The influence of visual distortion on face recognition

Micaela Dear; William J. Harrison

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.10.008

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The influence of visual distortion on face recognition

Journal article

Peer reviewed

The influence of visual distortion on face recognition

Micaela Dear and William J. Harrison

Cortex, Vol.146, pp.238-249

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.10.008

PMID: 34915394

Abstract

prosopometamorphopsia

face recognition

visual distortions

classification images

A person's ability to recognise familiar faces is critical to their participation in many aspects of society. Following an acquired brain injury or retinal disease, however, faces can appear distorted, a phenomenon known as prosopometamorphopsia. Although case reports have described a variety of changes in the appearance of faces during prosopometamorphopsia, the influence of the disorder on face recognition has not been rigorously investigated. In the present report, we quantify how well healthy observers can recognise familiar faces that have been distorted using a parametric model of prosopometamorphopsia. Our results reveal that face recognition varies systematically with the parameters of visual distortion, which, importantly, interact with the size of the face in a nonlinear but highly predictable manner. Our findings demonstrate that prosopometamorphopsia can lead to a surprising range of changes in the appearance of faces. The impact of visual distortion on face recognition thus depends critically on the distance at which the face is viewed, which is likely to change across social and clinical contexts.

Details

Title: The influence of visual distortion on face recognition
Authors: Micaela Dear (Author) - University of Queensland
William J. Harrison (Corresponding Author) - University of Queensland
Publication details: Cortex, Vol.146, pp.238-249
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.10.008
ISSN: 1973-8102
PMID: 34915394
Data Availability: Data for this study can be found at: https://osf.io/tue2d/
Grants: The influence of naturalistic context on visual short-term memory, DE190100136, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99995994202621
Output Type: Journal article