Timing in Face Perception

Abstract

Current models of face perception propose independent brain systems allowing for parallel analysis of identity and expression. Our aim is to examine whether or not there is some cross-talk between mechanisms by which we perceive different facial signals. Specifically, we will investigate both the timing and possible processing hierarchies in perception of identity and expression, and for this we combine approaches from face perception research with new electrophysiological techniques to reveal the timing of mental events. By studying how the brain processes identity and expression from faces, this project motivates a strong conceptual linkage between two areas of social cognition which as yet have been largely treated as separate.

Selected Relevant Publications

Martens, U., Leuthold, H., & Schweinberger, S.R. (2010). On the temporal organisation of facial identity and expression analysis: Inferences from event-related brain potentials. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 10(4), 505-522.

Martens, U., Leuthold, H., & Schweinberger, S.R. (2010). Parallel processing in face perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36, 103-121.

Martens, U., Leuthold, H., & Schweinberger, S. (2005). Is facial identity and expression processed in parallel? Inferences from the LRP. “Methods in Mind” 7th fMRI Experience and Annual Meeting of the British Psychophysiology Society, Birmingham, UK, September, 2005.

Martens, U., Leuthold, H., Schweinberger, S. (2006). Mental chronometry of facial identity and expression processing. 48. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen, Mainz, 26.-29. März 2006.

Funding

BBSRC (UK)