WildLab: A naturalistic free viewing experiment reveals previously unknown electroencephalography signatures of face processing
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WildLab: A naturalistic free viewing experiment reveals previously unknown electroencephalography signatures of face processing. / Gert, Anna L; Ehinger, Benedikt V; Timm, Silja; Kietzmann, Tim C; König, Peter.
In: EUR J NEUROSCI, Vol. 56, No. 11, 12.2022, p. 6022-6038.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - WildLab: A naturalistic free viewing experiment reveals previously unknown electroencephalography signatures of face processing
AU - Gert, Anna L
AU - Ehinger, Benedikt V
AU - Timm, Silja
AU - Kietzmann, Tim C
AU - König, Peter
N1 - © 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Neural mechanisms of face perception are predominantly studied in well-controlled experimental settings that involve random stimulus sequences and fixed eye positions. Although powerful, the employed paradigms are far from what constitutes natural vision. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of ecologically more valid experimental paradigms using natural viewing behaviour, by combining a free viewing paradigm on natural scenes, free of photographer bias, with advanced data processing techniques that correct for overlap effects and co-varying non-linear dependencies of multiple eye movement parameters. We validate this approach by replicating classic N170 effects in neural responses, triggered by fixation onsets (fixation event-related potentials [fERPs]). Importantly, besides finding a strong correlation between both experiments, our more natural stimulus paradigm yielded smaller variability between subjects than the classic setup. Moving beyond classic temporal and spatial effect locations, our experiment furthermore revealed previously unknown signatures of face processing: This includes category-specific modulation of the event-related potential (ERP)'s amplitude even before fixation onset, as well as adaptation effects across subsequent fixations depending on their history.
AB - Neural mechanisms of face perception are predominantly studied in well-controlled experimental settings that involve random stimulus sequences and fixed eye positions. Although powerful, the employed paradigms are far from what constitutes natural vision. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of ecologically more valid experimental paradigms using natural viewing behaviour, by combining a free viewing paradigm on natural scenes, free of photographer bias, with advanced data processing techniques that correct for overlap effects and co-varying non-linear dependencies of multiple eye movement parameters. We validate this approach by replicating classic N170 effects in neural responses, triggered by fixation onsets (fixation event-related potentials [fERPs]). Importantly, besides finding a strong correlation between both experiments, our more natural stimulus paradigm yielded smaller variability between subjects than the classic setup. Moving beyond classic temporal and spatial effect locations, our experiment furthermore revealed previously unknown signatures of face processing: This includes category-specific modulation of the event-related potential (ERP)'s amplitude even before fixation onset, as well as adaptation effects across subsequent fixations depending on their history.
KW - Humans
KW - Facial Recognition/physiology
KW - Electroencephalography/methods
KW - Evoked Potentials/physiology
KW - Eye Movements
KW - Adaptation, Physiological
KW - Photic Stimulation
U2 - 10.1111/ejn.15824
DO - 10.1111/ejn.15824
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 36113866
VL - 56
SP - 6022
EP - 6038
JO - EUR J NEUROSCI
JF - EUR J NEUROSCI
SN - 0953-816X
IS - 11
ER -