Biomedical subjects

A M Burton

Publications and source records attributed to A M Burton.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Modelling face recognition.

Much early work in the psychology of face processing was hampered by a failure to think carefully about task demands. Recently our understanding of the processes involved in the recognition of familiar faces has been both encapsulated in, and guided by, functional models of the processes involved in processing and recognizing faces. The specification and predictive power of such theory has been increased with the development of an implemented model, based upon an 'interactive activation and competition' architecture. However, a major deficiency in most accounts of face processing is their failure to spell out the perceptual primitives that form the basis of our representations for faces. Possible representational schemes are discussed, and the potential role of three-dimensional representations of the face is emphasized.

Cognition↗

PubMed1992

I recognize your face but I can't remember your name: a simple explanation?

When shown the faces of familiar people, subjects are typically slower and less accurate at retrieving names than other semantic information. This finding, along with converging evidence from neuropsychological studies, has influenced most theoretical accounts of face recognition (e.g. Bruce & Young, 1986). These accounts propose that names are stored separately from semantic information, and that they may not be retrieved in the absence of other information. Here we show that it is possible to account for empirical findings without positing a separate store for names. The account is based on an implemented simulation with an interactive activation and competition architecture. We demonstrate that the fact that most names are unique leads naturally to the patterns of recall found in experimental studies.

Arousal↗

PubMed1991

Understanding covert recognition.

An implementation of Bruce and Young's (1986) functional model of face recognition is used to examine patterns of covert face recognition previously reported in a prosopagnosic patient, PH. Although PH is unable to recognize overly the faces of people known to him, he shows normal patterns of face processing when tested indirectly. A simple manipulation of one set of connections in the implemented model induces behaviour consistent with patterns of results from PH obtained in semantic priming and interference tasks. We compare this account with previous explanations of covert recognition and demonstrate that the implemented model provides the most natural and parsimonious account available. Two further patients are discussed who show deficits in person perception. The first (MS) is prosopagnosic but shows no covert recognition. The second (ME) is not prosopagnosic, but cannot access semantic information relating to familiar people. The model provides an account of recognition impairments which is sufficiently general also to be useful in describing these patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Understanding face recognition with an interactive activation model.

In this paper we describe how the microstructure of the Bruce & Young (1986) functional model of face recognition may be explored and extended using an interactive activation implementation. A simulation of the recognition of familiarity of individuals is developed which accounts for a range of published findings on the effects of semantic priming, repetition priming and distinctiveness. Finally, we offer some speculative predictions made by the model, and point to an empirical programme of research which it suggests.

Arousal↗