Holistic face recognition is an emergent phenomenon of spatial processing in face-selective regions

Abstract

Spatial processing by receptive fields is a core property of the visual system. However, it is unknown how spatial processing in high-level regions contributes to recognition behavior. As face inversion is thought to disrupt typical holistic processing of information in faces, we mapped population receptive fields (pRFs) with upright and inverted faces in the human visual system. Here we show that in face-selective regions, but not primary visual cortex, pRFs and overall visual field coverage are smaller and shifted downward in response to face inversion. From these measurements, we successfully predict the relative behavioral detriment of face inversion at different positions in the visual field. This correspondence between neural measurements and behavior demonstrates how spatial processing in face-selective regions may enable holistic perception. These results not only show that spatial processing in high-level visual regions is dynamically used towards recognition, but also suggest a powerful approach for bridging neural computations by receptive fields to behavior.

Radial bias in face identification

“…The notion of receptive fields is still relevant in higher level visual regions responding to complex shapes, as demonstrated by the study of the macaque's inferotemporal cortex (Gross et al, 1972;Ito et al, 1995;Op De Beeck & Vogels, 2000), although these receptive fields are much larger than in V1 (average size of 10° in Op De Beeck & Vogels, 2000). This organisation of the high-level visual cortex is also found in the human visual system in pRF mapping studies (Finzi et al, 2021;Majima et al, 2017;Poltoratski et al, 2021). However, since those studies typically estimate the size and position of these high-level receptive fields, but not their shape, it is unclear whether the radial, "daisy-like" organisation of the retina and early visual cortex is transmitted or even amplified in the high-level visual cortex.…”

Characteristic fixation biases in Super-Recognizers

“…Interestingly, a Bayesian foveated ideal observer model predicts a location just below the eyes as optimal for sampling identity information from the face ( Peterson & Eckstein, 2012 ), but such face-specific sampling biases nevertheless are not generally predictive of observers’ behavioral proficiency. Although most observers fixate close to this optimal location ( Peterson & Eckstein, 2012 ), deviations from this appear to reflect individually optimal behavior ( Peterson & Eckstein, 2013 ), either reflecting retinotopic tuning biases ( de Haas, Schwarzkopf, Alvarez, Lawson, Henriksson, Kriegeskorte, & Rees, 2016 ; de Haas, Sereno, & Schwarzkopf, 2021 ; Poltoratski, Kay, Finzi, & Grill-Spector, 2021 ) or prioritized processing of the facial information that is most diagnostic for a given observer ( Stacchi et al, 2019 ).…”

Facilitation and interference are asymmetric in holistic face processing

“…It is worth noting that the asymmetric facilitation and interference do not necessarily stem from distinctive neural mechanisms. For instance, they may reflect two dissimilar behavioral effects stemming from common spatial integration in face-selective cortical regions (Poltoratski et al, 2021). The specific divergent mechanisms leading to the dissimilar behavioral effects should be explored further.…”

“…The ability to make judgments about the human face is integral to human social interaction. Through the study of face perception and its underlying neural correlates, multiple face-related processing indicators have been uncovered, which have, in turn, deepened our understanding of face processing (e.g., Poltoratski et al, 2021). One of the most well-described theoretical constructs for face perception is holistic face processing; that is, the integrated processing of multiple facial parts (Farah et al, 1998;Hayward et al, 2013;Maurer et al, 2002;Rossion, 2013).…”