A strong role for nature in face recognition

McKone, Elinor; Palermo, Romina

doi:10.1073/pnas.1000567107

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…One limitation is that our participants were relatively young and would likely be of above average intelligence (university students). However, such factors are unlikely to have affected our results, given (1) AQ distributions do not differ between general‐population samples and student samples (Baron‐Cohen et al ., ) and (2) face recognition ability is unrelated to intelligence (for a review, see McKone & Palermo, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social and attention‐to‐detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability

Davis

McKone

Zirnsak

et al. 2016

British J of Psychology

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This study distinguished between different subclusters of autistic traits in the general population and examined the relationships between these subclusters, looking at the eyes of faces, and the ability to recognize facial identity. Using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) measure in a university-recruited sample, we separate the social aspects of autistic traits (i.e., those related to communication and social interaction; AQ-Social) from the non-social aspects, particularly attention-to-detail (AQ-Attention). We provide the first evidence that these social and non-social aspects are associated differentially with looking at eyes: While AQ-Social showed the commonly assumed tendency towards reduced looking at eyes, AQ-Attention was associated with increased looking at eyes. We also report that higher attentionto-detail (AQ-Attention) was then indirectly related to improved face recognition, mediated by increased number of fixations to the eyes during face learning. Higher levels of socially relevant autistic traits (AQ-Social) trended in the opposite direction towards being related to poorer face recognition (significantly so in females on the Cambridge Face Memory Test). There was no evidence of any mediated relationship between AQ-Social and face recognition via reduced looking at the eyes. These different effects of AQ-Attention and AQ-Social suggest face-processing studies in Autism Spectrum Disorder might similarly benefit from considering symptom subclusters. Additionally, concerning mechanisms of face recognition, our results support the view that more looking at eyes predicts better face memory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social and attention‐to‐detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability

Davis

McKone

Zirnsak

et al. 2016

British J of Psychology

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“…Faces have long been argued to be "special" as a category of visual stimulus, showing both cortical specificity (11) and a wide range of face-specific perceptual effects (12). Whether such effects suggest true domain specificity or merely reflect a highly specialized form of learned expertise (acquired almost universally among typically developing children) has long been the subject of debate (13), with proponents of the former suggesting evolutionary specificity for face recognition (14). In this context, the findings of two recent twin studies (15,16) are informative.…”

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confidence: 91%

Genetic specificity of face recognition

Shakeshaft

Plomin

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

132

110

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Specific cognitive abilities in diverse domains are typically found to be highly heritable and substantially correlated with general cognitive ability (g), both phenotypically and genetically. Recent twin studies have found the ability to memorize and recognize faces to be an exception, being similarly heritable but phenotypically substantially uncorrelated both with g and with general object recognition. However, the genetic relationships between face recognition and other abilities (the extent to which they share a common genetic etiology) cannot be determined from phenotypic associations. In this, to our knowledge, first study of the genetic associations between face recognition and other domains, 2,000 18- and 19-year-old United Kingdom twins completed tests assessing their face recognition, object recognition, and general cognitive abilities. Results confirmed the substantial heritability of face recognition (61%), and multivariate genetic analyses found that most of this genetic influence is unique and not shared with other cognitive abilities.

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“…Moreover, it has been demonstrated that such tests can then provide useful theoretical insight. For example, individual differences correlations have been used to demonstrate that facial identity recognition ability is largely heritable, as a specific ability independent of general intelligence [6]–[8], and that an individual’s face identification ability is related to their psychosocial functioning (e.g., poorer facial identity recognition is associated with increased social anxiety [9]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Tests to Measure Individual Differences in Matching and Labelling Facial Expressions of Emotion, and Their Association with Ability to Recognise Vocal Emotions and Facial Identity

et al. 2013

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Although good tests are available for diagnosing clinical impairments in face expression processing, there is a lack of strong tests for assessing “individual differences” – that is, differences in ability between individuals within the typical, nonclinical, range. Here, we develop two new tests, one for expression perception (an odd-man-out matching task in which participants select which one of three faces displays a different expression) and one additionally requiring explicit identification of the emotion (a labelling task in which participants select one of six verbal labels). We demonstrate validity (careful check of individual items, large inversion effects, independence from nonverbal IQ, convergent validity with a previous labelling task), reliability (Cronbach’s alphas of.77 and.76 respectively), and wide individual differences across the typical population. We then demonstrate the usefulness of the tests by addressing theoretical questions regarding the structure of face processing, specifically the extent to which the following processes are common or distinct: (a) perceptual matching and explicit labelling of expression (modest correlation between matching and labelling supported partial independence); (b) judgement of expressions from faces and voices (results argued labelling tasks tap into a multi-modal system, while matching tasks tap distinct perceptual processes); and (c) expression and identity processing (results argued for a common first step of perceptual processing for expression and identity).

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A strong role for nature in face recognition

Cited by 33 publications

References 20 publications

Social and attention‐to‐detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability

Social and attention‐to‐detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability

Genetic specificity of face recognition

New Tests to Measure Individual Differences in Matching and Labelling Facial Expressions of Emotion, and Their Association with Ability to Recognise Vocal Emotions and Facial Identity

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