June 2023
Volume 64, Issue 8
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2023
Visual acuity thresholds for human face identity recognition
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Nathan Hupin
    Institute Of NeuroSciences, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brabant Wallon, Belgium
  • Coralie Hemptinne
    Institute Of NeuroSciences, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brabant Wallon, Belgium
  • Philippe Lefèvre
    Institute Of NeuroSciences, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brabant Wallon, Belgium
    Universite Catholique de Louvain Institute of Information and Communication Technologies Electronics and Applied Mathematics, Louvain-la-Neuve, Walloon Brabant , Belgium
  • Bruno Rossion
    Institute Of NeuroSciences, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brabant Wallon, Belgium
    Universite de Lorraine, Nancy, Grand Est, France
  • Demet Yuksel
    Institute Of NeuroSciences, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brabant Wallon, Belgium
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Nathan Hupin None; Coralie Hemptinne None; Philippe Lefèvre None; Bruno Rossion None; Demet Yuksel None
  • Footnotes
    Support  None
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2023, Vol.64, 2886. doi:
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    • Get Citation

      Nathan Hupin, Coralie Hemptinne, Philippe Lefèvre, Bruno Rossion, Demet Yuksel; Visual acuity thresholds for human face identity recognition. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2023;64(8):2886.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose : Visual function of patients is usually assessed in clinical settings with behavioral tests such as the visual acuity grid of Snellen or the visual field evaluation with standard automated perimetry. However, the sight abilities evaluated have little in common with the challenging day-to-day complex visual recognition functions. Here we use fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) with electroencephalography (EEG) to objectively assess the impact of visual acuity (VA) on an automatic daily visual task: facial identity recognition (FIR).

Methods : We tested automated discrimination of unfamiliar face identity with a well-validated FPVS-EEG paradigm in 12 normally sighted adult volunteers with a 68-electrode EEG system. Visual acuity was artificially decreased using a blur technique to obtain a linear scale of LogMar VA from 1,3 to 0.

Results : At the group level, a right occipito-temporal FIR emerges already at a monocular VA threshold of 1,0 LogMar (z-score= 2,7259, p=.0032), with half of the sample showing a significant response. Neural amplitude reaches saturation at 0,7 LogMar (z-score= 7,798; p ≈ 0). Influence of monocular VA on FIR response can be separated in two trends: A first increase in neural response from 1,3 LogMar to 0,7 LogMar and a second flat trend from 0,7 LogMar to 0 LogMar.

Conclusions : FIR in normally sighted participants is extremely well preserved at low VA, with a threshold around 1,0 LogMar of monocular VA.

This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.

 

Definition of three regions of interest (ROI): left occipito-temporal ROI (P7, P9, PO7 and PO9), median occipital ROI (O1, O2, Oz, I1, I2, Iz and POz) and right occipito-temporal ROI (P8, P10, PO8 and PO10).

Definition of three regions of interest (ROI): left occipito-temporal ROI (P7, P9, PO7 and PO9), median occipital ROI (O1, O2, Oz, I1, I2, Iz and POz) and right occipito-temporal ROI (P8, P10, PO8 and PO10).

 

Face categorization amplitude and topography of activation according to visual acuity. A: Activation amplitude (µV) of left occipito-temporal, median occipital and right occipito-temporal regions of interest. Facial recognition can be observed at group-level from LogMar 1 as a bilateral occipito-temporal activation with a right hemispheric dominance. B: Scalp topographies of the 64+4 channels activation with an absolute scale common to all topographies.

Face categorization amplitude and topography of activation according to visual acuity. A: Activation amplitude (µV) of left occipito-temporal, median occipital and right occipito-temporal regions of interest. Facial recognition can be observed at group-level from LogMar 1 as a bilateral occipito-temporal activation with a right hemispheric dominance. B: Scalp topographies of the 64+4 channels activation with an absolute scale common to all topographies.

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