Individual differences in classification images of Mooney faces. 2022

Teresa Canas-Bajo, and David Whitney
Vision Science Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Human face recognition is robust even under conditions of extreme lighting and in situations where there is high noise and uncertainty. Mooney faces are a canonical example of this: Mooney faces are two-tone shadow-defined images that are readily and holistically recognized despite lacking easily segmented face features. Face perception in such impoverished situations-and Mooney face perception in particular-is often thought to be supported by comparing encountered faces to stored templates. Here, we used a classification image approach to measure the templates that observers use to recognize Mooney faces. Visualizing these templates reveals the regions and structures of the image that best predict individual observer recognition, and they reflect the underlying internal representation of faces. Using this approach, we tested whether there are classification images that are consistent from session to session, whether the classification images are observer-specific, and whether they allow for pattern completion of holistic representations even in the absence of an underlying signal. We found that classification images of Mooney faces were indeed non-random (i.e., consistent session from session) within each observer, but they were different between observers. This result is in line with previously proposed existence of face templates that support face recognition, and further suggests that these templates may be unique to each observer and could drive idiosyncratic individual differences in holistic face recognition. Moreover, we found classification images that reflected information within the blank regions of the original Mooney faces, suggesting that observers may fill in missing information using idiosyncratic internal information about faces.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007206 Individuality Those psychological characteristics which differentiate individuals from one another. Individual Differences,Difference, Individual,Differences, Individual,Individual Difference
D008029 Lighting The illumination of an environment and the arrangement of lights to achieve an effect or optimal visibility. Its application is in domestic or in public settings and in medical and non-medical environments. Illumination
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000066499 Facial Recognition Ability to identify an individual from their facial features. Face Emotion Perception,Face Emotion Processing,Face Emotion Recognition,Face Processing,Face Recognition,Facial Emotion Recognition,Facial Expression Recognition,Facial Identity Recognition,Face Perception,Emotion Perception, Face,Emotion Processing, Face,Emotion Recognition, Face,Emotion Recognition, Facial,Expression Recognition, Facial,Identity Recognition, Facial,Perception, Face,Perception, Face Emotion,Processing, Face,Processing, Face Emotion,Recognition, Face,Recognition, Face Emotion,Recognition, Facial,Recognition, Facial Emotion,Recognition, Facial Expression,Recognition, Facial Identity
D021641 Recognition, Psychology The knowledge or perception that someone or something present has been previously encountered. Familiarity,Psychological Recognition,Recognition (Psychology),Psychology Recognition,Recognition, Psychological
D035501 Uncertainty The condition in which reasonable knowledge regarding risks, benefits, or the future is not available.

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