Memory and Perception-Based Facial Image Reconstruction
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Memory and Perception-based Facial Image Reconstruction by Chi-Hsun Chang A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Psychology University of Toronto © Copyright by Chi-Hsun Chang 2016 Memory and Perception-based Facial Image Reconstruction Chi-Hsun Chang Master of Arts Department of Psychology University of Toronto 2016 Abstract Face perception and face memory have been the focus of extensive research to investigate the mechanisms of face processing. However, the nature of the representations underlying face perception and face memory remains unclear, and the relationship between them is not well- known given that they are usually studied separately. The current work examines these issues by adopting an image reconstruction approach, to perform behavioural perception and memory- based reconstructions. Significant features underlying the representation of face perception were first derived, and then used to reconstruct face images that were visually seen and recalled from memory. Reconstructions of perception and memory data were above chance for both unfamiliar faces, faces learned throughout the experiment, and celebrity faces retrieved from long-term memory. This not only provides new insights into the content of face memory and its relationship to face perception, but also opens a new path for practical applications such as computer-based ‘sketch artists’. ii Acknowledgments I would first like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Andy Lee and subsidiary advisor Dr. Adrian Nestor for their support and guidance over the past year. I would also like to thank Dr. Jonathan Cant as the third reader of this thesis and appreciate his valuable feedback on this thesis. Thank you to all members of the Lee and Nestor labs, particularly Dan Nemrodov, and Edward O’Neil for their useful ideas and comments on this work, as well as Ashutosh Patel and Deepika Elango for their help with data collection. I would like to thank Dr. Katherine Duncan for her kindness in providing me space in her lab for data collection. I am immensely grateful to people in my support network: Fang Liu, Tzu-Han Cheng, and Michelle Zhang, for their continuous encouragements. Lastly, I must express my profound gratitude to my parents and family for providing me unfailing support throughout my life. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Face Processing ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Face Perception ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Face Identification ................................................................................................................. 4 1.1.3 Interim Summary ................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Representation underlying Face Space ................................................................................ 5 1.3 Face Memorability .............................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Face Image Reconstruction from memory ........................................................................... 6 1.5 Current Study ...................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2 Materials and Methods ......................................................................................... 9 Materials and Methods .................................................................................................. 9 2.1 Experiment 1 ...................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Participants ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.1.2 Stimuli .................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Screening Questionnaires and Tests ...................................................................................... 9 2.1.4 Task Design .......................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.5 Experimental Procedures .................................................................................................... 12 2.1.6 Analyses ............................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Experiment 2 .................................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1 Participants .......................................................................................................................... 15 2.2.2 Stimuli .................................................................................................................................. 15 2.2.3 Screening Questionnaires and Tests .................................................................................... 16 2.2.4 Two-alternative forced choice task ..................................................................................... 16 2.2.5 Experimental Procedures .................................................................................................... 16 2.2.6 Analyses ............................................................................................................................... 17 iv Chapter 3 Results .............................................................................................................. 18 Results .......................................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Face Space and Classification Images ................................................................................ 18 3.2 Perception-based Reconstructions .................................................................................... 18 3.3 Memory-based Reconstructions ........................................................................................ 19 3.4 Subjective Accuracy from Naïve Participants ..................................................................... 19 3.5 Regression Models ............................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 4 Discussions and Conclusions ................................................................................. 22 References ........................................................................................................................... 31 v List of Figures Figure 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Figure 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Figure 3 ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Figure 4 ........................................................................................................................................ 30 vi 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction Face perception is an important ability in human beings as people are social animals. Infant shows the preference of faces at a very early stage in development (Johnson, Dziurawiec, Ellis, & Morton, 1991; Mondloch et al., 2015) and this ability becomes a highly developed skill across the whole life span. Specifically, humans are adept in face identification, a higher-level visual and memory process that involves the retrieval of the memory of faces and the identity information stored in memory (i.e. person semantic knowledge). These topics have been studied extensively, with a plethora of behavioral and neural evidence revealing the mechanisms underpinning face processing (Gobbini & Haxby, 2007; Haxby, Hoffman, & Gobbini, 2000). 1.1 Face Processing 1.1.1 Face Perception Past studies have suggested that perceptual face information is represented in a multi- dimensional face space, in which individual faces deviate from the mean face along different dimensions (Johnston, Milne, Williams, & Hosie, 1997; Leopold, O’Toole, Vetter, & Blanz, 2001; Loffler, Yourganov, Wilkinson, & Wilson, 2005; Valentine, 1991). Early behavioral studies demonstrated that typical faces are represented closer to the mean face and distinctive faces are represented farther from the mean face in face space (Johnston et al., 1997; Valentine, 1991). Recent neural imaging research has added to this