Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed Dec. 5, 2007). PDF text: 99 p. : ill. ; 5 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3271910. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

A set of empirical studies is presented that examines the relationship between face perception, the modular hypothesis of cognitive function proposed by Fodor (1983), and attention. In the first study, two different manipulations were used to examine whether faces automatically trigger holistic processing operations as measured by the composite effect. The results support a modular account of face perception. / The second study introduces a novel rivalry phenomenon produced by overlapped upright tilted faces. The results indicate that this effect is dependent upon orientation with overlapped inverted faces being perceived as ambiguous in a majority of trials. The third study further examined the factors underlying this rivalry effect. It was found that contrast reversal did not influence the rivalry effect produced by overlapped upright faces and that overlapped houses did not produce rivalry. Results from both studies were taken as evidence that faces are more readily processed as Gestalts compared to other complex objects and therefore engage domain specific operations. The results also suggest that fast operations underlie perception of a face as a Gestalt. Finally, it was suggested that the rivalry effect produced by overlapped faces may illustrate informational encapsulation in face perception. / In the fourth study, faces were used to investigate the relationship between attention and modular functions. Three separate experiments showed that faces and houses compete for attention. This finding suggests that the face perception module does not have its own dedicated attentional resources but rather shares a common pool with other visual processes. Results from one experiment also suggested an advantage for faces in the allocation of attention at very short presentation times. This advantage was postulated to arise from two interacting mechanisms that is, faces capture attention over other objects and faces are more automatically encoded than other objects. Together, these studies indicate that a modular conceptualization of face processing is both appropriate and useful. They also demonstrate the utility of faces for investigating cognitive mechanisms that mediate modular functions.

What is meant by configural and holistic processing? The present project attempts to answer this question by formalizing configural and holistic processing as interactive processing of face parts. Four face images were created from one main face by varying the eye distance and nose length of the face to yield a 2x2 feature-complete factorial combination set of stimuli. Participants viewed each version of the face for 100 msecs, and then identified the face they saw. Their responses were subjected to multidimensional signal detection analysis to obtain estimates of different types of perceptual interactions defined by General Recognition Theory (Ashby & Townsend, 1986). It is shown here that perception of upright faces exhibits a number of interactions that are not present for inverted faces. The nature of these interactions are linked to concepts of holistic and configural face processing. A computational justification is forwarded for this interactivity account of face processing.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Given the importance of correctly perceiving and remembering faces for successful social interaction, face processing is one of the most widely studied cognitive domain in behavioral, neurophysiological and neuroimaging research, particularly, based on a group-mean approach. However, above mean differences, inter- and intra-individual variability in face processing provide valuable information for investigating the underlying mechanisms and binding the behavioral and neural substrates for better understanding of face processing.. In my dissertation I investigated the biological mechanisms underlying face cognition from an inter- and intra-individual variability perspective at the genetic, neural, and behavioral levels. The neural activities related to face processing are measured by event-related potentials (ERPs) and their trial-by-trial latency variability are estimated using a novel and well-established method, Residue Iteration Decomposition (RIDE).. Study 1 demonstrates the reliability of RIDE in extracting single-trial parameters of the P3b component, which is used in the investigation of the neural basis of intra-subject variability (ISV) in face processing speed in Study 2. In the Study 2, individual differences in ISV of face processing speed, measured at both behavioral and neural levels during a face processing task, are studied in their genetic variation. The results suggest that individual differences in ISV are related not only to the COMT Val158Met polymorphism, but also to the type of cognitive processing (e.g., memory domain). Moreover, we showed that ISV in reaction time can be partially explained by ISV in the speed of central cognitive processes.. Furthermore, the individual differences approach in Study 3, provided valuable and novel information beyond the common group-mean approach applied in the N1/N170-related research. Based on this approach, not only we could replicate previous findings that the N170 predicts individual differences in face cognition abilities, but also we could decompose individual differences in the N170 into a domain-general and a face-specific part with different predictive powers. Moreover, we showed that top-down modulations on the N170 have separable and qualitatively different relationships to face cognition abilities.. In summary, the integrated results from different studies in my dissertation demonstrate the psychological importance of the information provided by inter- and intra-individual variability in face processing in the investigation of its underlying biological mechanisms.

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Studies in face perception often use androgynous faces as a tool. The common assumption about androgynous faces is that they lie at the halfway point of a continuum that features "male" and "female" at the extremes. However, this definition has not been verified by research. This thesis uses a variety of methods, with an emphasis on data-driven methods, to test common assumptions about androgynous faces. Chapter 2 compared morphed faces, which were created using the common definition of facial androgyny, to naturally androgynous faces. Although the two groups were rated as equally androgynous, the naturally androgynous faces were rated as significantly more feminine. Chapter 3 focused on understanding androgynous face perception while minimizing prior assumptions. In a series of experiments, participants handled androgyny-related tasks and stimuli in a way that was qualitatively and quantitatively different than their gendered counterparts. Overall, these results suggest androgyny as a category cannot be accurately summarized as halfway between male and female and that a more nuanced approach to studying face gender is needed. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. David C. Banks, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Computer Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 27, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.