Beta oscillations in face recognition.

This report presents an analysis of the brain's beta oscillations in face recognition. We performed experiments on 26 subjects with a strategy consisting of two types of stimulations: (1) the picture of an elder anonymous lady (unknown face) and (2) the picture of the subject's own grandmother (known face). The subjects were healthy, young people between the ages of 15-32 years. Data were analyzed by means of amplitude frequency characteristics and digital filtering. Our results show the significant role of beta response in face recognition and the differentiation of known and unknown faces. Furthermore, this report supports our former view that the presentation of grandmother face evokes selectively distributed multiple oscillations in the brain. Together with the scope of other frequencies (e.g., delta, theta, and alpha), this method can serve as a tool for research studies or clinical studies in memory and cognition.     

The P300 is sensitive to concealed face recognition.

In two experiments, we investigated whether a P300 based Concealed Information Test (CIT) can be used to detect concealed face recognition. The results show that detection of concealed face recognition is highly successful when stimuli depict persons who are personally highly familiar, and instructions to conceal recognition are given. When pictures depict recognized, but personally less familiar faces, and no specific instructions to conceal recognition are given, detection is unsuccessful. These findings indicate that pictures of faces can be used in a P300 based CIT, and that mere recognition is not sufficient for successful detection of concealed information.     

Contrast polarity and face recognition in the human fusiform gyrus.

Functional imaging has revealed face-responsive visual areas in the human fusiform gyrus, but their role in recognizing familiar individuals remains controversial. Face recognition is particularly impaired by reversing contrast polarity of the image, even though this preserves all edges and spatial frequencies. Here, combined influences of familiarity and priming on face processing were examined as contrast polarity was manipulated. Our fMRI results show that bilateral posterior areas in fusiform gyrus responded more strongly for faces with positive than with negative contrast polarity. An anterior, right-lateralized fusiform region is activated when a given face stimulus becomes recognizable as a well-known individual.     

Configural processing in face recognition in schizophrenia

Introduction. There is currently substantial literature to suggest that patients with schizophrenia are impaired on many face-processing tasks. This study investigated the specific effects of configural changes on face recognition in groups of schizophrenia patients. Methods. In Experiment 1, participants identified facial expressions in upright faces and in faces inverted from their upright orientation. Experiments 2 and 3 examined recognition memory for faces and other non-face objects presented in upright and inverted orientations. Experiment 4 explored recognition of facial identity in composite images where the top half of one face was fused to the bottom half of another face to form a new face configuration. Results. In each experiment, the configural change had the same effect on face recognition for the schizophrenia patients as it did for control participants. Recognising inverted faces was more difficult than recognising upright faces, with a disproportionate effect of inversion on faces relative to other objects. Recognition of facial identity in face-halves was interfered with by the formation of a new face configuration. Conclusion. Collectively, these results suggest that people with schizophrenia rely on configural information to recognise photographs of faces.     

Early commitment of neural substrates for face recognition

We present evidence of a striking failure of plasticity in the neural substrates of face recognition, which suggests that the distinction between faces and other objects, and the localisation of faces relative to other objects, is fully determined prior to any postnatal experience. A boy who sustained brain damage at 1 day of age has the classic lesions and behavioural profile of adult-acquired prosopagnosia. He has profoundly impaired face recognition, whereas his recognition of objects is much less impaired. This implies that the human genome contains sufficiently explicit information about faces and nonface objects, or visual features by which they can be distinguished, that experience with these categories is not necessary for their functional delineation and differential brain localisation.     

Big five personality factors related to face recognition

The present study examined whether scores on big five personality factors correlated with face-recognition response time in visual search paradigm. Sixty adjectives were used to measure personality scores of 60 participants along the five factors of Extroversion, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Picture of human faces or geometrical figures in a 4 x 4 array were used as stimuli. The sixteen faces or figures were either identical (absent condition) or one randomly placed target with 15 identical distracters (present condition). Participants were asked to respond 'present' or 'absent' as fast and accurately as possible. Results showed that the response time differed significantly between high and low groups of each personality factor except Agreeableness. For Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness, the response time difference was observed only for human face recognition. The results suggested that personality differences and face recognition were related.     

Typicality effect on holistic processing in face recognition

Many studies have claimed that faces are more holistically recognized than other objects. It is unclear, however, whether some faces are more holistically recognized than other faces. This study examined whether typical faces are more holistically recognized than distinctive faces. In order to measure the degree of holistic processing, I used an alignment effect, which is a kind of interference effect on the part processing by the holistic processing. The alignment effect was measured as performance difference between aligned and non-aligned presentation conditions. The size of the alignment effects reflects the degree of the holistic processing. The results showed that the typical and distinctive faces showed an equal size of the alignment effects. These results suggested that the typical faces were not more holistically recognized than the distinctive faces. The implication of this results for face recognition research was discussed.     

Structural encoding precludes recognition of face parts in prosopagnosia

The extent and the impact of spared processing of facial stimuli in the prosopagnosic patient LH is examined using the inversion effect and the face context effect. Our study asked how the deficit in individual face recognition is related to two perceptual abilities that are spared in this patient but between which there is interference when both are applied to the face stimulus, i.e. structural encoding of the face and parts-based matching procedures. Three experiments studied this relationship with task demands and stimulus properties designed to trigger the parts-based processes. In the first experiment, human and animal faces are presented upright or inverted with good performance only for the inverted condition. In Experiment 2 normals show a clear face context effect (matching of upright faces easier than scrambled or inverted ones) in the full face matching task whereas in the parts matching task the face superiority effect disappears. In contrast, LH shows a face inferiority effect when matching full faces but also when matching an isolated face part to a face part in a full face context. The results show that structural encoding of the face overrules parts-based procedures that could otherwise be helpful to tell individual faces apart.     

孤独症儿童面孔认知ERP的PrN170研究

目的：探讨孤独症儿童与普通儿童在面孔识别事件相关电位（ERP）的差异。方法：以中性表情的面孔以及物件照片为刺激材料,以儿童喜欢物件的照片作为靶刺激,采用32通道ERP仪,分别记录20名孤独症儿童与22名普通儿童的ERP,比较两类儿童在不同刺激下N170电位的前体（Pre—cursorN170,PrN170）成分。采用SPSS13．0进行数据处理分析。结果：孤独症儿童组按键任务反应时较普通儿童组长（P〈0．05）,正确率无差别（P〉0．05）;两组儿童在面孔刺激呈现后约220ms颞枕叶导联发现PrN170,两组问对于不同类型的图片刺激,PrN170电位波幅与潜伏期均未见差异（P〉0．05）。结论：孤独症儿童的面孔结构编码过程无显著异常。     

Issues and problems of adaptation of North Korean defectors to South Korean society: an in-depth interview study with 32 defectors

The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea is increasing rapidly. They are important people to South Korean society not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for their impact on the future Korean unification and the integration of the two different South and North Korean peoples. However, the defectors have experienced many difficulties in their adaptation to South Korean society due to their own characteristics and due to the misunderstandings of the South Korean people. To obtain comprehensive qualitative data about the characteristics and difficulties of North Korean defectors' adaptation to South Korean society, 58 semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 32 defectors who had entered South Korea from 1990 to 1997. Four categories of adaptation difficulties were encountered, which are related with the defectors' suspiciousness, different ways of thinking, searching for new sets of values, and with the prejudice of the South Korean people. Finally, three areas of suggestions for the more successful adaptation of the defectors to South Korean society were made; a need for more comprehensive perspectives on the defectors' adaptation, suggestions regarding educational programs and suggestions for educating the South Korean people.     

The P300 is sensitive to concealed face recognition

In two experiments, we investigated whether a P300 based Concealed Information Test (CIT) can be used to detect concealed face recognition. The results show that detection of concealed face recognition is highly successful when stimuli depict persons who are personally highly familiar, and instructions to conceal recognition are given. When pictures depict recognized, but personally less familiar faces, and no specific instructions to conceal recognition are given, detection is unsuccessful. These findings indicate that pictures of faces can be used in a P300 based CIT, and that mere recognition is not sufficient for successful detection of concealed information.     

Localization of word and face recognition memory using topographical EEG

The aim of this study was to explore the ability of epoch-averaged electroencephalogram (EEG) to localize cognitive functions. The EEG was recorded in healthy individuals performing a task where, on the basis of evidence from other functional brain imaging techniques, there was a high expectation of where functional changes would be expected. Topographical EEG was recorded while individuals performed recognition memory tasks for words and faces. Comparison of the acquisition and recognition phases of the experiment showed significant attenuation of alpha, betal, and beta2 in the right temporoparietal region for the faces but no significant changes for words. Left temporoparietal changes for the word task were only seen among the women. The results confirmed the validity of EEG for use in the localization of cognitive function for faces for men and women but in the case of words for the women only.