par Bourgaux, Laura 
;Rekow, Diane DR;Leleu, Arnaud AL;De Heering, Adélaïde
Référence UNI General Meeting (26/05/2023: Brussels, Belgium)
Publication Non publié, 2023
;Rekow, Diane DR;Leleu, Arnaud AL;De Heering, Adélaïde Référence UNI General Meeting (26/05/2023: Brussels, Belgium)
Publication Non publié, 2023
Poster de conférence
| Résumé : | Face-pareidolia is an illusory perception of a face in objects or patterns [1]. Although it is an illusion, it activates brain regions that are typically dedicated to the processing of faces [2]. This study aims to explore how visual context and infants’ visual experience shape the internal representations of these facelike objects. Facelike objects are used here because their ambiguous nature offers many ways to plasticity [3]. We also took advantage of the steady state evoked potentials (SS-EP) technique deriving from electroencephalography (EEG), which principle is based on the fact that the brain synchronizes to any kind of visual information presented in a periodic fashion [4]. SS-EP is particularly suited to test infants because it allows for short and efficient recordings, has an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and is immune to most artifacts [5]. In addition, we conceived an interlaced SS-EP design where 4 to 6 months infants are exposed to 20-second sequences of natural images presented at a rate of 6 images per second (6 Hz). Sequences differ regarding the context in which facelike stimuli are presented: a face context for odd sequences and a house context for even sequences. In this interlaced design, facelike stimuli are also repeated every 5th stimulus, so at the frequency of 1.2 Hz, and faces or houses every 4th stimulus, so at the frequency of 1.5 Hz. When fully collected, infant EEG data will be correlated with indices about their experience with faces collected through Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) questionnaires [6]. In a similar experiment with adults, we found that facelike objects generated a significant brain response, which the visual context modulated. In particular, we found that, in adults, the face- and house-context elicited facelike stimuli to be interpreted as objects and faces, respectively. With infants, we rather expect the brain responses to facelike objects to be weaker than in adults because of the protracted development of the face processing system [7]. In addition, they are foreseen to be enhanced in the face context because of the familiarity these salient stimuli elicit at such a young age [8]. [1] Wardle et al., 2020, Nature communications[2] Rekow et al., 2022, Cognition[3] Gosselin & Schyns, 2003, Psychological Science[4] Regan, 1977, Journal of the Optical Society of America[5] Kabdebon et al., 2022, NeuroImage[6] Stone & Shiffman, 1994, Annals of Behavioral Medicine[7] de Heering & Rossion, 2015, eLife[8] Rekow et al., 2021, PNAS |
