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Reduced sensitivity to contrast signals from the eye region in developmental prosopagnosia
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Elsevier, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Contrast-related signals from the eye region are known to be important for the processing of facial identity. Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) have severe face recognition problems, which may be linked to deficits in the perceptual processing of identity-related information from the eyes. We tested this hypothesis by measuring N170 components in DP participants and age-matched controls in response to face images where the contrast polarity of the eyes and of other face parts was independently manipulated. In different trials, participants fixated either the eye region or the lower part of a face. In the Control group, contrast-reversal of the eyes resulted in enhanced and delayed N170 components, irrespective of the contrast of other face parts and of gaze location. In the DP group, these effects of eye contrast on N170 amplitudes were strongly and significantly reduced, demonstrating that perceptual face processing in DP is less well tuned to contrast information from the eye region. Inverting the contrast of other parts of the face affected N170 amplitudes only when fixation was outside the eye region. This effect did not differ between the two groups, indicating that DPs are not generally insensitive to the contrast polarity of face images. These results provide new evidence that a selective deficit in detecting and analysing identity-related information provided by contrast signals from the eye region may contribute to the face recognition impairment in DP.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Visual perception
genetic structures
Cognitive Neuroscience
media_common.quotation_subject
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Audiology
Electroencephalography
Eye
Facial recognition system
050105 experimental psychology
psyc
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Face perception
Perception
medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
media_common
Communication
medicine.diagnostic_test
business.industry
05 social sciences
Recognition, Psychology
Gaze
Prosopagnosia
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Face
Fixation (visual)
Visual Perception
Evoked Potentials, Visual
Female
business
Psychology
Photic Stimulation
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Facial identity
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00109452
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b920a3e27402fbe8eee9ccd2c29a827f