Biology subjects

de Heering, A.

Publications and source records attributed to de Heering, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Visual periodicity reveals distinct attentional signatures for face and non-face categories

Observers can selectively deploy attention to regions of space, moments in time, specific visual features, individual objects, and even specific high-level categories - for example, when keeping an eye out for dogs while jogging. Here we exploited visual periodicity to examine how category-based attention differentially modulates selective neural processing of face and non-face categories. We combined electroencephalography (EEG) with a novel frequency-tagging paradigm capable of capturing selective neural responses for multiple visual categories contained within the same rapid image stream (faces/birds in Exp 1; houses/birds in Exp 2). We found that the pattern of attentional enhancement and suppression for face-selective processing is unique compared to other object categories: Where attending to non-face objects strongly enhances their selective neural signals during a later stage of processing (300-500ms), attentional enhancement of face-selective processing is both earlier and comparatively more modest. Moreover, only the selective neural response for faces appears to be actively suppressed by attending towards an alternate visual category. These results underscore the special status that faces hold within the human visual system, and highlight the utility of visual periodicity as a powerful tool for indexing selective neural processing of multiple visual categories contained within the same image sequence.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

SSVEP as a no-report paradigm to capture phenomenal experience of complex visual images

This study is part of a larger attempt to explore how the brain produces conscious experience. Our main objective here was to take advantage of a neural signature conveyed by the steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) technique (1) to explore the extent to which complex visual images can be processed in the absence of consciousness and (2) to determine whether this tool can be used to shed light on participants phenomenal experience of these images. To this end, we embedded faces within sequences of non-face stimuli and manipulated their contrast to create a subliminal condition. Our results were threefold. First, we show that a significant brain activation can be delineated with the SSVEP tool even when participants report being unable to see the stimuli. In this subliminal condition, the brain response was confined to the back of the scalp. Second, we observe that the face signal increases in magnitude and propagates bilaterally along a posterior-to-anterior axis as image contrast increases. Third, we suggest that SSVEP could be used as a novel instance of a no-report paradigm because it requires no overt behavioural response, and because at some contrast levels and electrodes, its outputs (signal magnitude and scalp topography) predict peoples self-reported phenomenal experience.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

The Non-Linear Development Of The Right Hemispheric Specialization For Human Face Perception

The developmental origins of human adults right hemispheric specialization for face perception remain unclear. On the one hand, infant studies have generally shown a right hemispheric advantage for face perception. On the other hand, the adult right hemispheric lateralization for face perception is thought to slowly emerge during childhood, due to reading acquisition, which increases left lateralized posterior responses to competing written material (i.e., visual letters and words). Since methodological approaches used in infant and children usually differ, resolving this issue has been difficult. Here we tested 5-year-old preschoolers varying in their level of visual letter knowledge with the same fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) paradigm leading to strongly right lateralized electrophysiological occipito-temporal face-selective responses in 4- to 6-month-old infants (de Heering & Rossion, 2015). Childrens face-selective response was much larger and more complex than in infants, but did not differ across hemispheres. However, there was a small positive correlation between preschoolers letter knowledge and their right hemispheric specialization for faces. These observations suggest that several factors contribute to the adult right hemispheric lateralization for faces, and point to the value of FPVS coupled with electroencephalography to assess specialized face perception processes throughout development with the same methodology.

neuroscience↗