Testing and building models of face perception via acquired prosopagnosia

面孔处理是社会互动的核心。我们使用面孔来识别人，确定他们的感受，他们正在关注什么，基于面孔的特质判断有助于我们如何对待他人（例如，这个人值得信赖吗？对我有吸引力吗？）在人类大脑中，人脸识别是由一个分布式皮质网络介导的，该网络包括视觉、边缘系统和前额叶区域。然而，人脸处理的计算本质和不同区域对人脸处理的作用仍然不清楚。为了更好地理解面部处理的计算和神经基础，我们将对那些遭受大脑损伤的参与者进行行为和神经成像研究，这些参与者的大脑损伤破坏了他们识别面部的能力。这种情况被称为获得性面容失认症，我们的实验室已经开发了世界上最大的获得性面容失认症参与者数据库（N=20并不断增长）。这些面孔失认症患者的面孔感知障碍和面孔处理网络受损程度各不相同。该项目将推进我们对正常面部处理个体的面部处理的认识，也将是开发获得性面孔失认症分类系统的第一步。这种分类系统将是有价值的，因为不同类型的面容失认症可能对不同类型的干预措施有反应。当前提案的主要目标是测试两个有影响力的面孔模型的基本认知和神经预测。以前的研究调查面孔失认症的面孔知觉只在小样本中检查了一些能力。相比之下，拟议的项目将调查至少20名来自PI的面孔失认症数据库（http：//www.example.com）的患者的广泛的面孔感知能力。www.faceblind.org这些研究将针对三个主要目标。他们将测试并在必要时修改面部感知的广泛模型的认知结构（目标1），测试并修改面部特质感知的模型（目标2），并测试这两个模型的神经预测（目标3）。拟议的项目将产生两个主要的智力成果：评估的面孔感知模型和必要的修订，以及获得性面容失认症的分类。建立一个获得性面容失认症的分类将是一个重大的进步，因为目前的做法分组在一起不同类型的获得性面容失认症阻碍了努力了解的条件和发展康复方法。媒体对我们研究结果的报道可能会提高公众对面孔失认症的认识。创建的面部感知电池将作为用户友好的程序免费提供，这对研究人员和临床医生都很有用。本科研究人员，其中许多人是少数民族的成员在科学中代表不足，将获得实践经验，在这个项目。

Face processing is central to social interaction. We use faces to identify people, determine what they are feeling, what they are attending to, and trait judgments based on faces contribute to how we behave toward others (e.g., Is this person trustworthy? Attractive to me?). In the human brain, face recognition is mediated by a distributed cortical network that includes visual, limbic, and prefrontal areas. However, the nature of the computations underlying face processing and the function of the different areas contributing to face processing remain unclear. To better understand the computational and neural basis of face processing, we will carry out behavioral and neuroimaging studies with participants who have suffered brain damage that disrupts their ability to recognize faces. This condition is known as acquired prosopagnosia, and our lab has developed the world's largest database of participants with acquired prosopagnosia (N=20 and growing). These prosopagnosic participants have varied face perception impairments as well as varied damage to the face processing network. This project will advance our knowledge of face processing in individuals with normal face processing and will also be the first step toward the development of a classification system for acquired prosopagnosia. Such a classification system would be valuable, because different types of prosopagnosia are likely to be responsive to different types of interventions. The primary objective of the current proposal is to test fundamental cognitive and neural predictions of two influential models of face. Previous studies investigating face perception in prosopagnosia have examined only a few abilities in small samples. The proposed project, in contrast, will investigate a wide range of face perception abilities in at least 20 patients drawn from the PI's prosopagnosia database (http://www.faceblind.org). The studies will address three primary aims. They will test and, if necessary, revise the cognitive structure of a broad model of face perception (Aim 1), test and revise a model of facial trait perception (Aim 2), and test the neural predictions of these two models (Aim 3). The proposed project will yield two main intellectual outcomes: evaluation of the face perception models and their revision as necessary, and a taxonomy of acquired prosopagnosia. Creation of a taxonomy of acquired prosopagnosia will be a major advance, because the current practice of grouping together different types of acquired prosopagnosia hampers efforts to understand the condition and develop rehabilitation methods. Media coverage of our findings is likely to increase public awareness of prosopagnosia. The face perception battery created will be made freely available as user-friendly programs that will be useful for both researchers and clinicians. Undergraduate researchers, many of whom are members of minorities under-represented in science, will get hands-on experience in this project.