NCT06851923

Study of Visual Mecanisms Involved in Face Recognition

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Université Catholique de Louvain · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Since the 19th century, perception has been regarded as an inferential process in which sensory input is compared with prior knowledge, namely the internalised representation of the visual environment. This notion is central to the understanding of everyday perception and cognition in general, and is attracting much attention in various areas of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. However, it is unclear whether and how the primary visual refinement that is thought to underlie the convergence of bottom-up inputs with top-down prior knowledge applies to the processing of meaningful stimuli in our everyday lives. The investigators have shown that human face processing mechanisms are shaped by prior knowledge that the horizontal range of face information conveys the richest and most reliable cues. Furthermore, investigators' previous data suggest that the primary visual cortex is recruited during the progressive refinement of face representation. Using very high field neuroimaging, the present project proposes to follow the neural mechanisms underlying the cortical refinement of horizontal information in human face processing, and to study their contribution to behaviour.

Conditions

• Young Healthy Adults
• Healthy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	3Tesla magnetic resonance imaging of the healthy human visual system	The present project presents a series of monocentric MRI studies carried out on healthy adult human volunteers. All neuroimaging will be performed at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (CUSL, IRM de recherche). Participants will not directly benefit from their participation. All studies will manipulate the visual properties of the experimental stimuli in a within-subject way, and therefore do not rely on any participation group assignation/randomization method. The duration of studies will vary between 3h to 6h, i.e., from 2 to 4x1h30 3Tesla magnetic resonance imaging sessions depending on the experimental design.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-03-01
• Primary completion: 2030-11-15
• Completion: 2030-11-15
• First posted: 2025-02-28
• Last updated: 2025-02-28