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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
ABSTRACT: Although humans are considered to be face experts, there is a well-established reliable
variation in the degree to which neurotypical individuals are able to learn and recognise
faces. While many behavioural studies have characterised these differences, studies that
seek to relate the neuronal response to standardised behavioural measures of ability
remain relatively scarce, particularly so for the time-resolved approaches and the early
response to face stimuli. In the present study we make use of a relatively recent methodological advance, multi-variate pattern analysis (MVPA), to decode the time course of the
neural response to faces compared to other object categories (inverted faces, objects).
Importantly, for the first time, we directly relate metrics of this decoding assessed at the
individual level to gold-standard measures of behavioural face processing ability assessed
in an independent task. Thirty-nine participants completed the behavioural Cambridge
Face Memory Test (CFMT), then viewed images of faces and houses (presented upright and
inverted) while their neural activity was measured via electroencephalography. Significant
decoding of both face orientation and face category were observed in all individual participants. Decoding of face orientation, a marker of more advanced face processing, was
earlier and stronger in participants with higher levels of face expertise, while decoding of
face category information was earlier but not stronger for individuals with greater face
expertise. Taken together these results provide a marker of significant differences in the
early neuronal response to faces from around 100 ms post stimulus as a function of
behavioural expertise with faces.
Description
Keywords
Multi-variate pattern analysis EEG Face expertise Face processing
Citation
Mares, I., Ewing, L., Papasavva, M., Ducrocq, E., Smith, F. W., & Smith, M. L. (2023). Face recognition ability is manifest in early dynamic decoding of face-orientation selectivity—Evidence from multi-variate pattern analysis of the neural response. Cortex, 159, 299–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2022.11.004
Publisher
Masson SpA