Work

Face shape and motion are perceptually separable: Support for a revised model of face processing

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: A recent model of face processing proposes that face shape and motion are processed in parallel brain pathways. Although tested in neuroimaging, the assumptions of this theory remain relatively untested through controlled psychophysical studies until now. Recruiting undergraduate students over the age of 18, we test this hypothesis using a tight control of stimulus factors, through computerized three-dimensional face models and calibration of dimensional discriminability, and of decisional factors, through a model-based analysis using general recognition theory (GRT). Theoretical links between neural and perceptual forms of independence within GRT allowed us to derive the a priori hypotheses that perceptual separability of shape and motion should hold, while other forms of independence defined within GRT might fail. We found evidence to support both of those predictions.

Source: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02470-y

Authors: Emily Renae Martin, Jason Scott Hays, Fabian Soto

Institution: Florida International University

Language: English

Topic: Face Recognition and Perception

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: Determining the independence of face dimensions through an extended multidimensional signal detection theory