An online version of the Mooney Face Test: phenotypic and genetic associations.

The Mooney Face Test is a widely used test of face perception, but was originally designed to be administered by personal interview. We have developed a three-alternative forced-choice version for online testing. We tested 397 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 42 (M=24 years). There was a wide range of performance (64-100% correct; M=89.6%). We observed a significant sex difference favoring males (.31 standard deviation; p =.004). In addition, independently of sex, higher 2D:4D digit ratios were significantly associated with higher scores (ρ=.14, p=.006). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) for a subset of 370 participants identified an association between Mooney performance and a polymorphism in the RAPGEF5 gene (rs1522280; p=9.68×10(-8)). This association survives a permutation test (p=.031).This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version of this paper is published by Elsevier in Neuropsychologia here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393214002747

The Oxytocin Receptor Gene ( OXTR) and Face Recognition.

A recent study has linked individual differences in face recognition to rs237887, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the oxytocin receptor gene ( OXTR; Skuse et al., 2014). In that study, participants were assessed using the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Faces, but performance on Warrington's test has been shown not to rely purely on face recognition processes. We administered the widely used Cambridge Face Memory Test-a purer test of face recognition-to 370 participants. Performance was not significantly associated with rs237887, with 16 other SNPs of OXTR that we genotyped, or with a further 75 imputed SNPs. We also administered three other tests of face processing (the Mooney Face Test, the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Composite Face Test), but performance was never significantly associated with rs237887 or with any of the other genotyped or imputed SNPs, after corrections for multiple testing. In addition, we found no associations between OXTR and Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores.This work was supported by Gatsby Charitable Foundation Grant GAT2903

General and specific factors in the processing of faces.

The ability to recognize faces varies considerably between individuals, but does performance co-vary for tests of different aspects of face processing? For 397 participants (of whom the majority were university students) we obtained scores on the Mooney Face Test, Glasgow Face Matching Test (GFMT), Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and Composite Face Test. Overall performance was significantly correlated for each pair of tests, and we suggest the term f for the factor underlying this pattern of positive correlations. However, there were large variations in the amount of variance shared by individual tests: The GFMT and CFMT are strongly related, whereas the GFMT and the Mooney test tap largely independent abilities. We do not replicate a frequently reported relationship between holistic processing (from the Composite test) and face recognition (from the CFMT)-indeed, holistic processing does not correlate with any of our tests. We report associations of performance with digit ratio and autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), and from our genome-wide association study we include a list of suggestive genetic associations with performance on the four face tests, as well as with f.Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Grant ID: GAT2903

The oxytocin receptor gene OXTR is not associated with face recognition

A recent study has linked individual differences in face recognition to rs237887, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR; Skuse et al., 2014). In that study, participants were assessed using the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Faces, but performance on Warrington’s test has been shown not to rely purely on face recognition processes. We administered the widely used Cambridge Face Memory Test—a purer test of face recognition—to 370 participants. Performance was not significantly associated with rs237887, with 16 other SNPs of OXTR that we genotyped, or with a further 75 imputed SNPs. We also administered three other tests of face processing (the Mooney Face Test, the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Composite Face Test), but performance was never significantly associated with rs237887 or with any of the other genotyped or imputed SNPs, after corrections for multiple testing. In addition, we found no associations between OXTR and Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores

Social cognition modulates the sensory coding of observed gaze direction

Gaze direction is an important social signal in both human and nonhuman primates, providing information about conspecifics' attention, interests, and intentions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Single-unit recordings in macaques have revealed neurons selective for others' specific gaze direction 5 and 6. A parallel functional organization in the human brain is indicated by gaze-adaptation experiments, in which systematic distortions in gaze perception following prolonged exposure to static face images reveal dynamic interactions in local cortical circuitry 7 and 8. However, our understanding of the influence of high-level social cognition on these processes in monkeys and humans is still rudimentary. Here we show that the attribution of a mental state to another person determines the way in which the human brain codes observed gaze direction. Specifically, we convinced observers that prerecorded video sequences of an experimenter gazing left or right were a live video link to an adjacent room. The experimenter wore mirrored goggles that observers believed were either transparent such that the person could see, or opaque such that the person could not see. The effects of adaptation were enhanced under the former condition relative to the latter, indicating that high-level sociocognitive processes shape and modulate sensory coding of observed gaze direction

Social cognition modulates the sensory coding of observed gaze direction

Gaze direction is an important social signal in both human and nonhuman primates, providing information about conspecifics' attention, interests, and intentions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Single-unit recordings in macaques have revealed neurons selective for others' specific gaze direction 5 and 6. A parallel functional organization in the human brain is indicated by gaze-adaptation experiments, in which systematic distortions in gaze perception following prolonged exposure to static face images reveal dynamic interactions in local cortical circuitry 7 and 8. However, our understanding of the influence of high-level social cognition on these processes in monkeys and humans is still rudimentary. Here we show that the attribution of a mental state to another person determines the way in which the human brain codes observed gaze direction. Specifically, we convinced observers that prerecorded video sequences of an experimenter gazing left or right were a live video link to an adjacent room. The experimenter wore mirrored goggles that observers believed were either transparent such that the person could see, or opaque such that the person could not see. The effects of adaptation were enhanced under the former condition relative to the latter, indicating that high-level sociocognitive processes shape and modulate sensory coding of observed gaze direction

Do different 'magnocellular tasks' probe the same neural substrate?

The sensory abnormalities associated with disorders such as dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia have often been attributed to a generalized deficit in the visual magnocellular-dorsal stream and its auditory homologue. To probe magnocellular function, various psychophysical tasks are often employed that require the processing of rapidly changing stimuli. But is performance on these several tasks supported by a common substrate? To answer this question, we tested a cohort of 1060 individuals on four 'magnocellular tasks': detection of low-spatial-frequency gratings reversing in contrast at a high temporal frequency (so-called frequency-doubled gratings); detection of pulsed low-spatial-frequency gratings on a steady luminance pedestal; detection of coherent motion; and auditory discrimination of temporal order. Although all tasks showed test-retest reliability, only one pair shared more than 4 per cent of variance. Correlations within the set of 'magnocellular tasks' were similar to the correlations between those tasks and a 'non-magnocellular task', and there was little consistency between 'magnocellular deficit' groups comprising individuals with the lowest sensitivity for each task. Our results suggest that different 'magnocellular tasks' reflect different sources of variance, and thus are not general measures of 'magnocellular function'

Do “Magnocellular Tasks” Measure “Magnocellular Function”?

Magnocellular deficit theories propose that certain cognitive disorders, such as developmental dyslexia, arise from a generalised deficit in the visual dorsal–magnocellular system and its auditory homologue. Psychophysical tasks requiring rapid temporal processing are often used to probe magnocellular function in this context. However, it is not clear whether performance on these various tasks is actually supported by a common substrate. This study investigated whether different putative measures of magnocellular function produce mutually consistent results, and thus evaluated the extent to which they target the same neural mechanisms. Within the PERGENIC project, 1060 participants completed four psychophysical tasks: detection of ‘frequency-doubled’ gratings (FD); detection of pulsed gratings of low spatial frequency on a steady luminance pedestal (SP); detection of coherent motion (CM); and auditory discrimination of temporal order (TO). Although all measures exhibited good test–retest reliability, only the correlation between the two grating detection tasks was of notable magnitude (FD–SP; ρ = .39); other correlations between measures were poor to modest, ranging from ρ = .06 to .20. For each measure, we also identified a group of participants with very low sensitivity, but found only limited consistency between these putative ‘magnocellular deficit’ groups. Our results suggest that performance on each of these measures is primarily determined by a different neural substrate. Accordingly, we recommend against interpreting such psychophysical tasks as general measures of ‘magnocellular function’. [Supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

An online version of the Mooney Face Test: phenotypic and genetic associations

The Mooney Face Test is a widely used test of face perception, but was originally designed to be administered by personal interview. We have developed a three-alternative forced-choice version for online testing. We tested 397 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 42 (M=24 years). There was a wide range of performance (64-100% correct; M=89.6%). We observed a significant sex difference favoring males (.31 standard deviation; p =.004). In addition, independently of sex, higher 2D:4D digit ratios were significantly associated with higher scores (?=.14, p=.006). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) for a subset of 370 participants identified an association between Mooney performance and a polymorphism in the RAPGEF5 gene (rs1522280; p=9.68×10(-8)). This association survives a permutation test (p=.031)