title: Configuration perception and face memory, and face context effects in developmental prosopagnosia.
abstract: This study addresses two central and controversial issues in developmental prosopagnosia (DP), configuration- versus feature-based face processing and the influence of affective information from either facial or bodily expressions on face recognition. A sample of 10 DPs and 10 controls were tested with a previously developed face and object recognition and memory battery (Facial Expressive Action Stimulus Test, FEAST), a task measuring the influence of emotional faces and bodies on face identity matching (Face-Body Compound task), and an emotionally expressive face memory task (Emotional Face Memory task, FaMe-E). We show that DPs were impaired in upright, but not inverted, face matching but they performed at the level of controls on part-to-whole matching. Second, DPs showed impaired memory for both neutral and emotional faces and scored within the normal range on the Face-Body Compound task. Third, configural perception but not feature-based processing was significantly associated with memory performance. Taken together the results indicate that DPs have a deficit in configural processing at the perception stage that may underlie the memory impairment.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Huis in 't Veld
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van den Stock
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de Gelder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D020238:Prosopagnosia / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult