Spotlight on Research: What's in (Half) a Face?

In the School of Psychology's new Spotlight on Research section, we focus on recent research conducted by Dr Darren Burke at our Ourimbah campus (pictured partly and wholly below!): 

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When we recognise someone, we integrate information from across their face into a perceptual whole, and do so using a specialised brain region. Recognising other kinds of objects does not engage such specific brain areas, and is achieved in a much more parts-based way.

In a recent review of the literature, we (Burke & Sulikowski, 2013) investigated how this face-specific mode of perception may have evolved by examining the evidence for face-based holistic processing in other species. A surprisingly wide variety of other animals can recognise each other from their “face”, but for most of these there is either evidence that they don’t do this “holistically” (dogs are an example) or insufficient evidence to claim that they do (typically because the experiments are poorly designed).

There is good evidence that some species of monkey are as affected by turning the face upside down as humans are (which is one index of holistic processing), and one species of monkey (Rhesus macaques) also show evidence of the “composite effect”. The composite effect refers to the fact that people find it difficult to recognise the top half of a face if it is shown lined up with the bottom half of a different face, because we can’t help integrating the two halves into a new whole. People have trouble recognising other primate faces when they are upside down, but only show the composite effect for human faces.

We also suggested that the original evolutionary origin of special holistic face processing might not be to recognise who’s who. There are actually lots of other sources of evolutionary important information in faces that require holistic integration. For example, detecting symmetry, and masculinity/femininity is important for mate-choice decisions, and subtle variations in facial configurations underpin many non-verbal communicative signals.

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For more information about this work, please see the following journal article:

Burke, D., & Sulikowski, D. (2013). The Evolution of Holistic Processing of Faces Frontiers in Psychology, 4 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00011

or contact Dr Darren Burke at Darren.Burke@newcastle.edu.au

Colloquium Presentation: Dr. Vinh Nguyen, on how we perceive faces.

The School of Psychology is proudly hosting a talk by:

Dr. Vinh Nguyen

Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld.

Title: Fusing concurrent EEG-fMRI data: Application to correlation and connectivity during face perception

Date: Thursday 11^th April 2013, 12-1pm in Keats Reading Room (AVLG17) (video streaming to AV3 in the Ourimbah library)

If you would like to meet with Dr. Nguyen, please contact A/Prof Frini Karayanidis (frini.karayanidis@newcastle.edu.au).

Abstract: Despite the wealth of research on face perception, the interactions between core regions in the face-sensitive network of the visual cortex are not well understood. In particular, the link between neural activity measured by fMRI and EEG is not well established. I will present studies using a trial-by-trial correlation and dynamic causal modelling (DCM) as a data fusion approach to integrate concurrently acquired EEG and fMRI signals during the perception of faces. First, we introduce a method for single-trial estimation of N170 amplitudes and correlation of the trial-by-trial variation in N170 neural responses with fMRI. For upright faces, BOLD responses in the right superior temporal sulcus (STS) were negatively correlated with N170 amplitudes. For inverted faces, a medial region of the medial fusiform gyrus (mFG) was positively correlated with N170 amplitudes. Second, the DCM analysis suggests that the occipital face area (OFA) acted as a central gatekeeper directing visual information to the superior temporal sulcus, the fusiform face area (FFA) and to the mFG. The connection from the OFA and the STS was enhanced on trials in which N170 amplitudes to upright faces were large. In contrast, the connection from the OFA to the mFG was enhanced for inverted faces, and the enhancement was even stronger in trials in which the N170 amplitudes were small. The FFA, on the other hand, provides feedback connection to the OFA, and integrates connection from both the OFA and STS for holistic face processing. Together, these results suggest that trial-by-trial variation in neural activity at around 170 ms, reflected in the N170 component, reflects the relative engagement of the OFA to STS/FFA network over the OFA to mFG object processing network for face perception

Bio: Vinh is a PhD student of the Cunnington lab at the Queensland Brain Institute. Before joining QBI, Vinh did his computer science undergraduate degree at the University of Newcastle from 2004 to 2008. During his undergraduate program, Vinh worked as a research assistant for the ASRB project, then did his Honours project with A/Prof Frans Henskens on the development of an automatic MRI segmentation method. He graduated the computer science degree with first class honours and won a University medal. Vinh moved QBI in 2009 to pursue his PhD under the supervision of A/Prof Ross Cunnington and Prof Michael Breakspear. His project is looking at combining EEG and fMRI techniques to correlate the high temporal information of EEG signals with high spatial resolution of fMRI signals. 

Colloquium Presentation: Dr. Sylvie Graf, on the shaping of social attitudes.

The School of Psychology is proudly hosting a talk by:

Dr. Sylvie Graf

Postdoctoral Fellow

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Title: Prevalent Positive and Prominent Negative Contact with Outgroup Members Maintain Outgroup Attitudes

Date: Thursday 28^th March 2013, 12-1pm in Keats Reading Room (AVLG17) (video streaming to AV3 in the Ourimbah library)

If you would like to meet with Dr. Graf, please contact Dr. Mark Rubin (mark.rubin@newcastle.edu.au).

Abstract: The talk introduces research on the effect of intergroup contact on outgroup attitudes that has been developed with Stefania Paolini and Mark Rubin during my research visit at the University of Newcastle. In this study, we aimed to resolve a contradiction in contemporary intergroup contact literature. While one stream of research emphasizes the role of contact in prejudice reduction (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006), another warns against the higher prominence of negative contact in increasing prejudice (Barlow et al., 2012; Paolini, Harwood, & Rubin, 2010). We argue that the effect of contact on prejudice can be understood only when relative prevalence of positive and negative contact experience and their prominence in shaping outgroup attitudes are considered simultaneously. Using an ecologically valid approach, we show that although negative contact is more prominent in shaping outgroup attitudes, the less influential positive contact occurs more frequently. Our findings imply that the prevalence of positive contact compensates for the prominence of negative contact on outgroup attitudes, making these attitudes possibly difficult to change via contact effects.

Bio: Dr Sylvie Graf is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Her research in the psychology of intergroup relations focuses on intergroup contact and attitudes, stereotypes, and the use of language in intergroup context. At the University of Newcastle, she cooperates with Dr Stefania Paolini and Dr Mark Rubin on determining the interplay between intergroup contact, intergroup attitudes, and personality. Her research visit is partly supported by the University of Newcastle’s Emerging Research Leadership Program awarded to Dr Mark Rubin and Dr Stefania Paolini.

Colloquium Talk: Prof. Peter Howe, on Cognition, Health and Nutrition

The School of Psychology is proudly hosting a talk by Prof. Peter Howe

University of Newcastle, and University of South Australia

Title: Vasoactive Nutrients and Brain Function

Date: Thursday 14th March 2013, 12-1pm in Keats Reading Room (AVLG17) (video streaming to AV3 in the Ourimbah Library)

If you would like to meet with Dr. Howe, please contact A/Prof Frini Karayanidis (frini.karayanidis@newcastle.edu.au).

Abstract: Increasing evidence links cardiovascular disease with cognitive decline and depression and it appears that endothelial dysfunction may be a primary pathogenic link. Flow mediated dilatation, a surrogate measure of endothelial function which is impaired in obesity and metabolic syndrome, is inversely related to cognitive performance. Certain nutrients can improve flow mediated dilatation following ingestion. We have observed sustained improvements with regular consumption of marine omega-3 fatty acids, cocoa flavanols, isoflavones and resveratrol and postulate that these vasoactive nutrients may deliver not only cardiovascular but also mental health benefits. We have shown improvements in mood and/or cognition following chronic supplementation with soy isoflavones and omega-3 and we are now using transcranial Doppler ultrasound to explore the link between cognitive effects of nutrients and endothelial function in cerebral arteries. This new approach is enabling us to identify nutrients with the potential to sustain mental health in an ageing population and to optimize both mood and cognitive performance under demanding conditions, such as extreme duress or prolonged fatigue.

Bio: Peter is Professor of Nutrition Research at both the University of Newcastle and University of South Australia and heads the newly formed cross-institutional Clinical Nutrition Research Centre. An authority on health benefits of omega-3 and other bioactive nutrients, Peter has built partnerships with the food industry to develop functional foods and has contributed to food regulatory policy in Australia. He established the Smart Foods Centre at Wollongong and the Nutritional Physiology Research Centre in Adelaide. He is a Fellow of the Nutrition Society of Australia and Editor-in-Chief of Nutrients.

Visiting Researcher Presentation

 
Dr Stefan Bode 
Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne 

Title: Decoding decisions and post-decision errors from multivariate patterns of fMRI and EEG activity 

Time: Monday 25 February, noon 

Location: Keats Room, Psychology Building (former Aviation Building)

Brief Bio

Dr Bode completed his PhD in the Department of Attention & Awareness at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and the Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, in Germany under the supervision of Prof Haynes. Since 2009, he has held post-doctoral positions at the University of Melbourne, first with Prof Philip Smith and then with Prof Gary Egan. He now heads the Decision Neuroscience Lab at Melbourne University

He has had extensive fMRI, TMS and EEG experience at Leipzig and Melbourne, and his current work extends the capabilities of these methodologies (while making it sound ever so simple.. ). He has published in high impact cognitive neuroscience journals in areas including mental rotation, visual attention, decision processes and task preparation.

Abstract 
How does the human brain accomplish decision-making? Decisions – whether rule-based, perceptual, internally driven, or economic – often have categorical outcomes. I will illustrate how multivariate pattern classification approaches (MVPA) for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) data can shed light on neural mechanisms of decision-making by directly predicting choice outcomes from patterns of brain activation. First, I will provide an example of how decision rules can be decoded from prefrontal and parietal cortex using fMRI. I will then show how this method can be used to predict perceptual decisions under high and low discriminability, even when stimuli do not provide discriminative information. Under extremely low discriminability, perceptual guessing decisions resemble so-called “free decisions”, and their underlying activation patterns in parietal brain regions can become highly similar. Furthermore, novel MVPA methods based on event-related potentials (ERPs) allow linking of zero-discriminability perceptual decisions and pre-stimulus brain activity that could reflect the starting point setting in an evidence accumulation model framework. I will then extend this approach to the analysis of post-decision neural processes and show that ERP-based MVPA can also predict decision errors from brain signals after a decision is made but prior to response execution. Finally, I will give examples of MVPA applications to economic decision-making and show how consumer choices and financial decisions can be predicted from brain activity using fMRI. In conclusion, multivariate pattern classification provides a powerful tool for decoding the content of mental processes from brain activity and can be used for the analysis of both fMRI and EEG data. This, in turn, provides a basis for an advanced investigation and a better understanding of the neural processes underlying human decision-making.

 

Dr Bode’s visit is hosted by A/Prof Frini Karayanidis – please contact frini.karayanidis@newcastle.edu.au if you’d like to meet with Stefan individually, join us for lunch after the talk or for dinner on Monday night.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year all and welcome to the School of Psychology's first newsline post for 2013. During the semester, we will be adding approximately two posts a week to keep people up-to-date about the latest news in the School, including colloquia, student presentations, research publications and grants, scholarships, employment opportunities, and other events in the School. Each time we make a post on the blog, you will receive an e-mail containing the information that we have posted.

If you find that you are not interested in the content, then you may unsubscribe by scrolling to the bottom of the next e-mail that you receive from the blog and clicking on “unsubscribe now”.