Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Prof. Greg Francis 1/2/13CosmeticsIt makes sense for people to interpret faces this way, because it reflects truedifferences between male and female facesMore so than men, the eyes and mouth of women tend to be darker than their skinCosmeticsContrast alone is enough to modify femininity (most neurons in the visual systemare sensitive to contrast)The two images have the same skin luminance, but the one on the right has darkermouth and eye regionsWomen wearing cosmetics have greater contrast than women not wearingcosmetics (Russell, 2009)Purdue UniversityPurdue UniversityFacial agnosiaSome people (maybe 3% of the population) cannot recognize faces or reademotions from facesFamous faces test:Prosopagnosiahttp://www.faceblind.org/facetests/index.phpMany people have it all their lives but do not realize it Recognize people by characteristics other than facesCannot recognize themselves in a photograph by face aloneThey know there are different faces, but they all look the sameWith fMRI, we can identify placesin the brain that responddifferently to faces compared toother stimuliThis image looks like a youngman with a cap in profile There is a set of images like this(called Mooney images)FMRI of facesPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityInverting the image changesthe percept dramaticallyWhat happens in the brain?fMRI scan while viewing eachtypeSubtract responses to find thedifference map There should be activity thatis present when seeing a facebut not present when notseeing a face Activity at other visual areasshould be similarFMRI controlfMRIStronger responses to facesFusiform Face Area (FFA) Region in the fusiform gyrus Region of the temporal lobe Especially in right hemispherePurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 3