TY - JOUR
T1 - Neural repetition suppression to identity is abolished by other-race faces
AU - Vizioli, Luca
AU - Rousselet, Guillaume A.
AU - Caldara, Roberto
PY - 2010/11/16
Y1 - 2010/11/16
N2 - Human beings are remarkably skilled at recognizing faces, with the marked exception of other-race faces: the so-called "other-race effect." As reported nearly a century ago [Feingold CA (1914) Journal of Criminal Law and Police Science 5:39-51], this face-recognition impairment is accompanied by the popular belief that other-race faces all look alike. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this high-level "perceptual illusion" are still unknown. To address this question, we recorded high-resolution electrophysiological scalp signals from East Asian (EA) and Western Caucasian (WC) observers as they viewed two EA or WC faces. The first adaptor face was followed by a target face of either the same or different identity. We quantified repetition suppression (RS), a reduction in neural activity in stimulus-sensitive regions following stimulus repetition. Conventional elec- trophysiological analyses on target faces failed to reveal any RS effect. However, to fully account for the paired nature of RS events, we subtracted the signal elicited by target to adaptor faces for each single trial and performed unbiased spatiotemporal data-driven analyses. This unique approach revealed stronger RS to same-race faces of same identity in both groups of observers on the face-sensitive N170 component. Such neurophysiological modulation in RS suggests efficient identity coding for same-race faces. Strikingly, OR faces elicited identical RS regardless of identity, all looking alike to the neural population underlying the N170. Our data show that sensitivity to race begins early at the perceptual level, providing, after nearly 100 y of investigations, a neurophysiological correlate of the "all look alike" perceptual experience.
AB - Human beings are remarkably skilled at recognizing faces, with the marked exception of other-race faces: the so-called "other-race effect." As reported nearly a century ago [Feingold CA (1914) Journal of Criminal Law and Police Science 5:39-51], this face-recognition impairment is accompanied by the popular belief that other-race faces all look alike. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this high-level "perceptual illusion" are still unknown. To address this question, we recorded high-resolution electrophysiological scalp signals from East Asian (EA) and Western Caucasian (WC) observers as they viewed two EA or WC faces. The first adaptor face was followed by a target face of either the same or different identity. We quantified repetition suppression (RS), a reduction in neural activity in stimulus-sensitive regions following stimulus repetition. Conventional elec- trophysiological analyses on target faces failed to reveal any RS effect. However, to fully account for the paired nature of RS events, we subtracted the signal elicited by target to adaptor faces for each single trial and performed unbiased spatiotemporal data-driven analyses. This unique approach revealed stronger RS to same-race faces of same identity in both groups of observers on the face-sensitive N170 component. Such neurophysiological modulation in RS suggests efficient identity coding for same-race faces. Strikingly, OR faces elicited identical RS regardless of identity, all looking alike to the neural population underlying the N170. Our data show that sensitivity to race begins early at the perceptual level, providing, after nearly 100 y of investigations, a neurophysiological correlate of the "all look alike" perceptual experience.
KW - Adaptation
KW - EEG
KW - Face processing
KW - Visual cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650297187&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78650297187&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1005751107
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1005751107
M3 - Article
C2 - 21041643
AN - SCOPUS:78650297187
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 107
SP - 20081
EP - 20086
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 46
ER -