JS

PSY2001/L01/01^ Thu Oct 03 10:05:00 BST 2024

General Overview of Face Perception

  • The importance of face perception in social interactions.

  • Discussion around face recognition methodology in psychological studies.

Textbook Recommendations

  • Suggestions for purchasing textbooks based on interest and budget.

  • Emphasis on interdisciplinary perspectives within recommended texts.

Cognitive Bias and Testing Methodologies

  • Introduction to cognitive bias and its impact on test scores.

  • Explanation of experimental setups:

    • Conflicting narratives around race (e.g., White versus Black).

    • Interpretation of D-scores in relation to racial bias.

  • Highlighting potential difficulties in obtaining accurate measures of bias.

Role of Community in Psychology

  • Acknowledgment of community engagement and student involvement.

  • Suggestions for organizing events to foster community.

Understanding Perception

  • Introduction to the various forms of perception, focusing on visual perception.

  • Importance of visual acuity, scanning, and color differentiation.

Visual Acuity

  • Poor visual acuity at birth, improving rapidly within the first six months.

  • Techniques for assessing visual acuity in infants (e.g., paddle tests).

Visual Scanning and Color Vision

  • Discusses the gradual development of smooth tracking ability in infants.

  • Newborns' color recognition limited initially; improvement observed by four to six months.

Research on Infant Face Perception

  • Preference for face-like stimuli observed in newborns through preference tests.

  • Importance of habituation tests in assessing discrimination ability among infants.

  • Emphasis on the use of various research methods to evaluate preferences and recognition capabilities.

Theoretical Approaches in Face Perception

  • Nature versus Nurture Debate:

    • Nativism: Face perception abilities are wired in from birth.

    • Empiricism: Face recognition developed through exposure and learning.

  • Ongoing exploration and integration of these theories in research.

Evolution of Recognition Abilities

  • As children age, they become specialists in facial recognition from their environmental inputs.

  • Studies showing the decline in ability to recognize non-familiar faces due to lack of exposure.

Importance of Contextual Clues

  • Discussion on neurodivergent populations, such as individuals with autism or Williams syndrome, and their atypical processing of faces.

  • Examination of prosopagnosia (face blindness) and its impacts on daily life.

  • Cognitive strategies used by neurodivergent individuals for social interactions.

Super Recognizers and Face Blindness

  • Description of super recognizers and their enhanced face recognition abilities.

  • Challenges faced by individuals with face blindness.

    • Importance of context and voice recognition in social interactions.

Neurobiological Insights

  • Examination of the brain areas involved in face recognition, notably the fusiform face area.

  • Insights into how damage to specific brain regions can result in face blindness.

Conclusion

  • Reiteration of the importance of early exposure in developing face perception skills.

  • Future research directions focusing on the spectrum of face recognition abilities and their neurobiological underpinnings.

  • Encouragement for independent reading to enhance comprehension and analytical skills.