title: The Role of External Features in Face Recognition with Central Vision Loss.
abstract: We evaluated how the performance of recognizing familiar face images depends on the internal (eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth) and external face features (chin, outline of face, hairline) in individuals with central vision loss.
  
  
  
  In experiment 1, we measured eye movements for four observers with central vision loss to determine whether they fixated more often on the internal or the external features of face images while attempting to recognize the images. We then measured the accuracy for recognizing face images that contained only the internal, only the external, or both internal and external features (experiment 2) and for hybrid images where the internal and external features came from two different source images (experiment 3) for five observers with central vision loss and four age-matched control observers.
  
  
  
  When recognizing familiar face images, approximately 40% of the fixations of observers with central vision loss was centered on the external features of faces. The recognition accuracy was higher for images containing only external features (66.8 ± 3.3% correct) than for images containing only internal features (35.8 ± 15.0%), a finding contradicting that of control observers. For hybrid face images, observers with central vision loss responded more accurately to the external features (50.4 ± 17.8%) than to the internal features (9.3 ± 4.9%), whereas control observers did not show the same bias toward responding to the external features.
  
  
  
  Contrary to people with normal vision who rely more on the internal features of face images for recognizing familiar faces, individuals with central vision loss show a higher dependence on using external features of face images.
authors.affiliation: *PhD †OD, PhD, FAAO School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California (J-BB, STLC); Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France (J-BB); and Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (UMR 7920), CNRS, Marseille, France (J-BB).
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Susana T L
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002825:Chorioretinitis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000080362:Stargardt Disease
references.citation: Perception. 1979;8(4):431-9
references.pmid: 503774
references.citation: Perception. 1977;6(3):313-26
references.pmid: 866088
references.citation: Br J Psychol. 1982 Feb;73(Pt 1):105-16
references.pmid: 7059746
references.citation: Vision Res. 1969 Aug;9(8):947-52
references.pmid: 5802399
references.citation: Optom Vis Sci. 2011 Jun;88(6):724-32
references.pmid: 21399554
references.citation: Front Aging Neurosci. 2011 Oct 05;3:15
references.pmid: 22007169
references.citation: Vision Res. 1991;31(12):2209-18
references.pmid: 1771800
references.citation: Vision Res. 1992 Jul;32(7):1349-57
references.pmid: 1455707
references.citation: Optom Vis Sci. 2013 Jan;90(1):45-56
references.pmid: 23238260
references.citation: Cogn Psychol. 2005 Nov;51(3):256-84
references.pmid: 16198327
references.citation: Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2007 Nov;14(6):594-607
references.pmid: 18038358
references.citation: Spat Vis. 1997;10(4):433-6
references.pmid: 9176952
references.citation: Optom Vis Sci. 2005 Mar;82(3):177-85
references.pmid: 15767869
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1991 Jun;32(7):2020-9
references.pmid: 2055696
references.citation: J Vis. 2014 Sep 16;14(11):
references.pmid: 25228627
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1986 Jul;27(7):1137-47
references.pmid: 3721792
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2008 Oct;19(10):998-1006
references.pmid: 19000210
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1990 Jun;31(6):1149-61
references.pmid: 2354915
references.citation: Am J Optom Physiol Opt. 1985 Dec;62(12):833-43
references.pmid: 4083327
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2014 Jul 29;55(8):5125-33
references.pmid: 25074769
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997 Aug;38(9):1812-8
references.pmid: 9286270
references.citation: Perception. 2006;35(8):1089-105
references.pmid: 17076068
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2002 Sep;13(5):402-9
references.pmid: 12219805
references.citation: Front Psychol. 2010 Jun 17;1:20
references.pmid: 21607074
references.citation: Atten Percept Psychophys. 2010 Aug;72(6):1444-9
references.pmid: 20675791
references.citation: Am J Ophthalmol. 1947 May;30(5):581-8
references.pmid: 20241713
references.citation: Spat Vis. 1997;10(4):437-42
references.pmid: 9176953
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1;24(7):1216-25
references.pmid: 23740552
references.citation: Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput. 2002 Nov;34(4):613-7
references.pmid: 12564564
references.citation: Vision Res. 2002 Dec;42(27):2947-57
references.pmid: 12450504
references.citation: Vision Res. 1999 Feb;39(4):873-9
references.pmid: 10341972
references.citation: J Vis. 2005 Feb 04;5(1):58-70
references.pmid: 15831067
references.citation: Acta Psychol (Amst). 2013 Feb;142(2):211-9
references.pmid: 23348201
references.citation: Brain Cogn. 1985 Oct;4(4):439-50
references.pmid: 4084403