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The face inversion effect is an important indicator of holistic face perception and reflects the developmental level of face processing. This study examined the face inversion effect in deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children aged 7–17 using the face dimensions task. This task uses photographic images of a face, in which configural and featural information in the eye and mouth regions have been parametrically and independently manipulated. The study aimed to discuss the effect of face inversion on facial processing in DHH children, including two aspects of information processing types (configural versus featural) and processing regions (eyes versus mouth) and compared the results with hearing children. The results revealed that DHH children aged 7–17 years exhibit significant face inversion effect, with disruptions observed in both the featural and configural processing of eyes and mouths when faces were inverted. Configural processing was more affected by inversion than featural processing in all children, with larger differences observed in DHH children than in hearing children. This supports the dual-mode hypothesis of holistic face processing. Age correlations were observed in the sensitivity of DHH children to face inversion effect but not among hearing children. The inversion effect of configural mouth processing decreases with age in DHH children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, we explored whether (and when) people cognitively process humanoid robot faces similarly to human faces, i.e., whether they cognitively anthropomorphize them. To investigate this, we conducted three experiments (N = 346) that utilized adapted versions of the face-scrambled task. This cognitive paradigm is commonly used to determine whether specific stimuli elicit configural processing, which is typical for human faces, or analytical processing, which is typical for nonhuman stimuli such as objects. Overall, our experiments revealed that robot faces may elicit configural processing (i.e., cognitive anthropomorphism), but this process is influenced by specific factors. Robot faces with high human-likeness are more strongly anthropomorphized than those with low human-likeness (Experiment 1). Additionally, this form of anthropomorphism emerges only when considering a first-order configural processing, but not when considering a second-order configural processing (Experiment 2). However, and most importantly, when the social categorization between humans and robots is lowered, the anthropomorphism of robot faces also emerges when considering a second-order configural processing (Experiment 3). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, with a particular focus on the interaction between higher and lower cognitive processes involved in the social perception of humanoid robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featural and configural information are the two main ways in which individuals process faces. Featural processing involves the recognition of local facial details, while configural processing involves the perception of spatial relationships between facial features. An increasing number of electrophysiological studies have shown differences in neural mechanisms, with the right hemisphere of the brain being more sensitive to configural faces than to featural faces. Configural and featural faces also elicit different ERP components, with the early ERP component being more sensitive to configural faces and the later ERP component being more sensitive to featural faces. Social information, such as facial expressions and race, can influence both types of processing, potentially due to differences in attention. However, it is unclear how featural and configural processing differ in terms of attention and how they are affected by facial social information. Gaze direction, as a key aspect of social attention, may play an important role in attracting attention during face processing. Further research is needed to explore the impact of eye gaze on different face processing mechanisms. This study used the N2pc component to investigate the differences in attention between configural and featural processing, as well as the impact of gaze direction, in a visual search task. The N2pc is believed to indicate the shift of attention to a target during visual search, and is measured by comparing the brain activity on the side of the target versus the opposite side. The study employed a 2 (target face type: configural, featural) 2 (eye gaze: direct, averted) within-subjects experimental design. Participants were asked to search for a specific target face in two blocks: one with configural faces and the other with featural faces, with gaze direction randomized within each block. For example, in the configural face target condition, participants had to identify one configural face among three featural faces in target-present trials. In target-absent trials, all four faces were featural faces. In both target-present and target-absent trials, all faces had averted or direct gaze. The results of the study showed that the N2pc component was elicited by the configural face, but not by the featural faces during the 260-360 ms. There was no impact of eye direction on this response. In terms of the N170 component, the featural face elicited a larger amplitude and earlier latency than the configural face. This advantage in processing featural faces was more pronounced in the averted gaze condition than in the direct gaze condition. The findings suggest that different types of faces can evoke different levels of attention, with configural faces more likely to attract spatial selective attention. This could be due to the faster processing of holistic information compared to feature information during face perception. The N170 component for featural faces was larger and occurred earlier than for configural faces, suggesting that the advantage in processing featural faces is evident in the stage of encoding facial structure information. Interestingly, the influence of gaze was only observed in the N170 component but not in the N2pc component. This may indicate that gaze can affect the processing of facial configuration and features, but this effect may change over time. At the face encoding stage represented by the N170 component, averted gaze faces were processed with higher priority compared to direct gaze faces, making it easier to differentiate between configural and featural faces. Consistent with previous research on social cues, while gaze direction can impact the processing of different types of faces, it does not affect the attention evoked by the faces themselves. Therefore, whether in averted or direct gaze conditions, only configural faces were able to elicit the N2pc component. In short, the current study has affirmed that the effect of gaze on configural and featural processing is not due to attentional changes, but rather by affecting the encoding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three experiments explored whether weakening temporal contiguity between auditory cues and an aversive outcome attenuated cue competition in an avoidance learning task with human participants. Overall, with strong temporal contiguity between auditory cues and the outcome during training (the offset of the predictive auditory signals concurred with the onset of the outcome), the target cue trained as part of a compound yielded less avoidance behaviour than the control cue trained alone, an instance of overshadowing. However, weakening temporal contiguity during training (inserting a 5-s trace) attenuated overshadowing, resulting in similar avoidance behaviour in response to the control and target cues. These results provide evidence that, as predicted by a recent modification of Pearce's configural theory, temporal contiguity is critical for determining cue competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. In particular, many autistic people exhibit poor face recognition. Here, we sought to determine whether autistic adults also show impaired perception of dyadic social interactions—a class of stimulus thought to engage face‐like visual processing. Our focus was the perception of interpersonal distance. Participants completed distance change detection tasks, in which they had to make perceptual decisions about the distance between two actors. On half of the trials, participants judged whether the actors moved closer together; on the other half, whether they moved further apart. In a nonsocial control task, participants made similar judgments about two grandfather clocks. We also assessed participants' face recognition ability using standardized measures. The autistic and nonautistic observers showed similar levels of perceptual sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance when viewing social interactions. As expected, however, the autistic observers showed clear signs of impaired face recognition. Despite putative similarities between the visual processing of faces and dyadic social interactions, our results suggest that these two facets of social vision may dissociate. Lay Summary: The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. It has recently been suggested that pairs of individuals shown facing each other—so‐called "facing dyads"—engage a form of visual processing similar to that recruited by faces. Given that many autistic people experience difficulties when asked to identify faces, we reasoned that autistic individuals may also make less accurate judgments about facing dyads. We examined whether groups of autistic and nonautistic participants differed in their ability to judge interpersonal distance—a key visual feature of facing dyads. Contrary to our hypothesis, the autistic and nonautistic participants displayed similar ability to detect changes in interpersonal distance. As expected, however, our autistic participants showed worse face recognition than our nonautistic participants. These findings suggest that the visual processing of faces may be selectively impaired in autism without affecting the perception of facing dyads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight studies (N = 2,561) reveal that how we perceptually process a person's face affects our capacity to understand their mind. Studies 1A and B indicate this relationship functions via two separate pathways: (a) indirectly by increasing our sensitivity to the cues of a mind in a face and (b) directly by changing the way we relate to the mind behind the face. Six additional studies adopt perspective taking paradigms to provide further support for a direct effect of configural processing on mentalization. Studies 2 and 3 find that processing faces configurally increases perspective taking on spatial tasks compared to processing faces featurally. Study 4 demonstrates configural face processing gives rise to inferences about the target's mental states such as beliefs and desires. Study 5 finds manipulation of a target's face that heightens configural processing increases perspective taking. Using a positive control, Study 6 demonstrates real-world consequences. Taken together, these findings document that the multiple and complex consequences of configural processing are critical to the social function of mentalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective Uncanniness plays a vital role in interactions with humans and artificial agents. Previous studies have shown that uncanniness is caused by a higher sensitivity to deviation or atypicality in specialized categories, such as faces or facial expressions, marked by configural processing. We hypothesized that asynchrony, understood as a temporal deviation in facial expression, could cause uncanniness in the facial expression. We also hypothesized that the effect of asynchrony could be disrupted through inversion. Results Sixty-four participants rated the uncanniness of synchronous or asynchronous dynamic face emotion expressions of human, android, or computer-generated (CG) actors, presented either upright or inverted. Asynchrony vs. synchrony expressions increased uncanniness for all upright expressions except for CG angry expressions. Inverted compared with upright presentations produced less evident asynchrony effects for human angry and android happy expressions. These results suggest that asynchrony can cause dynamic expressions to appear uncanny, which is related to configural processing but different across agents.

Objective: Uncanniness plays a vital role in interactions with humans and artificial agents. Previous studies have shown that uncanniness is caused by a higher sensitivity to deviation or atypicality in specialized categories, such as faces or facial expressions, marked by configural processing. We hypothesized that asynchrony, understood as a temporal deviation in facial expression, could cause uncanniness in the facial expression. We also hypothesized that the effect of asynchrony could be disrupted through inversion. Results: Sixty-four participants rated the uncanniness of synchronous or asynchronous dynamic face emotion expressions of human, android, or computer-generated (CG) actors, presented either upright or inverted. Asynchrony vs. synchrony expressions increased uncanniness for all upright expressions except for CG angry expressions. Inverted compared with upright presentations produced less evident asynchrony effects for human angry and android happy expressions. These results suggest that asynchrony can cause dynamic expressions to appear uncanny, which is related to configural processing but different across agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central to perceptual dehumanization theory (PDT) is the claim that full engagement of a putative module for the visual analysis of faces is necessary in order to recognize the humanity or personhood of observed individuals. According to this view, the faces of outgroup members do not engage domain-specific face processing fully or typically and are instead processed in a manner akin to how the brain processes objects. Consequently, outgroup members are attributed less humanity than ingroup members. To the extent that groups are perceptually dehumanized, they are hypothesized to be vulnerable to harm. In our article, we challenge several of the fundamental assumptions underlying this theory and question the empirical evidence in its favor. We begin by illustrating the extent to which the existence of domain-specific face processing is contested within the vision science literature. Next, we interrogate empirical evidence that appears to support PDT and suggest that alternative explanations for prominent findings in the field are more likely. In the closing sections of the article, we reflect on the broader logic of the theory and highlight some underlying inconsistencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncanny valley describes the typically nonlinear relation between the esthetic appeal of artificial entities and their human likeness. The effect has been attributed to specialized (configural) processing that increases sensitivity to deviations from human norms. We investigate this effect in computer-generated, humanlike android and human faces using dynamic facial expressions. Angry and happy expressions with varying degrees of synchrony were presented upright and inverted and rated on their eeriness, strangeness, and human likeness. A sigmoidal function of human likeness and uncanniness ("uncanny slope") was found for upright expressions and a linear relation for inverted faces. While the function is not indicative of an uncanny valley, the results support the view that configural processing moderates the effect of human likeness on uncanniness and extend its role to dynamic facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncanny valley describes the typically nonlinear relation between the esthetic appeal of artificial entities and their human likeness. The effect has been attributed to specialized (configural) processing that increases sensitivity to deviations from human norms. We investigate this effect in computer-generated, humanlike android and human faces using dynamic facial expressions. Angry and happy expressions with varying degrees of synchrony were presented upright and inverted and rated on their eeriness, strangeness, and human likeness. A sigmoidal function of human likeness and uncanniness (“uncanny slope”) was found for upright expressions and a linear relation for inverted faces. While the function is not indicative of an uncanny valley, the results support the view that configural processing moderates the effect of human likeness on uncanniness and extend its role to dynamic facial expressions.

Most recognition is based on identifying features, but specialization for face recognition in some taxa relies on a different mechanism, termed 'holistic processing' where facial features are bound together into a gestalt which is more than the sum of its parts. Although previous work suggests that extensive experience may be required for the development of holistic processing, we lack experiments that test how age and experience interact to influence holistic processing. Here, we test how age and experience influence the development of holistic face processing in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps. Previous work has shown that P. fuscatus use facial patterns to individually identify conspecifics and wasps use holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific faces. We tested face processing in three groups of P. fuscatus: young (1-week-old), older, experienced (2-weeks-old, normal experience), and older, inexperienced (2-weeks-old, 1 week normal social experience and 1 week social isolation). Older, experienced wasps used holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific faces. In contrast, older inexperienced wasps used featural rather than holistic mechanisms to discriminate between faces. Young wasps show some evidence of holistic face processing, but this ability was less refined than older, experienced wasps. Notably, wasps only required 2 weeks of normal experience to develop holistic processing, while previous work suggests that humans may require years of experience. Overall, P. fuscatus wasps rapidly develop holistic processing for conspecific faces. Experience rather than age facilitates the transition between featural and holistic face processing mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body inversion effects (BIEs) reflect the deployment of the configural processing of body stimuli. BIE modulates the activity of body-selective areas within both the dorsal and the ventral streams, which are tuned to low (LSF) or high spatial frequencies (HSF), respectively. The specific contribution of different bands to the configural processing of bodies along gender and posture dimensions, however, is still unclear. Seventy-two participants performed a delayed matching-to-sample paradigm in which upright and inverted bodies, differing for gender or posture, could be presented in their original intact form or in the LSF- or HSF-filtered version. In the gender discrimination task, participants' performance was enhanced by the presentation of HSF images. Conversely, for the posture discrimination task, a better performance was shown for either HSF or LSF images. Importantly, comparing the amount of BIE across spatial-frequency conditions, we found greater BIEs for HSF than LSF images in both tasks, indicating that configural body processing may be better supported by HSF information, which will bias processing in the ventral stream areas. Finally, the exploitation of HSF information for the configural processing of body postures was lower in individuals with higher autistic traits, likely reflecting a stronger reliance on the local processing of body-part details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most recognition is based on identifying features, but specialization for face recognition in primates relies on a different mechanism, termed 'holistic processing' where facial features are bound together into a gestalt which is more than the sum of its parts. Here, we test whether individual face recognition in paper wasps also involved holistic processing using a modification of the classic part-whole test in two related paper wasp species: Polistes fuscatus, which use facial patterns to individually identify conspecifics, and Polistes dominula, which lacks individual recognition. We show that P. fuscatus use holistic processing to discriminate between P. fuscatus face images but not P. dominula face images. By contrast, P. dominula do not rely on holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific or heterospecific face images. Therefore, P. fuscatus wasps have evolved holistic face processing, but this ability is highly specific and shaped by species-specific and stimulus-specific selective pressures. Convergence towards holistic face processing in distant taxa (primates, wasps) as well as divergence among closely related taxa with different recognition behaviour (P. dominula, P. fuscatus) suggests that holistic processing may be a universal adaptive strategy to facilitate expertise in face recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult observers are sensitive to the configuration of facial features within a face, able to distinguish between relative differences in feature spacing, and detecting deviations from typical facial appearance. How does the representation of the typical configuration of facial features develop? While there is a great deal of work describing children's developing abilities to detect differences in feature spacing across face images, there is substantially less work examining what children think constitutes a typical arrangement of facial features. In the current study, we investigated this issue using a production task in which adults and 5- to 10-year-old children created a face "portrait" by arranging the eyes, nose, and mouth of a standard face within an empty outline. Using this simple task, we found differences in face configuration across age groups, such that children of all ages made far larger errors than adult participants, expanding facial features outward from the center of the face more than adults. These results were not affected by face inversion, potentially implying a domain-general rather than face-specific process. We also found that children of all ages endorsed the correct configuration as a best likeness in a perceptual task. We discuss these results in terms of ongoing debate regarding the extent to which configural processing is a meaningful component of face recognition and the conclusions we can draw from production paradigms as compared to purely perceptual tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous reports suggest that East‐Asians may show larger face‐elicited N170 components in the ERP as compared to Caucasian participants. Since the N170 can be modulated by perceptual expertise, such group differences may be accounted for by differential experience, for example, with logographic versus alphabetic scripts (script system hypothesis) or by exposure to abundant novel faces during the immersion into a new social and/or ethnic environment (social immersion hypothesis). We conducted experiments in Hong Kong and Berlin, recording ERPs in a series of one‐back tasks, using same‐ and other‐ethnicity face stimuli in upright and inverted orientation and doodle stimuli. In Hong Kong we tested local Chinese residents and foreign guest students who could not read the logographic script; in Berlin we tested German residents who could not read the logographic script and foreign Chinese visitors. In both experiments, we found significantly larger N170 amplitudes to faces, regardless of ethnicity, in the foreign than in the local groups. Moreover, this effect did not depend on stimulus orientation, suggesting that the N170 group differences do not reflect differences in configural visual processing. A group of short‐term German residents in Berlin did not differ in N170 amplitude from long‐term residents. Together, these findings indicate that the extensive confrontation with novel other‐ethnicity faces during immersion in a foreign culture may enhance the neural response to faces, reflecting the short‐term plasticity of the underlying neural system. Our study demonstrates larger face‐elicited N170 amplitudes in individuals who had recently been immersed into novel ethnic environments as compared to local residents. Hence, the extensive confrontation with novel other‐ethnicity faces during exposure in a foreign culture may enhance the responsiveness of neural face processing systems. These findings offer novel insights into the effect of visual experience on face processing at times of globalization and increasing international exchange and interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deviating from human norms in human-looking artificial entities can elicit uncanny sensations, described as the uncanny valley. This study investigates in three tasks whether configural deviation in written text also increases uncanniness. It further evaluates whether the uncanniness of text is better explained by perceptual disfluency and especially deviations from specialized categories, or conceptual disfluency caused by ambiguity. In the first task, lower sentence readability predicted uncanniness, but deviating sentences were more uncanny than typical sentences despite being just as readable. Furthermore, familiarity with a language increased the effect of configural deviation on uncanniness but not the effect of non-configural deviation (blur). In the second and third tasks, semantically ambiguous words and sentences were not uncannier than typical sentences, but deviating, non-ambiguous sentences were. Deviations from categories with specialized processing mechanisms thus better fit the observed results as an explanation of the uncanny valley than ambiguity-based explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthy aging is associated with decline in social, emotion, and identity perception, which is frequently attributed to deterioration of structures involved in social inference. It is believed that this decline is unlikely to be a result of perceptual aberrations due to intact (corrected) visual acuity. Nevertheless, the present studies examine whether more particular perceptual aberrations may be present in healthy aging, that could in principle contribute to such difficulties. The present study examined the possibility that particular deficits in configural processing impair the perception of faces in healthy aging. Across two signal detection experiments, we required a group of healthy older adults and matched younger adults to detect changes in images of faces that could differ either at the local, featural level, or in configuration of these features. In support of our hypothesis, older adults were particularly impaired in detecting configural changes, relative to detecting changes in features. The impairments were found for both upright and inverted faces and were similar in a task with images of inanimate objects (houses). Drift diffusion modelling suggested that this decline related to reduced evidence accumulation rather than a tendency to make configural judgments based on less evidence. These findings indicate that domain-general problems processing configural information contribute to the difficulties with face processing in healthy aging, and may in principle contribute to a range of higher-level social difficulties - with implications also for other groups exhibiting similar patterns in perception and understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the age effect on face perceptual processing in MDD patients by analyzing the N170 component in response to faces and objects presented in upright and inverted conditions. For controls, although the N170 amplitude, overall, did not differ between young and middle-aged participants, the size of N170 inversion effect was larger for young than for middle-aged controls, but the N170 face effect was not influenced by age. For young participants, MDD patients showed N170 amplitude similar to controls and neither the N170 face effect nor the N170 inversion effect were influenced by depression. For middle-aged participants, MDD patients revealed larger N170 than did controls, and both the size of N170 inversion effect and the N170 face effect were larger for MDD patients than controls. These data indicate that, at least at the early stage of face perception, there is altered face perception inmiddle-aged but not in youngMDD patients. This research could provide new evidence for clinical assessment of cognitive function in MDD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether patients with MDD (major depressive disorder) have deficits in emotional face classification as well as the perceptual mechanism. We found that, compared with the control group, MDD patients exhibited slower speed and lower accuracy in emotional face classification. In normal controls, happy faces were classified faster than sad faces, i.e., positive classification advantage (PCA), which disappeared under the inverted condition. MDD patients showed PCA similar to the control group, although the inversion effects of happy and sad faces were more evident. These data suggest that the dysfunction of categorizing emotional faces in MDD patients could be due to general impairment in decoding facial expressions, reflecting the more common perceptual motion defects in face expression classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inferring humans' complex emotions is challenging but can be done with surprisingly limited emotion signals, including merely the eyes alone. Here, we test for a role of lower-level perceptual processes involved in such sensitivity using the well-validated Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. Over three experiments, we manipulated configural processing to show that it contributes to sensitivity to complex emotion from human eye regions. Specifically, inversion, a well-established manipulation affecting configural processing, undermined sensitivity to complex emotions in eye regions (Experiments 1-3). Inversion extended to undermine sensitivity to nonmentalistic information from human eye regions (gender; Experiment 2) but did not extend to affect sensitivity to attributes of nonhuman animals (Experiment 3). Taken together, the current findings provide evidence for the novel hypothesis that configural processing facilitates sensitivity to complex emotions conveyed by the eyes via the broader extraction of socially relevant information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that P1 and P2 components were more sensitive to configural and featural face processing, respectively, when attentional resources were sufficient, suggesting that face processing follows a coarse-to-fine sequence. However, the role of working memory (WM) load in the time course of configural and featural face processing is poorly understood, especially whether it differs during encoding and retrieval stages. This study employed a delayed recognition task with varying WM load and face spatial frequency (SF). Our behavioral and ERP results showed that WM load modulated face SF processing. Specifically, for the encoding stage, P1 and P2 were more sensitive to broadband SF (BSF) faces, while N170 was more sensitive to low SF (LSF) and BSF faces. For the retrieval stage, P1 on the right hemisphere was more sensitive to BSF faces relative to HSF faces, N170 was more sensitive to LSF faces than HSF faces, especially under the load 1 condition, while P2 was more sensitive to high SF (HSF) faces than HSF faces, especially under load 3 condition. These results indicate that faces are perceived less finely during the encoding stage, whereas face perception follows a coarse-to-fine sequence during the retrieval stage, which is influenced by WM load. The coarse and fine information were processed especially under the low and high load conditions, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To perceive, identify and understand the action of others, it is essential to perceptually organize individual and local moving body parts (such as limbs) into the whole configuration of a human body in action. Configural processing—processing the relations among features or parts of a stimulus—is a fundamental ability in the perception of several important social stimuli, such as faces or biological motion. Despite this, we know very little about how human infants develop the ability to perceive and prefer configural relations in biological motion. We present two preferential looking experiments (one cross-sectional and one longitudinal) measuring infants' preferential attention between a coherent motion configuration of a person walking vs. a scrambled point-light walker (i.e., a stimulus in which all configural relations were removed, thus, in which the perception of a person is impossible). We found that three-month-old infants prefer a coherent point-light walker in relation to a scrambled display, but both five- and seven-month-old infants do not show any preference. We discuss our findings in terms of the different perceptual, attentional, motor, and brain processes available at each age group, and how they dynamically interact with selective attention toward the coherent and socially relevant motion of a person walking during our first year of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that P1 and P2 components were more sensitive to configural and featural face processing, respectively, when attentional resources were sufficient, suggesting that face processing follows a coarse-to-fine sequence. However, the role of working memory (WM) load in the time course of configural and featural face processing is poorly understood, especially whether it differs during encoding and retrieval stages. This study employed a delayed recognition task with varying WM load and face spatial frequency (SF). Our behavioral and ERP results showed that WM load modulated face SF processing. Specifically, for the encoding stage, P1 and P2 were more sensitive to broadband SF (BSF) faces, while N170 was more sensitive to low SF (LSF) and BSF faces. For the retrieval stage, P1 on the right hemisphere was more sensitive to BSF faces relative to HSF faces, N170 was more sensitive to LSF faces than HSF faces, especially under the load 1 condition, while P2 was more sensitive to high SF (HSF) faces than HSF faces, especially under load 3 condition. These results indicate that faces are perceived less finely during the encoding stage, whereas face perception follows a coarse-to-fine sequence during the retrieval stage, which is influenced by WM load. The coarse and fine information were processed especially under the low and high load conditions, respectively.

The face inversion effect is an important indicator of holistic face perception and reflects the developmental level of face processing. This study examined the face inversion effect in deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children aged 7-17 using the face dimensions task. This task uses photographic images of a face, in which configural and featural information in the eye and mouth regions have been parametrically and independently manipulated. The study aimed to discuss the effect of face inversion on facial processing in DHH children, including two aspects of information processing types (configural versus featural) and processing regions (eyes versus mouth) and compared the results with hearing children. The results revealed that DHH children aged 7-17 years exhibit significant face inversion effect, with disruptions observed in both the featural and configural processing of eyes and mouths when faces were inverted. Configural processing was more affected by inversion than featural processing in all children, with larger differences observed in DHH children than in hearing children. This supports the dual-mode hypothesis of holistic face processing. Age correlations were observed in the sensitivity of DHH children to face inversion effect but not among hearing children. The inversion effect of configural mouth processing decreases with age in DHH children., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

In recent years, there has been growing interest in how we perceive dyadic interactions between people. It has been proposed that pairs of individuals shown upright and face-to-face recruit a form of configural processing, similar to that engaged by upright faces. This processing is thought to aid the detection and interpretation of social interactions. Dyadic arrangements shown back-to-back or upside-down are not thought to engage configural dyad processing. One of the key advantages conveyed by configural face processing is greater sensitivity to the spatial relationships between facial features when faces are viewed upright, than when viewed upside-down. If upright dyads arranged face-to-face engage similar configural processing that is not engaged by non-facing or inverted dyads, participants should therefore exhibit disproportionate sensitivity to the spatial relations between the constituent actors under these conditions. In four well-powered experiments, we find no evidence for this prediction: Participants exhibited similar levels of sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance regardless of whether dyads were shown upright or inverted, face-to-face, or back-to-back. In contrast, we observe clear evidence that upright presentation affords greater sensitivity to interfeature spatial relationships (interocular distance) when viewing faces. These results suggest that any configural processing engaged by upright facing dyads likely differs qualitatively from that engaged by upright faces., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. In particular, many autistic people exhibit poor face recognition. Here, we sought to determine whether autistic adults also show impaired perception of dyadic social interactions-a class of stimulus thought to engage face-like visual processing. Our focus was the perception of interpersonal distance. Participants completed distance change detection tasks, in which they had to make perceptual decisions about the distance between two actors. On half of the trials, participants judged whether the actors moved closer together; on the other half, whether they moved further apart. In a nonsocial control task, participants made similar judgments about two grandfather clocks. We also assessed participants' face recognition ability using standardized measures. The autistic and nonautistic observers showed similar levels of perceptual sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance when viewing social interactions. As expected, however, the autistic observers showed clear signs of impaired face recognition. Despite putative similarities between the visual processing of faces and dyadic social interactions, our results suggest that these two facets of social vision may dissociate., (© 2024 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The neural basis of configural processing has been extensively studied by exploiting face inversion during recognition, and growing evidence has revealed that word inversion also involves changes in configuration. However, the neural dynamics of face-like inversion effects remain unclear. Here, we tracked the temporal dynamics of neural responses that were sensitive to inversion during Chinese character recognition as they occurred during face recognition using multivariate decoding and temporal generalization analyses. We recorded magnetoencephalography while participants performed a one-back task for faces, compound characters, and simple characters with upright and inverted orientations. We showed that the inversion effect (inverted versus upright) can be decoded at occipitotemporal sensors for all stimulus types over and across time points, with a stronger impact on faces and compound characters than on simple characters. The inversion effect occurred earlier and lasted longer for faces than for characters, and the effect was also stronger for compound characters than for simple characters. Finally, we demonstrated inversion effects in the event-related field for all stimulus types and identified their sources in the ventral occipitotemporal areas. Overall, this study provides novel evidence for the temporal dynamics of the face-like inversion effect occurring during Chinese character recognition., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Prosopagnosia or loss of face perception and recognition is still poorly understood and rare single cases of acquired prosopagnosia can provide a unique window on the behavioural and brain basis of normal face perception. The present study of a new case of acquired prosopagnosia with bilateral occipito-temporal lesions but a structurally intact FFA and OFA investigated whether the lesion overlapped with the face network and whether the structurally intact FFA showed a face selective response. We also investigated the behavioral correlates of the neural findings and assessed configural processing in the context of facial and non-facial identity recognition, expression recognition and memory, also focusing on the face-selectivity of each specific deficit. The findings reveal a face-selective response in the FFA, despite lesions in the face perception network. At the behavioural level, the results showed impaired configural processing for facial identity, but not for other stimulus categories and not for facial expression recognition. These findings challenge a critical role of the FFA for face identity processing and support a domain-specific account of configural processing., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)