When the whole is only the parts: non-holistic object parts predominate face-cell responses to illusory faces.

ABSTRACT: Humans are inclined to perceive faces in everyday objects with a face-like configuration. This illusion, known as face pareidolia, is often attributed to a specialized network of 'face cells' in primates. We found that face cells in macaque inferotemporal cortex responded selectively to pareidolia images, but this selectivity did not require a holistic, face-like configuration, nor did it encode human faceness ratings. Instead, it was driven mostly by isolated object parts that are perceived as eyes only within a face-like context. These object parts lack usual characteristics of primate eyes, pointing to the role of lower-level features. Our results suggest that face-cell responses are dominated by local, generic features, unlike primate visual perception, which requires holistic informat

SUBMITTER: Sharma S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10542491 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature