face. When spatial configuration remains intact, helps us recognize individual features

Question 13

prospopagnosia

Answer 13

A disorder that makes it notably harder for someone to recognize faces- specifically facial recogniton

Question 14

loss of face recogniton ability following head injury/trauma , stroke, or degenerative disease

Answer 14

Acquired prospopagnosia

Question 15

failure to attain normal face recognition by teen years without an external cause

Answer 15

Developmental prospopagnosia

Question 16

Why does acquired prospopagnosia seem more common then developed prospopagnosia?

Answer 16

People with developed prospopagnosia may have compensated and learned to recognize features in other ways

Question 17

Is there a genetic predisposition for prospopagnosia?

Answer 17

Yes, families with histories of bad facial recognition commonly have it for many generations. It is a dominant trait

Question 18

When looking at a face, how do people with prospopagnosia look at people compared to people with better facial recogniton?

Answer 18

People with prospopagnosia look all over the face while super-recognizers are focused on the template configuration areas

Question 19

When young babies are shown the facial, scrambled face, or blank paddles, which ones did they look the most at?

Answer 19

Looked at the face paddles the most, followed by scrambled and then blank paddles

Question 20

In the paddle experiment, why did they include a scrambled face condition?

Answer 20

If they did not use the scrambled paddle, an alternative explanation could be that the baby would have been interested in looking at anything

Question 21

When 3 month old babies are familiarized to the top half of the face, and then are shown the face misaligned or aligned with a novel or the previously shown top half, what did they look longer at?

Answer 21

Looked at the familiar top half/recognized the top half only in the misaligned condition but not in the aligned condition- implies that the familiar top appeared over when aligned to other facial features became unfamiliar

Question 22

When newborn old babies are familiarized to the top half of the face, and then are shown the face misaligned or aligned with a novel or the previously shopworn top half, what did they look longer at?

Answer 22

newborns were did not look longer/recognize the familiar top in the misaligned conditions, implying they are not yet processing faces configurally. Implies that newborns don’t show the composite effects that 3 month olds do

Question 23

What drives the development of composite face effects in infants?

Answer 23

Experience but only within a critical period- infants whose vision were obscured for the first few months of life don’t do configural recognition as adults

Question 24

What age does face recognition peak in?

Answer 24

Face recogniton does not peak until 30

Question 25

What is the facial recognition accuracy rate in 10 year old children?

Answer 25

67% in the Cambridge face memory test

Question 26

Describe the Cambridge facial memory test

Answer 26

Subject studies a face from three different angles, then they are shown three faces (one that they previously studied) in novel angles, asked to point out which one they previously recognized

Question 27

What happens with inversion effects as one gets older/

Answer 27

Inversion effects increase- implying that facial processing continues to become more specialized and used to the typical template

Question 28

Describe the full story of facial recognition

Answer 28

Humans are born with an innate sensitivity to faces Early attention to and experience with faces give rise to configural processing within the first three months face recogniton via continual processing continues to develop across the lifespan

Question 29

When people are put under an fMRI machine, which areas had more blood flow/activation during facial recognition activities?

Answer 29

The fusiform face area/gyrus spikes in activity when a face is shown compared to another object

Question 30

When looking at intact faces vs scrambled ones, which ones lead to more activity in the FFA?

Answer 30

When looking at intact faces

Question 31

What are the two interpretations the existence of the FFA? How could we potentially study these?

Answer 31

Interpretation one: we evolved a chunk of the cortex dedicated to recognizing faces Interpretation 2: we evolved a chunk of the cortex dedicated to configural processing Can decide between them by looking for other objects that activate the FFA

Question 32

When bird experts are shown birds and cars, when does their FFA activate?

Answer 32

When viewing birds

Question 33

When car experts are shown birds and cars, when does their FFA activate?

Answer 33

FFA activates when viewing cars

Question 34

Describe an experiment that can see whether other objects activate the FFA.

Answer 34

College students became experts and were trained in recognizing greebles (made up object) by gender, family, and individuality. By the end of the training, their FFA activated when viewing a greeble around the same amount which activates when seeing faces

Question 35

When showing a chess board to a chess expert (both inverted and not inverted) compared to a novice, who activates their FFA more?

Answer 35

More activation of the FFA when experts look at chessboards- both inverted and not inverted

Question 36

The FFA is not _____ allows for ____ processing in general

Answer 36

The FFA is not face-specific allows for configural processing in general