Are inverted faces processed at a later stage?

Tom Busey , Bethany Schneider , Dean Wyatte , Jordan DeLong , Alex Burkhardt , Bosco Tjan
1 1 1 1 1 2

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

1

2
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Abstract: P1: Faces in High Contrast Across Two Noise Levels N170: Faces in High Contrast Across Two Noise Levels N170-P1: Faces in High Contrast Across Two Noise Levels
Previous work by Tjan, Lestou, and Kourtzi (2006) suggests that the relation between brain activity of a
cortical area and stimulus signal-to-noise ratio is a signature of the degree of feature invariance and feature com- Parallel slopes Inverted faces yield a Inverted faces yield a
plexity processed by the cortical area. In a cascade of decision stages, activity associated with later stages will pro- steeper slope steeper slope
duce a steeper response function for a given range of signal-to-noise ratios. We extend this work into the electro-
physiological domain by recording EEG responses to upright and inverted faces presented in various levels of am-
plitude-matched noise. We plot the activity of N170 component against the signal-to-noise ratio for upright and in-
verted faces and find that the slope of the function corresponding to inverted faces is steeper than that of upright
faces. This suggests that the N170 that corresponds to inverted faces represents activity in later processing stages.
This is consistent with a model in which upright faces are processed by an earlier stage, perhaps corresponding to
configural or holistic processing, which may explain why inverted faces have a larger and later N170 than upright
faces. We explore earlier time points and additional channels to characterize the development of this set of rela-
tions.

Introduction: P1: Faces in Low Contrast Across Two Noise Levels N170: Faces in Low Contrast Across Two Noise Levels N170-P1: Faces in Low Contrast Across Two Noise Levels

Modeling the time course of object processing Parallel slopes

Inverted faces yield a
Riesenhuber & Poggio (1999) present the visual stream as a hierarchy steeper slope Inverted faces yield a
of increasingly complex stages (Figure 1) steeper slope

Higher stages may account for specialized processes such as object

recognition and configural processing
Higher stages occur later (temporally) in the visual stream

Figure 1

Determining the effects of external noise on object processing in the visual stream
Tjan, Lestou, & Kourtzi (2006) used fMRI to track the relationship be-
Results: Conclusion:
tween BOLD response and SNR Steeper amplitude response function for inverted faces than upright faces across both contrast levels We examined the ERP response to upright and inverted faces presented in two levels of noise and two levels of
Found a steeper response function associated with later stages of visual contrast. We found that the amplitude response function for inverted faces is steeper than that of upright faces
Effect persists even when P100 is subtracted from N170 (equating for early visual differences due to contrast)
processing (Figure 2) which implies that inverted faces are processed by later stages than upright faces. This is contrary to previous re-
N170 corresponding to inverted faces represents processing in later visual stages search which states that upright faces are processed by later, higher-level mechanisms. We conclude that current
Findings agree with the idea that increasingly complex stimuli are proc-
N170 corresponding to upright faces represents processing in earlier visual stages models of object recognition may need to be reevaluated to accommodate these findings on configural processing.
essed by later areas in visual stream
Perhaps configural mechanisms are serving as a more efficient means of processing upright faces by allowing for
Question: How are these effects illustrated Discussion: shortcuts to be made in the encoding or processing stages. Future research aims to investigate whether the shal-
lower response function is maintained for other complex objects which will ultimately shed light on the mecha-
in ERP voltages for faces in noise?
Classical models of object recognition depict complex processing (such as configural processing) at later stages in nisms that facilitate the development of expertise.
the visual hierarchy
Upright faces should yield a steeper amplitude
response function than inverted faces, supporting Our data show a shallower slope for upright faces than for inverted faces
the idea that upright faces are processed by later, Configural processing of upright faces occurs earlier than lower-level featural processing Acknowledgements:
higher-order mechanisms
Classical models do not account for configural processing occurring earlier in the hierarchy This research was funded by NIJ 2005-MU-BX-K076 and NIH/NIA R01 AG022334 to Thomas Busey and NIH
Figure 2 EY016391 to Bosco Tjan.
The complexity of configural processing needs to be re-evaluated
Methods:
The ordering of visual processing may need to be re-evaluated to allow for some specialized complex process-
Upright and inverted faces were presented in a noise added or no High Contrast Low Contrast ing to occur earlier
noise condition and across two contrast levels: high and low No noise
Two possible theories:
References:
Noise SNR=1
Riesenhuber, M. & Poggio, T. (1999). Hierarchial models of object recognition in cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 1019-1025.
Phase scrambled to preserve total energy in the display 1) It is possible that some complex processing does not continue through the entirety of the visual stream
Noise added Tjan, B. S., Lestou, V., and Kourtzi Z (2006). Uncertainty and invariance in the human visual cortex.. Journal of
Resampled for every trial. which might allow for shortcuts to be made in the encoding or processing stages.
SNR=.43 Neurophysiology. 96, 1556-1568.
2) Specialized object recognition may be processed more efficiently through the visual stream.