The changing face of face research

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The changing face of face research

• Vicki Bruce
• School of Psychology
• Newcastle University

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and many, many more......
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Bruce Young (1986)
EXPRESSION ANALYSIS
STRUCTURAL ENCODING
FACIAL SPEECH ANALYSIS
FACE RECOGNITION UNITS
DIRECTED VISUAL PROCESSING
PERSON IDENTITY NODES
COGNITIVE SYSTEM
NAME GENERATION
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(Selective) developments since 1986

• Simple box and arrow outline replaced in 1990s
  by computer model Interactive Activation with
  Competition
• Much better ideas about the kinds of visual
  representations that form the core of the FRUS
  or equivalent
• Development of cognitive neuroscience models
  (Haxby and many others)
• Emergence of social cognition and central role
  played by gaze

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Simple box and arrow outline replaced in 1990s
by computer model Interactive Activation with
Competition
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Burton, Bruce and Johnston (1990)

• IAC - Interactive activation with competition (cf
  early McClelland Rumelhart)
• Pools of units for features, FRUs, PINS, SIUs
• Excitation between pools, inhibition within pools
• Familiarity decisions when PIN reaches threshold

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Provides good simulations of

• Repetition priming - via strengthened connections
  (so long-lasting, but not cross domain)
• Associative priming - via temporary activation
  (so short-lasting but crosses domains)
• Covert recognition in prosopagnosia
• Predicted face-name matching in patient ME

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Name retrieval in IAC?

• Burton and Bruce (1992) proposed names like other
  semantic information but with fewer connections.

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Name retrieval in IAC?

• This position, however, has not stood up to
  empirical test.
• E.g. Bredart et al (1995) showed that you were
  not slower (actually faster) to name people about
  whom you knew a lot rather than a little
  information.

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After Bredart et al (1995) QJEP
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Much better ideas about the kinds of visual
representations that form the core of the FRUS
or equivalent
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Burton, Bruce Hancock (1999)Cognitive Science

• IAC model of person recognition (familiar)
• FRUs driven by distributed reps - PCA
• Look at how model behaves in recognition and
  priming now using real faces as input.

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Data set

• 50 young men
• all captured in a neutral expression and 2 or
  3 other expressions
• In total
• 50 neutral faces 136 expressive faces

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Results
Face recognition Correct PIN identified
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Distinctiveness Human subjects rated neutral
versions of faces. (1typical,
15distinctive) Correlation between human rating
and cycles-to-reach-PIN - 0.31
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Semantic priming Pairs defined as sharing 2
semantic units Mean cycles to threshold for test
faces
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Repetition priming Procedure 1. Present prime
face 2. Cycle model Hebb update 3. ISI -
present lots more faces (c. 100) 4. Present test
face (same or different view) Mean cycles to
threshold for test faces
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Burton, Bruce Hancock, 1999
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How do we represent familiar faces?

• Just the average of each distinct image we see of
  them?
• See Burton, A.M., Jenkins, R., Hancock, P.J.B.
  White, D. (2005) Robust representations for face
  recognition The power of averages. Cognitive
  Psychology, 51 (3), 256-284
• Jenkins, R. Burton, A.M. (2008), Science, 319,
  p.435.

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Face Recognition Units?
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What about Face Space?

• Valentine (1991) and later
• Adaptation studies (Rhodes et al..)
• PCA dimensions can be thought of as forming the
  dimensions of face space (though this is not
  the only possible model)

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Development of cognitive neuroscience models
(Haxby)
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After Bruce Young (1986)
After Haxby et al, 2000
Diagram from Calder Young (2005)
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Are faces special?

• Or, is face recognition special?
• Innateness (congenital prosopagnosia, congenital
  cataracts suggest sensitive period)
• Localisation (FFA active even in congenital Ps)
• Specificity (still debated...)

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Exciting hot topics...Gaze

• Information from dynamic patterns
• Interactions between systems
• Gaze and social cognition certainly eyes are
  special..
• But why eyes?

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-dynamics -interactions -gaze!
Bruce Young (1986)
EXPRESSION ANALYSIS
STRUCTURAL ENCODING
FACIAL SPEECH ANALYSIS
FACE RECOGNITION UNITS
DIRECTED VISUAL PROCESSING
PERSON IDENTITY NODES
COGNITIVE SYSTEM
NAME GENERATION
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Eyes important for..Social reasons

• We look at other peoples eyes for
• Intimacy
• Control
• Regulating conversational turns etc

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Cognitive reasons

• We look at other peoples eyes to
• Mind-read (Baron-Cohen)
• Establish shared attention
• Dogs do this too..(Miklosi et al, 2003)
• Cant ignore what another person gazes at
• Gaze cuing
• But sometimes we must look away (gaze aversion)
• Different gaze patterns in different genetic
  learning disorders

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From D. Riby Hancock (2008) Neuropsychologia
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So, why eyes?

• We need to look at them/use them for other social
  and cognitive purposes
• They tell us about gaze and also other
  expressions
• They dont change when other facial features do.
• Probably explains why representations of familiar
  faces are weighted to the eyes.

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And if you dont want to be recognised?
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Summing up

• Bruce and Young (1986) mapped broad relationships
  between different processes of face perception.
• In past 25 years we have begun to understand the
  mechanisms.
• Social cognition is the new hot topic, and
  theres plenty left to learn.