Research Seminar - Visiting Speaker Michael Papasavva (Birkbeck) 1st November 2018, 12-1pm

*** Everyone Welcome! No need to book in advance*** 

Date: Thursday 1^st November 2018
Time: 12:00-13:00 
Room: Building 9 BG09A

Michael Papasavva (Birkbeck, University of London) 

 

Abstract:

Humans are an incredibly gregarious species that rely on large interpersonal social networks. Faces are our most readily available social cue and can reveal a wealth of identity-relevant information. The ability to extract identity information from the face region is considered a normal and perhaps innate ability in the vast majority of individuals. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are a varying range of abilities within the normal (typically developing) population. Here, we investigate two potential mechanisms that drive individual differences in face identity recognition. Through a series of experiments, we analysed the effects of social reward and unconscious bias on face recognition performance. Inherent social motivation has been hypothesised to drive face expertise through increased experience. In two large scale community studies, based at the London Science Museum, we utilised behavioural economics paradigms to assess whether better processors find faces more rewarding than worse processors. In a second series of experiments we tackled the possible effect of low-level perceptual biases on superior face expertise. We employed a particularly powerful variant of binocular rivalry called Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS) to investigate if unconsciously perceived faces break into conscious awareness faster in better face processors.

Biography:

I am a Ph.D candidate at Birkbeck College, University of London. My research investigates various drivers of individual differences in typical human identity and emotion face processing. I utilise, Event Related Potential (ERP), Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS) and behavioural economic paradigms to investigate this area.