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Face‐specificity is robust across diverse stimuli and individual people, even when interstimulus variance is zero
Author(s) -
Schendan Haline E.,
Ganis Giorgio
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12013
Subject(s) - psychology , cognitive psychology , perception , face perception , stimulus (psychology) , categorization , cognition , visual perception , face (sociological concept) , categorical variable , interstimulus interval , developmental psychology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , statistics , computer science , social science , mathematics , sociology , stimulation
The N 170 is a brain electrical potential proposed to index the earliest time of categorical perception of faces in occipitotemporal visual areas implicated in face cognition, being more negative for faces than nonface objects between 120 and 200 ms. The interstimulus variance ( ISV ) account instead explained N 170 face‐specificity as an artifact due to objects varying more visually than faces. G anis, S mith, and S chendan (2012) tested this account directly, finding that N 170 face‐specificity remains even when ISV is eliminated. Here, N 170 peak amplitude and face‐specificity is quantified for individual stimuli and participants, revealing that the right hemisphere N 170 is especially sensitive to stimulus variability. Further, ISV contributes 0 to 37% to N 170 face‐specificity. These findings provide evidence for optimizing face processing science. The paradigm can apply to any research in which ISV may be uncontrolled (e.g., category comparisons).