Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

In the Thatcher illusion, a face with inverted eyes and mouth looks abnormal when upright but not when inverted. Behavioral studies have shown that thatcherization of an upright face disrupts perceptual processing of the local configuration. We recorded high-density EEG from normal observers to study ERP correlates of the illusion during the perception of faces and nonface objects, to determine whether inversion and thatcherization affect similar neural mechanisms. Observers viewed faces and houses in four conditions (upright vs. inverted, and normal vs. thatcherized) while detecting an oddball category (chairs). Thatcherization delayed the N170 component over occipito-temporal cortex to faces, but not to houses. This modulation matched the illusion as it was larger for upright than inverted faces. The P1 over medial occipital regions was delayed by face inversion but unaffected by thatcherization. Finally, face thatcherization delayed P2 over occipito-temporal but not over parietal regions, while inversion affected P2 across categories. All effects involving thatcherization were face-specific. These results indicate that effects of face inversion and feature inversion (in thatcherized faces) can be distinguished on a functional as well as neural level, and that they affect configural processing of faces in different time windows.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.03.023

Type

Journal article

Journal

Neuroimage

Publication Date

01/08/2006

Volume

32

Pages

352 - 367

Keywords

Adult, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Face, Female, Humans, Illusions, Male, Orientation, Perception, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Reference Values, Visual Perception