Defining face perception areas in the human brain: a large-scale factorial fMRI face localizer analysis

A number of human brain areas showing a larger response to faces than to objects from different categories, or to scrambled faces, have been identified in neuroimaging studies. Depending on the statistical criteria used, the set of areas can be overextended or minimized, both at the local (size of areas) and global (number of areas) levels. Here we analyzed a whole-brain factorial functional localizer obtained in a large sample of right-handed participants (40). Faces (F), objects (O; cars) and their phase-scrambled counterparts (SF, SO) were presented in a block design during a one-back task that was well matched for difficulty across conditions. A conjunction contrast at the group level {(F-SF) and (F-O)} identified six clusters: in the pulvinar, inferior occipital gyrus (so-called OFA), middle fusiform gyrus (so-called FFA), posterior superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, and anterior infero-temporal cortex, which were all strongly right lateralized. While the FFA showed the largest difference between faces and cars, it also showed the least face-selective response, responding more to cars than scrambled cars. Moreover, the FFA's larger response to scrambled faces than scrambled cars suggests that its face-sensitivity is partly due to low-level visual cues. In contrast, the pattern of activation in the OFA points to a higher degree of face-selectivity. A BOLD latency mapping analysis suggests that face-sensitivity emerges first in the right FFA, as compared to all other areas. Individual brain analyses support these observations, but also highlight the large amount of interindividual variability in terms of number, height, extent and localization of the areas responding preferentially to faces in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex. This observation emphasizes the need to rely on different statistical thresholds across the whole brain and across individuals to define these areas, but also raises some concerns regarding any objective labeling of these areas to make them correspond across individual brains. This large-scale analysis helps understanding the set of face-sensitive areas in the human brain, and encourages in-depth single participant analyses in which the whole set of areas is considered in each individual brain.     

Real three-dimensional objects: effects on mental rotation

The current experiment investigated real three-dimensional (3D) objects with regard to performance on a mental rotation task and whether the appearance of sex differences may be mediated by experiences with spatially related activities. 40 men and 40 women were presented with alternating timed trials consisting of real-3D objects or two-dimensional illustrations of 3D objects. Sex differences in spatially related activities did not significantly influence the finding that men outperformed women on mental rotation of either stimulus type. However, on measures related to spatial activities, self-reported proficiency using maps correlated positively with performance only on trials with illustrations whereas self-reported proficiency using GPS correlated negatively with performance regardless of stimulus dimensionality. Findings may be interpreted as suggesting that rotating real-3D objects utilizes distinct but overlapping spatial skills compared to rotating two-dimensional representations of 3D objects, and real-3D objects can enhance mental rotation performance.     

Cost-Benefit Analysis Mediation of the Relationship Between Sensation Seeking and Risk Behavior

Risk behavior during adolescence results in substantial morbidity and mortality. Sensation seeking consistently relates to engagement in risk behavior, but the psychological mediators of this relationship remain unclear. The current study demonstrates that adolescents’ judgments of the costs versus benefits of risk behavior were a significant mediator of this relationship. Participants were 406 racially and ethnically diverse adolescents ages 12-17 (M = 14.5, SD = 1.7; 48.3% female) who participated in a larger multi-site investigation of personality and neurocognitive predictors of risk behavior. Data were collected via self-report in a single laboratory session. Mediation of the relationship of sensation seeking to risk behavior was tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that higher levels of sensation seeking predicted weighing the benefits of risk behavior higher than its costs, which in turn predicted higher levels of risk behavior. Implications of these findings for understanding mechanisms underlying adolescents’ risk behavior and directions for future research are discussed.     

Towards international comparative research on the professionalisation of Religious Education

This article calls for international comparative research on the professionalisation of Religious Education (RE). To this end, it provides a rationale for focusing upon the concept of professionalisation and a theoretical justification for international comparative research, particularly identifying its significance in terms of the development of RE in England and Germany. The article outlines a methodology for exploring the concepts of professional knowledge, professional self-organisation and politics and professional development. The proposed methodology involves a systematic analysis of primary documentary sources including: (1) academic and professional journal articles and textbooks; (2) the archives of relevant institutions and organisations; and (3) external evidence, such as inspection and research reports. An analytical case study of two leading journals in each national context, Religion in Education in England and Der Evangelische Erzieher in Germany, in the immediate post-war era is appended to illustrate the benefits of implementing such a methodology across national boundaries.     

Exploratory decisions of Trinidadian guppies when uncertain about predation risk

Animal Cognition - Animals can reduce their uncertainty of predation risk by gathering new information via exploration behaviour. However, a decision to explore may also be costly due to increased...     

Eye contact elicits bodily self-awareness in human adults

Eye contact is a typical human behaviour known to impact concurrent or subsequent cognitive processing. In particular, it has been suggested that eye contact induces self-awareness, though this has never been formally proven. Here, we show that the perception of a face with a direct gaze (that establishes eye contact), as compared to either a face with averted gaze or a mere fixation cross, led adult participants to rate more accurately the intensity of their physiological reactions induced by emotional pictures. Our data support the view that bodily self-awareness becomes more acute when one is subjected to another’s gaze. Importantly, this effect was not related to a particular arousal state induced by eye contact perception. Rejecting the arousal hypothesis, we suggest that eye contact elicits a self-awareness process by enhancing self-focused attention in humans. We further discuss the implications of this proposal.     

Wired for Society: Cognizing Pathways to Society and Culture

While cognitive scientists increase their tentative incursions in the social domains traditionally reserved for social scientists, most sociologists and anthropologists keep decrying those attempts as reductionist or, at least, irrelevant. In this paper, we argue that collaboration between social and cognitive sciences is necessary to understand the impact of the social environment on the shaping of our mind. More specifically, we dwell on the cognitive strategies and early-developing deontic expectations, termed naïve sociology, which enable well-adapted individuals to constitute, maintain and understand basic social relationships. In order to specify the way in which the demanding character of typical social relationships can be recognized in situ, we introduce the concept of “deontic affordances”. Finally, we shed light on the continuum that might relate a primitive naïve sociology, dedicated to the processing of invariant properties of the social life and a mature naïve sociology, necessary for dealing with the variable properties of cultural forms of life.