Behavioural and imaging studies of face and object perception

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This research program uses a combination of psychophysical and functional imaging techniques to examine intermediate levels of visual processing in the ventral visual pathway of the brain, the pathway responsible for object recognition. Part of the proposed work addresses basic theoretical issues concerning the way information about shape is encoded in the visual system (e.g. that an apple is round, while a pear is elongated) and how that shape code is combined with other cues to object identity (e.g., apples are often shiny and red, while pears are more likely to be matte brown). My work uses both abstract patterns and familiar objects including human faces, and fruits and vegetables. I want to learn how categories of objects are differentiated from one another in the brain and whether faces form a unique category treated differently from other objects, as some have suggested. This proposal goes beyond these basic questions to look at two problems with immediate practical significance. Firstly, how do we recognize the age of a face? What are the cues in a face that tell us how old the person is, and which of these cues are we best at detecting? If we can understand this, it will provide a basis for improving algorithms for predicting how a face will age over a period of years (important in missing persons and criminal investigations). Secondly, how do our higher level visual abilities change as we get older? We know that some aspects of vision may deteriorate with age due to changes at the level of the eyeball; however, we know less about whether there are changes in the way visual parts of the brain process spatial and temporal aspects of the constantly changing visual scene. Understanding this has importance in both designing supportive environments for the elderly, and for assessing competencies such as driving ability.