Israel Nachson

On the modularity of face recognition: The riddle of domain specificity

The present paper focuses on the modular attributes of face recognition, defined in terms of domain specificity. Domain specificity is examined by looking into the innate nature of face recognition, the special effects related to the recognition of inverted faces, the specificity of electrophysiological responsivity to facial stimuli, and the specific impairment in face recognition associated with localized brain damage. Converging evidence from these sources seems to consistently show that face recognition is not qualitatively unique, as it proceeds in a manner similar to the recognition of other visuospatial objects. However, it seems to be special in that it may involve specific mechanisms dedicated to face recognition. Among infants, differential responsivity to faces and to other objects in terms of age of onset, attraction and course of development, seems to indicate the operation of a special process. Unusual inversion effects in face recognition might be due to the special expertise that humans develop for recognizing upright faces. Face-selective single unit responses in the monkeys brain implies the existence in the visual system of cells which are exclusively dedicated to the processing of facial stimuli. Finally, in prosopagnosia localized brain damage is linked to a specific inability to recognize familiar faces. Taken together, the data seem to show that some elements in the process of face recognition are domain specific, and in that sense, modular.

Effects of Directional Habits and Handedness on Aesthetic Preference for Left and Right Profiles

Are aesthetic preferences associated with directional reading/writing habits or with cerebral laterality? To answer this question, 138 right-handed and non-right-handed Arabic, Hebrew, and Russian readers were presented with pairs of facial and bodily profiles; one member of each pair was turning to the left, and the other was turning to the right. The participants determined their aesthetic preferences for one member of each pair. If aesthetic preferences are associated with laterality, differential preferences were expected for right-handers and non-right-handers. However, if these preferences are linked to reading/writing habits, differential preferences were expected for Arabic and Hebrew readers who read and write from right to left and Russian readers who read and write from left to right. Data analyses showed that Arabic and Hebrew readers preferred both facial and bodily profiles that turned to the right, whereas Russian readers preferred the profiles that turned to the left. The data were interpreted as showing that aesthetic preferences are associated primarily with reading/writing habits.

Collaborative remembering of emotional events: The case of Rabin's assassination

Individual and collaborative remembering of the assassination of Israels Prime Minister, Itzhak Rabin, were compared. In line with previous laboratory findings on memory of neutral stimuli, it was hypothesised that collaborative remembering (three individuals reaching a common response) and nominal remembering (three individual responses pooled together) of the assassination would be more accurate than individual remembering. A total of 146 participants responded (115 individually and 120 in groups of three) to open-ended and multiple-choice questionnaires (among them, 89 responded twice with a week of intertest interval) about Rabins assassination and the events that preceded and followed it. Data analysis showed that the collaborative responses to the open-ended questionnaire contained more details (both accurate and inaccurate) than the individual responses, and that the responses to the multiple-choice questionnaire were more accurate than the individual responses. However, the collaborative responses contained fewer details (both accurate and inaccurate) than the nominal responses. Responses to the two questionnaires were more accurate on the retest when they followed collaborative rather than individual responses on the original test. The inferiority of the collaborative relative to the nominal remembering was attributed to collaborative inhibition, whereas the positive effect of collaborative remembering on performance on the retest was attributed to the contribution of contextual cues.

The contribution of external and internal features to the matching of unfamiliar faces

The relative efficacy of external and internal features in matching unfamiliar faces was studied in three experiments in which the subjects matched target and test faces differing in terms of external or internal features, or both. In Experiment 1 only full congruency between target and test faces was considered a match; in Experiments 2 and 3 faces sharing the same external and internal features were also considered to be matches. A total of 100 subjects matched 192 pairs of target and test faces in a “same-different” task. Reaction times and matching errors were recorded for analyses of variance. In all three experiments performance was best when either all features matched or all features mismatched, with mismatches having a slight edge. When matches of external and internal features with the target faces were inconsistent with each other, mismatches of external features led to faster responses in Experiments 1 and 2, and mismatches of internal features led to faster responses in Experiment 3. The results suggest that since faces are configurational stimuli, face matching is influenced by the non-relevant set of features; and that mismatches, especially of external features, influence face matching more than matches do.

Distinctiveness in flashbulb memory: Comparative analysis of five terrorist attacks

The purpose of the present study was to find out whether a series of terrorist attacks, which share some common features, elicit flashbulb memories (of the personal circumstances in which the person first learned about these events) that are usually elicited by a single, unexpected, surprising, and personally important event. A total of 131 participants answered questions regarding details of five terrorist attacks that had taken place in Israel during the years 1995–1997. In addition, they assessed, for each of the five events, the number of overt rehearsals, and the degrees of emotional intensity, surprise, novelty, personal importance, and distinctiveness. Data analyses showed that most variables that are usually associated with the formation of flashbulb memories were also found in memories of the terrorist attacks that were judged by the participants as being distinctive. Distinctiveness may therefore be considered an important factor in the formation of flashbulb memories.

Effect of inversion on the recognition of external and internal facial features

The purpose of the present study was to find out whether inversion affects recognition of external and internal facial features. 24 participants matched, under two experimental conditions (pair and multiple-choice matchings), upright target faces with three categories of facial test stimuli: full faces, external features and internal features, which were presented in either upright or inverted orientations. Data analysis showed that matching of facial stimuli was faster, more accurate and more consistent under upright than under inverted orientations for all stimulus categories; mostly for full faces, and least for internal features. As a rule, there were no speed-accuracy trade-offs. Implications of the data for accounts of the inversion effect in face recognition in terms of a shift from configurational to componential processing were discussed.

Impairments in Judgment of Chimeric Faces by Schizophrenic and Affective Patients

The hypothesis that schizophrenic and affective patients have differential impairments in judgment of facial emotional expressions was tested on 55 right-handed patients: 15 in each of two groups of schizophrenic patients, with positive and negative symptoms; and 10 in each of two groups of bipolar affective patients, in manic and depressive states. In addition, 37 normal control subjects were also tested. The subjects were presented with eight schematic drawings of chimeric faces (each depicting a positive emotion in a given hemiface, and a negative emotion in the other hemiface), as well as with two drawings of composite faces (each depicting either a positive or a negative emotion). Subjects judged the emotions depicted by the facial expressions, as well as their intensity. The data, analyzed by analyses of variance, showed that normals judged the chimeric expressions on the basis of the emotions depicted by the left hemifaces. This tendency was weaker among the psychiatric patients. Schizophrenics with negative symptoms judged positive expressions in the left hemifaces as depicting negative emotions, and negative expressions as depicting positive emotions. Schizophrenics with positive symptoms and manic patients judged all expressions as depicting positive emotions. Depressive patients showed a stronger tendency to judge negative expressions as depicting negative emotions than positive expressions as depicting positive emotions. No significant group differences appeared in judgment of composite faces (except for schizophrenic with negative symptoms who were more accurate in judging positive than negative expressions). Patients performances were interpreted in terms of differential dysfunctions in posterior areas of the right cerebral hemisphere which might be associated with bilateral effects of dysfunctions in anterior cerebral areas.

Effects of coping and cooperative instructions on guilty and informed innocents' physiological responses to concealed information.

Previous research on the Concealed Information Test indicates that knowledge of the critical information of a given event is sufficient for the elicitation of strong physiological reactions, thus facilitating detection by the test. Other factors that affect the tests efficacy are deceptive verbal responses to the tests questions and motivation of guilty examinees to avoid detection. In the present study effects of coping and cooperative instructions - delivered to guilty and innocent participants - on detection were examined. In a mock-theft experiment guilty participants who actually committed a mock-crime, and informed innocent participants who handled the critical items of the crime in an innocent context, were instructed to adopt either a coping or a cooperative attitude toward the polygraph test. Results indicated that both, guilt and coping behavior, were associated with enhanced physiological responses to the critical information, whereas innocence and cooperative behavior attenuated physiological responses. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.

From theory to implementation: Building a multidimensional space for face recognition

The purpose of the present study was to empirically construct a multidimensional model of face space based upon Valentines [Valentine, T. (1991). A unified account of the effects of distinctiveness, inversion, and race in face recognition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43A, 161-204; Valentine, T. (2001). Face-space models of face recognition. In M. J. Wenger, & J. T. Townsend, (Eds.). Computational, geometric, and process perspectives on facial cognition: Contexts and challenges. Scientific psychology series (pp. 83-113). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum] metaphoric model. Two-hundred and ten participants ranked 200 faces on a 21-dimensional space composed of internal facial features. On the basis of these dimensions an index of distance from the center of the dimensional space was calculated. A factor analysis revealed six factors which highlighted the importance of both featural and holistic processes in face recognition. Testing the model in relation to facial distinctiveness and face recognition strengthened its validity by emphasizing the relevance of the constructed multidimensional space for face recognition. The data are discussed within the framework of theoretical models of face recognition.

Meaning of Life as Perceived by Drug-Abusing People

Two different methodologies, Crumbaugh & Maholics Purpose in Life Test and Andersons Functional Measurement, were used to compare the way meaning of life is perceived by two groups of substance-abusing people: one group consisted of 10 people who successfully completed a six-month withdrawal program based on Frankls Logotherapy; the other group included 15 people who dropped out at the beginning stages of the program. Most of the comparisons between these groups pointed to a more positive existential orientation (in logotherapeutic terms) among those who accomplished successful withdrawal than among the subjects who failed to complete the program. Therapeutic and methodological implications of this studys approach to the measurement of the perceptions of substance-abusing people are discussed.