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PubMed2006

Effects of personal familiarity on early neuromagnetic correlates of face perception.

This study investigated effects of familiarity and orientation on face processing by means of magnetoencephalography. Participants were presented with photographs of personally familiar, famous and unfamiliar faces in both upright and inverted orientation. They had to decide whether faces were familiar by means of manual yes/no responses. Independent of orientation, we observed a clear modulation of the M170 by familiarity, with personally familiar faces evoking larger amplitudes than unknown faces. The M170 was also sensitive to orientation, with larger amplitudes for inverted than upright faces. Moreover, the M170 exhibited larger amplitudes over the right than over the left hemisphere, but this asymmetry was present for upright faces only. The present data suggest that at least for personally familiar faces, neural correlates of identification start no later than approximately 170 ms, and underline a special role of the right hemisphere for faces in their typical upright orientation.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Implicit memory and familiarity among elders with dementia.

PURPOSE: To propose a framework for familiar environment as a cue for maintaining or maximizing functional abilities in elders with dementia. ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT: The organizing construct is the sense of familiarity. Although a feeling of familiarity can be processed in both explicit and implicit memory in normal populations, it is retrieved more frequently and efficiently in the implicit memory system than through explicit memory in elders with dementia. METHODS: The model was developed using sources identified through a literature search of relevant topics in Medline, PsycInfo, and CINAHL, as well as through clinical observations and experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from neuro- and cognitive psychology indicates that elders with dementia or Alzheimer's disease (AD) have impaired explicit memory but preserved implicit memory. For initiating an intervention related to spared implicit memory, we propose that implicit memory can be used therapeutically in patients with dementia. The sense of familiarity as a form of implicit memory is used as an exemplar. Producing or introducing the sense of familiarity into a new or strange environment as well as maximizing familiarity in an existing environment is proposed as a viable nursing strategy.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Neural signature of taste familiarity in the gustatory cortex of the freely behaving rat.

Ample data indicate that the gustatory cortex (GC) subserves the processing, encoding, and storage of taste information. To further elucidate the neural processes involved, we recorded multi-unit activity in the GC of the freely behaving rat as it became familiar with a novel tastant. Exposure to the tastant was performed over three 40- to 50-min sessions, 24 h apart. In each session, the tastant was presented repeatedly, 1 s at a time, with 10- to 12-s inter-trial intervals. The neural response to the tastant typically lasted 7 s. Our results show that the average neuronal response to the tastant increased as this tastant became familiar, but this increase was detected only during the last 5 s of the response. The increased response was not generalized to another tastant. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that specific neuronal populations subserve the processing of familiarity of specific tastants. The signature of familiarity was not detected in the course of the familiarization session, but only on the subsequent day, suggesting that its development involves slow post-acquisition processes. Our data are in line with the notion that GC neurons process multiple taste attributes, familiarity included, during different temporal phases of their response. The data also suggest that by default the brain considers a taste stimulus as novel, unless proven otherwise.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Triple dissociation in the medial temporal lobes: recollection, familiarity, and novelty.

Memory for past events may be based on retrieval accompanied by specific contextual details (recollection) or on the feeling that an item is old (familiarity) or new (novelty) in the absence of contextual details. There are indications that recollection, familiarity, and novelty involve different medial temporal lobe subregions, but available evidence is scarce and inconclusive. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we isolated retrieval-related activity associated with recollection, familiarity, and novelty by distinguishing between linear and nonlinear oldness functions derived from recognition confidence levels. Within the medial temporal lobes (MTLs), we found a triple dissociation among the posterior half of the hippocampus, which was associated with recollection, the posterior parahippocampal gyrus, which was associated with familiarity, and anterior half of the hippocampus and rhinal regions, which were associated with novelty. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses based on individual trial activity showed that all three memory signals, i.e., recollection, familiarity, and novelty, make significant and independent contributions to recognition memory performance. Finally, functional dissociations among recollection, familiarity, and novelty were also found in posterior midline, left parietal cortex, and prefrontal cortex regions. This is the first study to reveal a triple dissociation within the MTL associated with distinct retrieval processes. This finding has direct implications for current memory models.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Reading in a regular orthography: an FMRI study investigating the role of visual familiarity.

In order to separate the cognitive processes associated with phonological encoding and the use of a visual word form lexicon in reading, it is desirable to compare the processing of words presented in a visually familiar form with words in a visually unfamiliar form. Japanese Kana orthography offers this possibility. Two phonologically equivalent but visually dissimilar syllabaries allow the writing of, for example, foreign loanwords in two ways, only one of which is visually familiar. Familiarly written words, unfamiliarly written words, and pseudowords were presented in both Kana syllabaries (yielding six conditions in total) to participants during an fMRI measurement with a silent articulation task (Experiment 1) and a phonological lexical decision task (Experiment 2) using an event-related design. Consistent over two experimental tasks, the three different stimulus types (familiar, unfamiliar, and pseudoword) were found to activate selectively different brain regions previously associated with phonological encoding and word retrieval or meaning. Compatible with the predictions of the dual-route model for reading, pseudowords and visually unfamiliar words, which have to be read using phonological assembly, caused an increase in brain activity in left inferior frontal regions (BA 44/47), as compared to visually familiar words. Visually familiar and unfamiliar words were found to activate a range of areas associated with lexico-semantic processing more strongly than pseudowords, such as the left and right temporo-parietal region (BA 39/40), a region in the left middle/inferior temporal gyrus (BA 20/21), and the posterior cingulate (BA 31).

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Familiarity affects the processing of task-irrelevant auditory deviance.

The effects of familiarity on auditory change detection on the basis of auditory sensory memory representations were investigated by presenting oddball sequences of sounds while participants ignored the auditory stimuli. Stimulus sequences were composed of sounds that were familiar and sounds that were made unfamiliar by playing the same sounds backward. The roles of frequently presented stimuli (standards) and infrequently presented ones (deviants) were fully crossed. Deviants elicited the mismatch negativity component of the event-related brain potential. We found an enhancement in detecting changes when deviant sounds appeared among familiar standard sounds compared when they were delivered among unfamiliar standards. Familiarity with the deviant sounds also enhanced the change-detection process. We suggest that tuning to familiar items sets up preparatory processes that affect change detection in familiar sound sequences.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Face processing and familiarity: evidence from eye-movement data.

How is information extracted from familiar and unfamiliar faces? Three experiments, in which eye-movement measures were used, examined whether there was differential sampling of the internal face region according to familiarity. Experiment 1 used a face familiarity task and found that whilst the majority of fixations fell within the internal region, there were no differences in the sampling of this region according to familiarity. Experiment 2 replicated these findings, using a standard recognition memory paradigm. The third experiment employed a matching task, and once again found that the majority of fixations fell within the internal region. Additionally, this experiment found that there was more sampling of the internal region when faces were familiar compared with when they were unfamiliar. The use of eye fixation measures affirms the importance of internal facial features in the recognition of familiar faces compared with unfamiliar faces, but only when viewers compare pairs of faces.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Effects of unilateral prefrontal lesions on familiarity, recollection, and source memory.

Recognition memory can be supported by both the assessment of the familiarity of an item and by recollection of the context in which an item was encountered. Some have hypothesized that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) disproportionately contributes to recollection, whereas an alternative view is that the PFC contributes to both recollection and familiarity. Here, we examined the effects of prefrontal lesions on recollection and familiarity. Patients with unilateral PFC lesions and age-, gender-, and education-matched controls encoded pictures of meaningful objects that were presented briefly to the left or right visual field and subsequently performed recognition tests for centrally presented objects. Laterality effects within the PFC were also assessed in relation to recollection and familiarity processes. Patients with prefrontal lesions showed impaired familiarity-based recognition, and this deficit was specific for objects encoded by the lesioned hemisphere. In addition, recollection of the context in which each item was encountered was impaired independent of the visual field of presentation in patients with left prefrontal lesions. Recollection measured by subjective reports ("remember") was not impaired in either left or right frontal patients. These findings suggest that the PFC plays a critical role in recognition memory based on familiarity as well as recollection. Furthermore, these results suggest that left PFC regions are critical for source recollection.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Language familiarity in magnitude-estimation scaling of loudness by young adults.

The purpose was to examine the effect of language familiarity on magnitude-estimation scaling of loudness by young adults. Two groups of subjects participated in this study. Group 1 of 20 subjects (M age = 23.95 yr.) were familiar with English and not familiar with Hindi. Group 2 of 20 subjects (M age = 24.30 yr.) were familiar with English as well as Hindi. Two separate magnitude-estimation scaling tasks were performed. On the first scaling task, an English sentence was used as the stimulus, and on the second scaling task, a Hindi sentence was used as the stimulus. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in loudness judgments of the English and Hindi sentences. Subjects scaled the loudness of an unfamiliar language in the same manner as they scaled the loudness of a familiar language. The findings suggest that magnitude-estimation scaling is an effective measure of loudness whether the language being listened to is familiar to the listener.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Visual search asymmetry: the influence of stimulus familiarity and low-level features.

Wang, Cavanagh, and Green (1994) demonstrated a pop-out effect in searching for an unfamiliar target among familiar distractors (U-F search) and argued for the importance of a familiarity difference between the target and the distractors in determining search efficiency. In four experiments, we explored the generality of that finding. Experiment 1 compared search efficiency across a variety of target-distractor pairs. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, we used Chinese characters and their transforms as targets and distractors and compared search performance between Chinese and non-Chinese participants. We demonstrated that search asymmetry and search efficiency in the U-F condition are influenced by the presence of low-level feature differences between the familiar and the unfamiliar stimuli. Our findings suggest that the familiarity of the distractors, rather than the familiarity difference between the target and the distractors, determines search efficiency. We also documented a counterintuitive familiarity-inferiority effect, suggesting that knowledge of search stimuli may, sometimes, be detrimental to search performance.

Attention↗
PubMed1994

Familiarity and pop-out in visual search.

In this paper, we report that when the low-level features of targets and distractors are held constant, visual search performance can be strongly influenced by familiarity. In the first condition, a [symbol: see text] was the target amid [symbol: see text]s as distractors, and vice versa. The response time increased steeply as a function of number of distractors (82 msec/item). When the same stimuli were rotated by 90 degrees (the second condition), however, they became familiar patterns--2 and 5--and gave rise to much shallower search functions (31 msec/item). In the third condition, when the search was for a familiar target, N (or Z), among unfamiliar distractors, [symbol: see text]s (or [symbol: see text]s), the slope was about 46 msec/item. In the last condition, when the search was for an unfamiliar target, [symbol: see text] (or [symbol: see text]), among familiar distractors, Ns (or Zs), parallel search functions were found with a slope of about 1.5 msec/item. These results show that familiarity speeds visual search and that it does so principally when the distractors, not the targets, are familiar.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Novel popout and familiar popout in a brightness discrimination task.

A single novel word among several familiarized words may be localized more effectively than the familiarized words (novel popout). Early demonstrations of novel popout attributed the effect to the capture of attentional resources by novel stimuli. Christie and Klein (1995, 1996) argued that differential recollection of novel versus familiar words could alternatively account for the popout effect. In the present experiments, participants judged which of four locations contained a physically brighter word. A bright novel word was localized significantly better than a bright familiar word in one-novel/three-familiar arrays, inconsistent with a retrievability account of novel popout. However, a bright familiar word was also localized better than a bright novel word in three-novel/one-familiar arrays, inconsistent with the mismatch theory proposed by Johnston and Hawley (1994). The results suggest that familiarity and novelty provide a perceptual segregation of the odd item; superior brightness discrimination at that location may be due either to attentional capture or to locational ambiguity within the larger group.

Attention↗
PubMed2000

[A case of agnosia for streets and houses unaccompanied by prosopagnosia of familiar faces due to the right occipital lobe infarction].

We reported a patient who showed agnosia for streets and homes unaccompanied by prosopagnosia of familiar faces following infarction in the right occipital lobe. A 70-years-old right-handed man admitted to our department because of sudden development of visual impairment. He had left hemianopsia, left unilateral spatial neglect and slight visual memory disturbance but no other neurological abnormalities. His verbal memory was maintained intact. He was, however, unable to distinguish the sceneries of buildings and streets regardless of their familiarities and often got lost in the hospital. His topographical abilities in map-sketching and route-description were partially impaired depending upon the familiarity of targets; the disability was observed toward unfamiliar targets. His ability in facial recognition was also partially impaired depending upon the familiarity of persons. The patient was unable to distinguish faces of unfamiliar persons, such as nurses and doctors whom he met following stroke, whereas he was able to distinguish faces of familiar persons, such as his family and friends. The brain MRI demonstrated infarction in the right medial occipital lobe including parahippocampal gyrus, lingual gyrus and fusiform gyrus. In general, the manifestation of agnosia for streets and houses is associated with prosopagnosia. The present case, however, exhibited only the former in association with the partial manifestation of the latter. The fact suggests that those two are independent syndromes. The present case also showed a dissociation in the abilities of topographical and facial recognition according to the familiarity of targets. The process for the retrieval and reference of acquired information and that for the acquirement of new visual information may work in an independent manner.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Matching identities of familiar and unfamiliar faces caught on CCTV images.

People can be inaccurate at matching unfamiliar faces shown in high-quality video images, even when viewpoint and facial expressions are closely matched. However, identification of highly familiar faces appears good, even when video quality is poor. Experiment 1 reported a direct comparison between familiar and unfamiliar faces. Participants who were personally familiar with target items appearing on video were highly accurate at a verification task. Unfamiliar participants doing the same task performed very inaccurately. Familiarity affected discriminability, but not bias. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that brief periods of familiarization have little beneficial effect unless "deep" or "social" processing is encouraged. The results show that video evidence can be used effectively as a probe to identity when the faces shown are highly familiar to observers, but caution should be used where images of unfamiliar people are being compared.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Effects of novelty and familiarity on illness-induced aversions to food and place cues in coyotes (Canis latrans).

Two experiments investigated the effects of novelty and familiarity on illness-induced aversions to taste and place cues in coyotes (Canis latrans). Coyotes were made ill on familiar food laced with lithium chloride in a novel place and then received preference tests. In Experiment 1, coyotes avoided the previously poisoned familiar food in the novel treatment place but readily ate the same familiar food in a familiar safe place. In Experiment 2, the results of Experiment 1 were replicated, and it was found that coyotes would eat a different familiar food in the novel treatment place. On the basis of the results of this and other studies, a model for averting animals from places where they are not wanted is presented.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Proverb familiarity and the mental status examination.

Asking patients to interpret proverbs is a traditional method of assessing abstract thinking ability. Familiarity with a proverb increases the likelihood of interpreting it correctly. Differences in proverb familiarity among patients could lead clinicians to incorrectly conclude that a patient is thinking concretely, and thus to underestimate the patient's cognitive ability. Clinicians should be aware of this possibility when assessing patients from different racial and gender groups. The authors surveyed 229 Afro-American and 104 Caucasian high school students to determine their familiarity with 25 proverbs. Thirty-seven clinicians were also asked to rate their patients' familiarity with the same proverbs. The authors found no differences in proverb familiarity between the black and white students or the male and female students. Clinicians' beliefs about proverb familiarity in their patients were found to be inaccurate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Role of sensory and cognitive information in the enhancement of certainty and liking for novel and familiar foods.

Expected and actual liking for novel and familiar foods were examined under various conditions of sensory and verbal information with 121 subjects who differed in food neophobia. The possible mediating roles of uncertainty about product identity and resemblance to familiar foods were also investigated. Subjects were divided into three verbal information groups (no information; product name; ingredient and use information) balanced for neophobia, age and gender. All groups rated test samples under three sensory conditions: (1) appearance only, (2) appearance and smell and (3) appearance, smell and taste. Neophilics rated novel foods more favorably than did neophobics. Accumulating sensory experience (appearance, smell, taste) decreased liking for novel foods but increased liking for familiar foods. Verbal information generally increased liking for all samples. Liking and certainty of product identity were curvilinearly related for novel foods, but linearly related for familiar foods. Liking for products judged to closely resemble the test product predicted up to 64% of the variability in expected and actual liking. Eight weeks later, subjects rated one of the two novel foods higher than in the first exposure, but no other exposure effects were observed. Our data suggest that information (possibly via reduced uncertainty), resemblance to more familiar foods, and exposure contribute to reducing initially negative responses to novel foods; furthermore, neophobia decreases liking for novel foods similarly at all levels of sensory input (visual, smell and taste).

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Predicting the intent to purchase unfamiliar and familiar cheeses: the effects of attitudes, expected liking and food neophobia.

The attitude model of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) has been applied mainly to predicting the choice of familiar foods; however, the choice of unfamiliar foods may be governed by distinct factors. In the present study, 92 females rated their attitudes and subjective norms about the purchase intentions of two familiar and two unfamiliar cheeses, and the expected and actual pleasantness of them. They also completed the food neophobia scale, which measures the tendency to avoid novel foods. Neophobic persons rated the attitudes and expected and actual taste pleasantness lower than neophilics for all cheeses, except for the most familiar, mild cheese. This suggests that food neophobia also indicates the tendency not only to avoid, but also to dislike novel foods. Before tasting, attitudes and subjective norms together predicted the intent to purchase familiar cheeses better (R2=0.54 and 0.58) than for novel cheeses (R2=0.24 and 0.35); thus, the basic TRA model was not as useful in predicting intent to purchase unfamiliar as familiar cheeses. The predictions especially for the novel cheeses were clearly improved by including expected pleasantness ratings in the model. The usefulness of the food neophobia score as an additional predictor was not clearly supported. Attitudes and subjective norms measured before tasting were poor predictors of purchase intents after tasting, which implies the importance of taste and direct product experience in food choice.

Adult↗