Implicit self-other discrimination affects the interplay between multisensory affordances of mental representations of faces

Abstract

Face recognition is an apparently straightforward but, in fact, complex ability, encompassing the activation of at least visual and somatosensory representations. Understanding how identity shapes the interplay between these face-related affordances could clarify the mechanisms of self-other discrimination. To this aim, we exploited the so-called "face inversion effect" (FIE), a specific bias in the mental rotation of face images (of other people): with respect to inanimate objects, face images require longer time to be mentally rotated from the upside-down. Via the FIE, which suggests the activation of somatosensory mechanisms, we assessed identity-related changes in the interplay between visual and somatosensory affordances between self- and other-face representations. Methodologically, to avoid the potential interference of the somatosensory feedback associated with musculoskeletal movements, we introduced the tracking of gaze direction to record participants' response. Response times from twenty healthy participants showed the larger FIE for self- than other-faces, suggesting that the impact of somatosensory affordances on mental representation of faces varies according to identity. The present study lays the foundations of a quantifiable method to implicitly assess self-other discrimination, with possible translational benefits for early diagnosis of face processing disturbances (e.g. prosopagnosia), and for neurophysiological studies on self-other discrimination in ethological settings.

Mental Rotation of Digitally-Rendered Haptic Objects

“…Accuracy for letters in their normal upright form decreased up to 180°, with a slight increase for stimuli rotated at 270°. Similar results have previously been found in mental rotation tasks with stimuli of different kinds (see e.g., Kosslyn et al, 1998; Hyun and Luck, 2007; Milivojevic et al, 2011; Zeugin et al, 2017), further corroborating that our experimental manipulation was effective and that mental rotation of our haptic letter stimuli indeed took place. The significant interaction between factors Condition and Angle illustrates the fact that mental rotation of familiar stimuli was more successful than for unfamiliar stimuli.…”

Exploration Strategies for Tactile Graphics Displayed by Electrovibration on a Touchscreen

“…The participants in our second experiment showed poor performance (lower recognition rates and longer recognition time) for the non-prototypical shapes than the prototypical ones due to the mental rotation effect (Shepard and Metzler, 1971). Similar results were also reported in the literature for the mental rotation experiments conducted with different types of stimuli (Milivojevic et al, 2011;Theurel et al, 2012;Zeugin et al, 2017;Tivadar et al, 2019). Theurel et al (2012) also observed a prototype effect in their experiments conducted with congenitally blind and blindfolded adolescents on the haptic recognition of geometrical shapes.…”

Neuro-Behavioral Correlates of Executive Dysfunctions in Dyslexia Over Development From Childhood to Adulthood

“…Further, structural data supported these abnormalities in both EF and reading networks. Hinting at the importance of multisensory processing ( Zeugin et al, 2017 ), decreased FA has been found in bilateral fronto-temporal and left temporo-parietal white matter regions ( Steinbrink et al, 2008 ) and left middle and inferior temporal gyri and left arcuate fasciculus ( Silani et al, 2005 ; Vandermosten et al, 2012 ). Decreased FA was found in bilateral temporo-parietal white matter regions in another sample of adults ( Klingberg et al, 2000 ), and a decrease in FA in all four lobes has been seen ( Richards et al, 2008 ).…”

“…Further, structural data supported these abnormalities in both EF and reading networks. Hinting at the importance of multisensory processing (Zeugin et al, 2017), decreased FA has been found in bilateral fronto-temporal and left FIGURE 3 | Neural circuit dysfunction related to reading circuits in teenagers (ages 13-21) with dyslexia. Decreased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Wimmer et al, 2010;Steinbrink et al, 2012), left parietal lobule (Hoeft et al, 2007;Wimmer et al, 2010;Steinbrink et al, 2012), left fusiform gyrus (Hoeft et al, 2007;Desroches et al, 2010), and left temporal gyrus (Wimmer et al, 2010;Steinbrink et al, 2012) and increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Hoeft et al, 2007), left middle frontal gyrus (Hoeft et al, 2007), left caudate (Hoeft et al, 2007), and left thalamus (Hoeft et al, 2007) related to EF in children ages 13-21 at risk for dyslexia.…”