Use of Face Information Varies Systematically From Developmental Prosopagnosics to Super-Recognizers. (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tardif, Jessica; Morin Duchesne, Xavier; Cohan, Sarah; Royer, Jessica; Blais, Caroline; Fiset, Daniel; Duchaine, Brad; Gosselin, Frédéric
• Is Part Of: Psychological science. Volume 30:Number 2(2019)
• Page Start: 300
• Page End: 308
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: face perception -- individual differences -- developmental prosopagnosia -- super-recognizers -- visual perception; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797618811338
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0956-7976

Abstract

Face-recognition abilities differ largely in the neurologically typical population. We examined how the use of information varies with face-recognition ability from developmental prosopagnosics to super-recognizers. Specifically, we investigated the use of facial features at different spatial scales in 112 individuals, including 5 developmental prosopagnosics and 8 super-recognizers, during an online famous-face-identification task using the bubbles method. We discovered that viewing of the eyes and mouth to identify faces at relatively high spatial frequencies is strongly correlated with face-recognition ability, evaluated from two independent measures. We also showed that the abilities of developmental prosopagnosics and super-recognizers are explained by a model that predicts face-recognition ability from the use of information built solely from participants with intermediate face-recognition abilities ( n = 99). This supports the hypothesis that the use of information varies quantitatively from developmental prosopagnosics to super-recognizers as a function of face-recognition ability.