Foveal and Extrafoveal Processing of Facial Features for Emotion Recognition

This thesis focuses on the differential contributions of foveal and extrafoveal processing of facial features to the identification of facially expressed emotions. Each facial expression of the six basic emotions – happy, sad, fearful, surprised, disgusted and angry – has distinctive features that are informative for their recognition. We investigated whether: (1) foveal processing of emotion-informative features enhances emotion recognition, relative to extrafoveal processing of those features; (2) this is due to high spatial frequency (HSF) processing by the fovea; (3) eye movements target emotion-informative features when not initially fixated; (4) gaze patterns while viewing facial expressions are specific to each expression; and (5) preferential visual sampling of emotion-informative features is linked to better emotion recognition. Across four experiments, expressions of anger, surprise, fear, sadness and disgust were presented briefly, precluding eye movements, at positions which ensured that either eye, central brow, either cheek or the mouth fell on the fovea. Enforced fixation on the mouth improved recognition accuracy for fearful, surprised and disgusted expressions and reduced misclassification of fear as surprise and disgust as anger (Experiments 1 and 2). Enforced fixation on the brow and mouth led to higher anger recognition accuracy compared to the cheeks (Experiment 2). Intensity of expressions did not modulate the effect of initially fixating on emotion-informative features on emotion recognition. There were fewer neutral responses for anger at the brow region (Experiment 3). There were also fewer neutral responses for fear and surprise at the mouth (Experiment 3). While filtering out the HSF from the fixated emotion-informative features did not affect emotion recognition, occluding them impaired it (Experiment 4). Reflexive first saccades were more often directed upwards from lower features than downwards from upper features, yet more detailed analysis showed that they did not target emotion-informative features as suggested by previous research (Experiments 1, 2 and 3). Finally, when allowed to view faces for 5s, gaze patterns reflected the distribution of emotion-informative features and there was a positive correlation between time spent looking at the mouth and disgust recognition (Experiment 2). Overall, we found that foveal processing of some emotion-informative features improved emotion recognition, however, this was not due to HSF processing at the fovea. Additionally, instead of being guided by emotion-informative facial features, initial saccades might be guided more strongly by the centre-of-gravity effect or a general top-down knowledge of face configuration. The saccade patterns observed also suggest that observers seek to sample as much of the face space as possible in order to classify its expression

Foveal processing of emotion-informative facial features

Certain facial features provide useful information for recognition of facial expressions. In two experiments, we investigated whether foveating informative features of briefly presented expressions improves recognition accuracy and whether these features are targeted reflexively when not foveated. Angry, fearful, surprised, and sad or disgusted expressions were presented briefly at locations which would ensure foveation of specific features. Foveating the mouth of fearful, surprised and disgusted expressions improved emotion recognition compared to foveating an eye or cheek or the central brow. Foveating the brow led to equivocal results in anger recognition across the two experiments, which might be due to the different combination of emotions used. There was no consistent evidence suggesting that reflexive first saccades targeted emotion-relevant features; instead, they targeted the closest feature to initial fixation. In a third experiment, angry, fearful, surprised and disgusted expressions were presented for 5 seconds. Duration of task-related fixations in the eyes, brow, nose and mouth regions was modulated by the presented expression. Moreover, longer fixation at the mouth positively correlated with anger and disgust accuracy both when these expressions were freely viewed (Experiment 2b) and when briefly presented at the mouth (Experiment 2a). Finally, an overall preference to fixate the mouth across all expressions correlated positively with anger and disgust accuracy. These findings suggest that foveal processing of informative features is functional/contributory to emotion recognition, but they are not automatically sought out when not foveated, and that facial emotion recognition performance is related to idiosyncratic gaze behaviour

Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries

It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (Ntotal = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions—warmth and competence—plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were universally identified as key protagonists across countries. Secondly, multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed that warmth and competence perceptions of these and other protagonists differed significantly within and between countries. Thirdly, internal meta-analyses showed that warmth and competence perceptions of heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were associated with support and opposition intentions, containment and prevention behaviors, as well as vaccination uptake. Our results have important implications for designing effective interventions to motivate desirable health outcomes and coping with future health crises and other global challenges.publishedVersio

Post-intervention Status in Patients With Refractory Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab During REGAIN and Its Open-Label Extension

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether eculizumab helps patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) achieve the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) post-intervention status of minimal manifestations (MM), we assessed patients' status throughout REGAIN (Safety and Efficacy of Eculizumab in AChR+ Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis) and its open-label extension. METHODS: Patients who completed the REGAIN randomized controlled trial and continued into the open-label extension were included in this tertiary endpoint analysis. Patients were assessed for the MGFA post-intervention status of improved, unchanged, worse, MM, and pharmacologic remission at defined time points during REGAIN and through week 130 of the open-label study. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed REGAIN and continued into the open-label study (eculizumab/eculizumab: 56; placebo/eculizumab: 61). At week 26 of REGAIN, more eculizumab-treated patients than placebo-treated patients achieved a status of improved (60.7% vs 41.7%) or MM (25.0% vs 13.3%; common OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). After 130 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 88.0% of patients achieved improved status and 57.3% of patients achieved MM status. The safety profile of eculizumab was consistent with its known profile and no new safety signals were detected. CONCLUSION: Eculizumab led to rapid and sustained achievement of MM in patients with AChR+ refractory gMG. These findings support the use of eculizumab in this previously difficult-to-treat patient population. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: REGAIN, NCT01997229; REGAIN open-label extension, NCT02301624. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that, after 26 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 25.0% of adults with AChR+ refractory gMG achieved MM, compared with 13.3% who received placebo

Minimal Symptom Expression' in Patients With Acetylcholine Receptor Antibody-Positive Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab

The efficacy and tolerability of eculizumab were assessed in REGAIN, a 26-week, phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), and its open-label extension

Empathy as a predictor of peripersonal space: Evidence from the crossmodal congruency task

To investigate whether individual differences in Empathy predict the characteristics of Peripersonal Space (PPS) representations, we asked participants to complete the IRI questionnaire and a visuo-tactile crossmodal congruency task (CCT) as an index of PPS. In the CCT, they responded to the elevation of a tactile target while ignoring a visual distractor presented at the same (i.e. congruent) or different (i.e. incongruent) elevation. The target-distractor distance was also manipulated in depth, with visual distractors randomly presented at near, middle or far locations (0 cm, 25 cm or 50 cm). The near and middle crossmodal congruency effects (CCE) were inversely related to participants’ scores on the Empathic Concern sub-scale (EC). Furthermore, the slope of participants’ CCE across locations was related to EC scores, with flatter slopes for higher EC individuals. Thus, higher EC individuals showed reduced visuo-tactile integration responses within PPS and a reduced differentiation between PPS and extra-personal space (EPS)

Installation of the METU Defocusing Beamline to Perform Space Radiation Tests

METU Defocusing Beamline (DBL) is being installed at TAEA SANAEM Proton Accelerator Facility [1] for radiation tests of electronic devices to be used in satellites and spacecrafts which are exposed to a high radiation dose in space or at the Hi-Lumi LHC [2]. 15 - 30 MeV protons from the accelerator are spread out over an area of 15.40 X 21.55 cm to provide large irradiation in accordance to ESA/ESCC No. 25100 standard with METU-DBL. A wide selectable flux menu ranging from 10(5) - 10(10) p/cm(2)/s will be available to users starting in summer 2019. The final design has been updated with the experience gained from the pre-test setup installation [3] and the ensuing irradiation campaign with different users [4]. In this paper, magnetic measurement results of a custom design quadrupole magnet, as well as updates to the mechanical, robotic and control subsystems are presented