The Facespan-the perceptual span for face recognition.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_9C47B7B72B90
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
The Facespan-the perceptual span for face recognition.
Journal
Journal of vision
Author(s)
Papinutto M., Lao J., Ramon M., Caldara R., Miellet S.
ISSN
1534-7362 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1534-7362
Publication state
Published
Issued date
01/05/2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
17
Number
5
Pages
16
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
In reading, the perceptual span is a well-established concept that refers to the amount of information that can be read in a single fixation. Surprisingly, despite extensive empirical interest in determining the perceptual strategies deployed to process faces and an ongoing debate regarding the factors or mechanism(s) underlying efficient face processing, the perceptual span for faces-the Facespan-remains undetermined. To address this issue, we applied the gaze-contingent Spotlight technique implemented in an old-new face recognition paradigm. This procedure allowed us to parametrically vary the amount of facial information available at a fixated location in order to determine the minimal aperture size at which face recognition performance plateaus. As expected, accuracy increased nonlinearly with spotlight size apertures. Analyses of Structural Similarity comparing the available information during spotlight and natural viewing conditions indicate that the Facespan-the minimum spatial extent of preserved facial information leading to comparable performance as in natural viewing-encompasses 7° of visual angle in our viewing conditions (size of the face stimulus: 15.6°; viewing distance: 70 cm), which represents 45% of the face. The present findings provide a benchmark for future investigations that will address if and how the Facespan is modulated by factors such as cultural, developmental, idiosyncratic, or task-related differences.
Keywords
Face/physiology, Facial Recognition/physiology, Female, Fixation, Ocular/physiology, Humans, Male, Psychomotor Performance/physiology, Reaction Time, Saccades/physiology, Visual Perception/physiology, Young Adult
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
29/03/2022 17:14
Last modification date
29/03/2022 17:42
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