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01-07-2006 | Original Article

Face perception: An integrative review of the role of spatial frequencies

Auteurs: Marcos Ruiz-Soler, Francesc S. Beltran

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 4/2006

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reinterpret the results obtained from the research analyzing the role played by spatial frequencies in face perception. Two main working lines have been explored in this body of research: the critical bandwidth of spatial frequencies that allows face recognition to take place (the masking approach), and the role played by different spatial frequencies while the visual percept is being developed (the microgenetic approach). However, results obtained to date are not satisfactory in that no single explanation accounts for all the data obtained from each of the approaches. We propose that the main factor for understanding the role of spatial frequencies in face perception depends on the interaction between the demands of the task and the information in the image (the diagnostic recognition approach). Using this new framework, we review the most significant research carried out since the early 1970s to provide a reinterpretation of the data obtained.

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In face recognition research, the unit of measure is the number of cycles per face width (cycles/fw), i.e., “the number of sinusoidal repetitions of a given width that can be placed within the eye-level width of the face” (Costen et al., 1996; p. 602). However, some authors give measurements in cycles per degree of visual angle (cycles/degree), and sometimes the information available makes it impossible to provide an exact conversion of cycles/degree into cycles/fw We therefore provide measurements in cycles/fw whenever possible; otherwise, we give them in cycles/degree.

This framework is also used for some applied proposals. Bhatia et al. (1995) degraded images of faces by pixelization in order to find the minimum image quality required for retrieval of facial records in databases. More recently, Lander, Bruce, and Hill (2001) used both pixelization and blurring to mask the identity of familiar faces in short naturalistic television clips.

Oliva and Schyns’ (1997) second experiment describes the results of the control group that was exposed to 12 stimuli made up of LSFs and HSFs. Of these 12 subjects, none perceived that there were two scenes in the same stimulus. Surprisingly, four of them were “HSF categorizers,” four were “LSF categorizers,” and four successfully categorized using both types. Since there was no sensitivity phase in this group in order to bias subjects toward LSF or HSF processing, these results are compatible with the interpretation that, in the absence of specific task demands, there are subjects whose preferential strategy is to use LSFs and others whose preferential strategy is to use HSFs.

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Titel: Face perception: An integrative review of the role of spatial frequencies
Auteurs: Marcos Ruiz-Soler
Francesc S. Beltran
Publicatiedatum: 01-07-2006
Uitgeverij: Springer-Verlag
Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research / Uitgave 4/2006
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-005-0215-z

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