Peissig Vision Lab

The Peissig Vision Lab focuses on studies of visual cognition. In particular, many of our studies have explored various aspects of visual expertise, such as how contrast levels affect face perception, the role of eyebrows in recognition, and the effect of wearing disguises on face recognition.

Generalization of Expertise

By studying experts such as car experts and bird experts, we can better understand the ways in which people are able to generalize to new exemplars from the expert object classes, and how boundaries to generalization classes might be formed. We are also interested in looking at how race plays a role in face recognition expertise

Faces in Disguise

Using stimuli collected with Michael Tarr and available for use at face-place.org, we explore how adding or subtracting wigs and glasses affects our ability to recognize individuals (Righi, Peissig, & Tarr, 2012).

Role of Eyebrows in Recognition

Although the role of the eyes in recognizing face identity has been extensively explored, the eyebrows have been largely ignored. We are testing whether eyebrows are an important feature in recognizing faces, and if so, what specific role do they play in the recognition process?

Emotion Recognition

Most studies have studied how facial expressions of emotion are recognized by using posed expressions. Using facial emotional expressions from face-place.org, we are exploring expression recognition using genuine expressions.

Faces and Contrast

We are interested in how changing the contrast levels in a face may affect both the recognition of identity and perception of attractiveness.

People