Brain Activation in Response to Caricatures Blake Reitz & Alex Lehmicke

University of Wisconsin-StoutIntroduction• Caricatures can be found in all forms of media.• Mauro & Kubovy found that caricatures (AKA “Super-Portraits”) were encoded quicker than real faces in same/different reaction tests.

• N170 – ERP in the Fusiform Face Area (FFA) related to face processing• Left brain – “Part-based processing”• Right brain – “Holistic processing”

• Do caricatures map more accurately to the brain then real faces? • Do they take less effort to process?

Hypothesis• The Temporal Lobes (T5 & T6) will show stronger activation for caricatures over real faces. • The Parietal Lobe (Pz) will show quicker N170 activation for caricatures over real faces.

Pilot Study Results

Real Faces vs. Caricatures – Parietal

Real Faces vs. Caricatures – Left Temporal

Real Faces vs. Caricatures – Right Temporal

Mean EEG – Parietal, T5, T6

AcknowledgmentsThanks to Doctors Desiree Budd, Mike Donnelly, and Peizong Li

Literature citedMauro, R. & Kubovy, M. (1992) Caricature and face recognition.

Scott McCloud’s scale of realism in characterized faces

Conclusions• This study is currently ongoing.• The initial data supports half of our hypothesis.

-There is evidence that caricatures are processed quicker than real faces.

-There was little significant variation found in the left and right temporal lobes. • The pilot study suggests that the caricatures and real faces were not processed differently in each hemisphere of the brain, but are processed differently overall.• Our study supports Mauro and Kubovy’s hypothesis from a psychophysical perspective, future studies might find further evidence in support of the “super-portrait” hypothesis.

Pilot Study notes:

• EEG was recorded from five subjects from the three locations using Biopac.

• Participants observed sixty faces (two sets of 15 real faces and 15 caricatures).

Sample Faces

Sample Caricature and photograph used in pilot studyMaterials & Methods• EEG were recorded using the 64-channel HydroCel Geodesic Sensor Net

•Each face was followed by a rest period

•During the rest period, there was an on-screen questionnaire on the familiarity of the face.

• Pictures were controlled for color and contrast.

•Familiarity was controlled for by using pictures of well-known male celebrities.

• Participants viewed 80 faces• 20 real faces• 20 caricatures• Each face was viewed twice• Each face was seen for one second

• Arrows denotes N170 ERP

•Caricatures showed quicker Pz activation than real faces

•Blue Arrow shows increasing Pz activation in the 400+ millisecond range.•Area tied to novelty•Greater for caricatures

•Pz activation at 250 milliseconds for real faces

•Pz is inverted, as it is located above the primary visual cortex

•Real faces activated slightly quicker in T5 & T6

•Caricatures showed stronger activation in T5 and T6 than real faces