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Aftereffects with faces: Evidence for prototype referenced encoding of identity

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Leopold,  DA
Department Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;

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Bondar,  I
Department Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;

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Logothetis,  NK
Department Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Leopold, D., Bondar, I., & Logothetis, N. (2003). Aftereffects with faces: Evidence for prototype referenced encoding of identity. In N. Elsner, & H. Zimmermann (Eds.), The Neurosciences from Basic Research to Therapy: Proceedings of the 29th Göttingen Neurobiology Conference and the 5th Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society 2003 (pp. 124). Stuttgart, Germany: Thieme.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-4513-8
Abstract
We examined how the perception of face identity was influenced by prior exposure to a different face. We found that, following a few seconds of adaptation to one face, the
identity of a second face was systematically misperceived. This identity aftereffect
modulated perception in a manner consistent with a shift along a particular trajectory in multidimensional `face space'. This trajectory passed through the central tendency of all faces, and its direction thus defined a particular identity. The results suggested that the visual system considers the average prototype face to be a reference point in its representation
of faces, and led us to speculate that neural decoding of faces is a fundamentally
comparative process. Such a scheme might constitute a fast and economical storage
strategy for the brain to contend with a myriad of very similar shapes. With the aim of investigating this hypothesis more directly by neurophysiological methods, we recently
trained a monkey to perform the same task, again with human faces. We found that,
while the monkey's identification thresholds were slightly higher than the mean threshold
for humans, his perception was affected by adaptation in exactly the same way as
that of the human subjects. Finally I will report our initial neurophysiological findings,
obtained using implanted microelectrode bundles in the inferotemporal cortex.