title: Fixation patterns during recognition of personally familiar and unfamiliar faces.
abstract: Previous studies recording eye gaze during face perception have rendered somewhat inconclusive findings with respect to fixation differences between familiar and unfamiliar faces. This can be attributed to a number of factors that differ across studies: the type and extent of familiarity with the faces presented, the definition of areas of interest subject to analyses, as well as a lack of consideration for the time course of scan patterns. Here we sought to address these issues by recording fixations in a recognition task with personally familiar and unfamiliar faces. After a first common fixation on a central superior location of the face in between features, suggesting initial holistic encoding, and a subsequent left eye bias, local features were focused and explored more for familiar than unfamiliar faces. Although the number of fixations did not differ for un-/familiar faces, the locations of fixations began to differ before familiarity decisions were provided. This suggests that in the context of familiarity decisions without time constraints, differences in processing familiar and unfamiliar faces arise relatively early - immediately upon initiation of the first fixation to identity-specific information - and that the local features of familiar faces are processed more than those of unfamiliar faces.
authors: Unité de Neurosciences, Cognitives and Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie, Institut des Neurosciences, Université Catholique de Louvain Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors: Goedele
authors: G
authors: van Belle
authors: Meike
authors: M
authors: Ramon
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Lefèvre
authors: Bruno
authors: B
authors: Rossion
references: Brain Cogn. 2002 Oct;50(1):35-50
references: 12372350
references: J Physiol. 1964 Nov;174:245-64
references: 14244121
references: Perception. 2006;35(8):1089-105
references: 17076068
references: Vision Res. 2005 Sep;45(20):2677-84
references: 16042969
references: J Vis. 2009 Sep 09;9(10):6.1-16
references: 19810787
references: Neuropsychologia. 1993 Sep;31(9):989-98
references: 8232855
references: J Vis. 2009 Mar 17;9(3):11.1-10
references: 19757950
references: Cortex. 1987 Mar;23(1):99-110
references: 3568709
references: Brain. 2004 Oct;127(Pt 10):2307-15
references: 15292055
references: Neuropsychologia. 2003;41(4):407-14
references: 12559158
references: Brain. 1999 Jun;122 ( Pt 6):1093-106
references: 10356062
references: Mem Cognit. 2007 Dec;35(8):1977-85
references: 18265613
references: Neurology. 1980 Mar;30(3):327-30
references: 7189037
references: Acta Psychol (Amst). 2007 Mar;124(3):344-55
references: 16764811
references: Curr Biol. 2004 Mar 9;14(5):391-6
references: 15028214
references: Psychol Sci. 2008 Oct;19(10):998-1006
references: 19000210
references: J Vis. 2009 Feb 09;9(2):7.1-16
references: 19271917
references: Perception. 1978;7(3):349-58
references: 693234
references: Brain Cogn. 2005 Aug;58(3):334-42
references: 15963384
references: Perception. 1977;6(3):313-26
references: 866088
references: J Vis. 2008 Jan 17;8(1):9.1-10
references: 18318612
references: Vision Res. 2001 Aug;41(17):2261-71
references: 11448718
references: AMA Arch Ophthalmol. 1954 Nov;52(5):710-24
references: 13206501
references: Curr Biol. 2009 Sep 29;19(18):1543-8
references: 19682907
references: Neuropsychologia. 2010 Jul;48(9):2620-9
references: 20457169
references: Behav Brain Res. 1988 Aug;29(3):245-58
references: 3139010
references: Mem Cognit. 2005 Jan;33(1):98-106
references: 15915796
references: J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1999 Jul;25(4):997-1010
references: 10439505
references: Perception. 1977;6(3):263-9
references: 866082
references: Neuropsychologia. 1973 Jul;11(3):355-62
references: 4792186
references: Atten Percept Psychophys. 2009 Jul;71(5):1107-26
references: 19525541
references: Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:193-222
references: 7605061
references: Perception. 1985;14(5):601-15
references: 3836392
references: Arch Neurol. 1962 Aug;7:92-100
references: 13905818
references: Perception. 2008;37(5):801-6
references: 18605151
references: Curr Biol. 2005 Jun 7;15(11):993-1005
references: 15936269
references: Vision Res. 2003 Aug;43(18):1921-36
references: 12831755
references: Vision Res. 2009 Nov;49(23):2870-80
references: 19733582
references: Neuroimage. 2006 Sep;32(3):1385-94
references: 16870475
references: Neuropsychologia. 2010 Mar;48(4):933-44
references: 19944710
references: Neuropsychologia. 2008 Apr;46(5):1581-7
references: 18281066
references: PLoS One. 2008 Aug 20;3(8):e3022
references: 18714387
references: Perception. 2007;36(10):1535-45
references: 18265836
references: Brain. 1992 Feb;115 Pt 1:15-36
references: 1559150
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1999 Jul 29;354(1387):1325-46
references: 10466154
references: J Neuropsychol. 2008 Mar;2(1):245-68
references: 19334313
references: Neuropsychologia. 2005;43(1):52-9
references: 15488905
references: Psychol Bull. 1998 Nov;124(3):372-422
references: 9849112
references: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1999 Aug;25(4):1016-35
references: 10464943
references: J Vis. 2005 Oct 05;5(9):659-67
references: 16356076
references: J Cogn Neurosci. 1991 Winter;3(1):42-58
references: 23964804
references: Br J Psychol. 2005 Nov;96(Pt 4):407-22
references: 16248933
references: Nervenarzt. 2004 Apr;75(4):389-408; quiz: 409-10
references: 15048330
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 1997;48:269-97
references: 9046562