Species sensitivity of early face and eye processing

Itier, Roxane J.; Roon, Patricia Van; Alain, Claude

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.031

Cited by 69 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Eye sensitivity was previously demonstrated by a larger N170 for isolated eyes than whole faces (Bentin et al, 1996;Itier et al, 2006;Itier et al, 2007;Itier et al, 2011;Kloth et al, 2013;Taylor et al, 2001a,b). For this reason Bentin et al (1996) initially suggested that the N170 might reflect the activity of an eye detector.…”

Section: In Support Of the Eye Detector Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 89%

“…This featural sensitivity does not include other facial features as nose and mouth elicit delayed and smaller N170s than faces (Bentin et al, 1996;Nemrodov & Itier, 2011;Taylor et al, 2001b). However, eyeless faces elicit N170s with amplitudes similar to normal intact faces, albeit delayed (Eimer, 1998;Itier et al, 2007;Itier et al, 2011;Kloth et al, 2013) and this finding has been interpreted as supporting the view that the N170 reflects a holistic processing stage rather than an eye detector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Itier et al (2007) showed that, in contrast to intact faces, inversion of eyeless faces elicited a much reduced N170 FIE and thus proposed that eyes played an important role in this early face specific phenomenon, an idea reinforced by the replication of this finding in later studies Kloth et al, 2013;Nemrodov & Itier, 2011). A model involving eye-and face-sensitive neuronal populations (Itier et al, 2007;Itier & Batty, 2009) tried to account for the N170 FIE as well as the larger N170 response to isolated eyes that is seen regardless of eye orientation (Itier et al, 2006;Itier et al, 2007;Itier et al, 2011). According to this model, upright intact faces trigger the activation of face-sensitive neurons which would inhibit eye-sensitive neurons in the context of a configurally correct face, a mechanism that accounts for the lack of amplitude change with upright eyeless faces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In most face studies, this central fixation is situated close to the eyes, on the nasion or on the nose. In particular, the studies that reported larger N170 amplitude for isolated eyes or a lack of FIE for inverted eyeless faces presented the fixation on the nasion area (Bentin et al, 1996;Itier et al, 2007Itier et al, , 2011Kloth et al, 2013;Taylor et al, 2001b). However, recent studies have reported changes in N170 amplitude as a function of fixation location on the face.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In ERP studies, faces presented upside down trigger delayed but most importantly larger N170s compared to upright faces (Bentin et al, 1996;Itier & Taylor, 2002;Rossion et al, 1999), while upside down objects usually elicit only delayed responses (Itier et al, 2006;Kloth et al, 2013). Similar to objects, animal faces or impoverished human face stimuli, such as sketches or Mooney faces, also show delayed N170 with inversion but no increase in amplitude and sometimes even a slight amplitude reduction (de Haan et al, 2002;Itier et al, 2006;Itier et al, 2011;Latinus & Taylor, 2005;Sagiv & Bentin, 2001;Wiese et al, 2009). The amplitude increase with inversion, also termed the N170 "face inversion effect" (FIE), is thus believed to reflect the disruption of early holistic processing stages specific to human faces and has been used as a hallmark of face specificity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early sensitivity for eyes within faces: A new neuronal account of holistic and featural processing

et al. 2014

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Eyes are central to face processing however their role in early face encoding as reflected by the N170 ERP component is unclear. Using eye tracking to enforce fixation on specific facial features, we found that the N170 was larger for fixation on the eyes compared to fixation on the forehead, nasion, nose or mouth, which all yielded similar amplitudes. This eye sensitivity was seen in both upright and inverted faces and was lost in eyeless faces, demonstrating it was due to the presence of eyes at fovea. Upright eyeless faces elicited largest N170 at nose fixation. Importantly, the N170 face inversion effect (FIE) was strongly attenuated in eyeless faces when fixation was on the eyes but was less attenuated for nose fixation and was normal when fixation was on the mouth. These results suggest the impact of eye removal on the N170 FIE is a function of the angular distance between the fixated feature and the eye location. We propose the Lateral Inhibition, Face Template and Eye Detector based (LIFTED) model which accounts for all the present N170 results including the FIE and its interaction with eye removal. Although eyes elicit the largest N170 response, reflecting the activity of an eye detector, the processing of upright faces is holistic and entails an inhibitory mechanism from neurons coding parafoveal information onto neurons coding foveal information. The LIFTED model provides a neuronal account of holistic and featural processing involved in upright and inverted faces and offers precise predictions for further testing.

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Section: In Support Of the Eye Detector Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early sensitivity for eyes within faces: A new neuronal account of holistic and featural processing

et al. 2014

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Eyeglasses elicit effects similar to face-like perceptual expertise: evidence from the N170 response

Cao

Yang

2015

Exp Brain Res

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Studies of event-related potentials show that the specific N170 response has become a stable electrophysiological hallmark of objects related to expertise in early perceptual processing. In the present study, we investigated whether eyeglasses can elicit N170 effects similar to those elicited by objects of expertise. Our results showed that the N170 response elicited by eyeglasses was larger than the response elicited by objects that do not generate perceptual expertise (e.g., houses). Importantly, we found that eyeglasses could produce a within-category N170 adaptation effect, similar to that produced in response to objects of expertise (e.g., faces). Our results have revealed for the first time that with a large amount of experience, eyeglasses could evoke the face-like N170 response, which suggested that eyeglasses may become an object of perceptual expertise to some human observers.

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Increased Early Sensitivity to Eyes in Mouthless Faces: In Support of the LIFTED Model of Early Face Processing

Itier

Preston

2018

Brain Topogr

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The N170 ERP component is a central neural marker of early face perception usually thought to reflect holistic processing. However, it is also highly sensitive to eyes presented in isolation and to fixation on the eyes within a full face. The lateral inhibition face template and eye detector (LIFTED) model (Nemrodov et al. in NeuroImage 97:81-94, 2014) integrates these views by proposing a neural inhibition mechanism that perceptually glues features into a whole, in parallel to the activity of an eye detector that accounts for the eye sensitivity. The LIFTED model was derived from a large number of results obtained with intact and eyeless faces presented upright and inverted. The present study provided a control condition to the original design by replacing eyeless with mouthless faces, hereby enabling testing of specific predictions derived from the model. Using the same gaze-contingent approach, we replicated the N170 eye sensitivity regardless of face orientation. Furthermore, when eyes were fixated in upright faces, the N170 was larger for mouthless compared to intact faces, while inverted mouthless faces elicited smaller amplitude than intact inverted faces when fixation was on the mouth and nose. The results are largely in line with the LIFTED model, in particular with the idea of an inhibition mechanism involved in holistic processing of upright faces and the lack of such inhibition in processing inverted faces. Some modifications to the original model are also proposed based on these results.

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Species sensitivity of early face and eye processing

Cited by 69 publications

References 38 publications

Early sensitivity for eyes within faces: A new neuronal account of holistic and featural processing

Early sensitivity for eyes within faces: A new neuronal account of holistic and featural processing

Eyeglasses elicit effects similar to face-like perceptual expertise: evidence from the N170 response

Increased Early Sensitivity to Eyes in Mouthless Faces: In Support of the LIFTED Model of Early Face Processing

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