Slide
Centre Interdisciplinaire
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
1.
Côté, L.; Lamontagne, J.; Bellerose, A.; Blais, C.; Fiset, D.
The eyes are central to face detection: revisiting the foundations of face processing Journal Article
In: Vision Research, vol. 243, 2026, ISSN: 00426989 (ISSN).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: adult, article, Black person, Bubbles, Categorization, Caucasian, Detection, emotion assessment, Faces, Facial Recognition, facies, female, human, human experiment, Image analysis, information processing, Information use, male, Noise, normal human, perception, Prosopagnosia, spatial frequency discrimination, task performance, visual discrimination, Young Adult
@article{cote_eyes_2026,
title = {The eyes are central to face detection: revisiting the foundations of face processing},
author = {L. Côté and J. Lamontagne and A. Bellerose and C. Blais and D. Fiset},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105030389147&doi=10.1016%2Fj.visres.2026.108785&partnerID=40&md5=752aa5d9923ac60539e36118ad41e1e6},
doi = {10.1016/j.visres.2026.108785},
issn = {00426989 (ISSN)},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-01-01},
journal = {Vision Research},
volume = {243},
abstract = {Face detection feels effortless, yet it requires finely tuned computations to extract socially meaningful signals from the visual stream. Here, we used the Bubbles method to isolate the facial features and spatial frequency information that support face categorization. Across three experiments varying in task demands and visual context, the eye region consistently emerged as the most diagnostic source of information, particularly in high spatial frequencies. This finding held whether participants distinguished faces from noise, from non-face objects, or from real-world categories—suggesting that the eyes serve as an anchor point for categorization across contexts. Strikingly, this diagnostic profile mirrors that found in face identification tasks, implying that detection and recognition may rely on shared perceptual mechanisms rather than sequential, independent processes. This overlap sheds light on longstanding ambiguities in the prosopagnosia literature, indicating that detection impairments found in patients may stem from a broader failure to extract critical eye information. More broadly, our results invite a rethinking of the early stages of face processing, suggesting that detection already involves selective use of diagnostic facial features that supports recognition, emotional decoding, and social perception. © 2026 The Author(s).},
keywords = {adult, article, Black person, Bubbles, Categorization, Caucasian, Detection, emotion assessment, Faces, Facial Recognition, facies, female, human, human experiment, Image analysis, information processing, Information use, male, Noise, normal human, perception, Prosopagnosia, spatial frequency discrimination, task performance, visual discrimination, Young Adult},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Face detection feels effortless, yet it requires finely tuned computations to extract socially meaningful signals from the visual stream. Here, we used the Bubbles method to isolate the facial features and spatial frequency information that support face categorization. Across three experiments varying in task demands and visual context, the eye region consistently emerged as the most diagnostic source of information, particularly in high spatial frequencies. This finding held whether participants distinguished faces from noise, from non-face objects, or from real-world categories—suggesting that the eyes serve as an anchor point for categorization across contexts. Strikingly, this diagnostic profile mirrors that found in face identification tasks, implying that detection and recognition may rely on shared perceptual mechanisms rather than sequential, independent processes. This overlap sheds light on longstanding ambiguities in the prosopagnosia literature, indicating that detection impairments found in patients may stem from a broader failure to extract critical eye information. More broadly, our results invite a rethinking of the early stages of face processing, suggesting that detection already involves selective use of diagnostic facial features that supports recognition, emotional decoding, and social perception. © 2026 The Author(s).
2.
Fiset, D.; Gosselin, F.; Blais, C.; Arguin, M.
Inducing letter-by-letter dyslexia in normal readers Journal Article
In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1466–1476, 2006, ISSN: 0898929X.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Acquired, adult, analysis of variance, article, Brain Damage, Chronic, clinical feature, confusion, Contrast Sensitivity, controlled study, Dyslexia, Functional Laterality, human, human experiment, Humans, Infarction, male, Mental Processes, parallel design, Pattern Recognition, Photic Stimulation, Posterior Cerebral Artery, priority journal, reaction time, Reading, Reference Values, spatial frequency discrimination, Visual, visual discrimination, Visual Perception, visual system, word recognition
@article{fiset_inducing_2006,
title = {Inducing letter-by-letter dyslexia in normal readers},
author = {D. Fiset and F. Gosselin and C. Blais and M. Arguin},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33749435964&doi=10.1162%2fjocn.2006.18.9.1466&partnerID=40&md5=edc961f6e18a7de0811cbc0e7ce9be1d},
doi = {10.1162/jocn.2006.18.9.1466},
issn = {0898929X},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience},
volume = {18},
number = {9},
pages = {1466–1476},
abstract = {Letter-by-letter (LBL) dyslexia is an acquired reading disorder characterized by very slow reading and a large linear word length effect. This suggests the use of a sequential LBL strategy, in sharp contrast with the parallel letter processing used by normal subjects. Recently, we have proposed that the reading difficulty of LBL dyslexics is due to a deficit in discriminating visually similar letters based on parallel letter processing [Arguin, M., Fiset, S., & Bub, D. Sequential and parallel letter processing in letter-by-letter dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 19, 535-555, 2002]. The visual mechanisms underlying this deficit and the LBL strategy, however, are still unknown. In this article, we propose that LBL dyslexic patients have lost the ability to use, for parallel letter processing, the optimal spatial frequency band for letter and word recognition. We claim that, instead, they rely on lower spatial frequencies for parallel processing, that these lower spatial frequencies produce confusions between visually similar letters, and that the LBL compensatory strategy allows them to extract higher spatial frequencies. The LBL strategy would thus increase the spatial resolution of the visual system, effectively resolving the issue pertaining to between-letter similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, we succeeded in replicating the main features characterizing LBL dyslexia by having normal individuals read low-contrast, high-pass-filtered words. Experiment 3, conducted in LBL dyslexic L.H., shows that, indeed, the letter confusability effect is based on low spatial frequencies, whereas this effect was not supported by high spatial frequencies. © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.},
keywords = {Acquired, adult, analysis of variance, article, Brain Damage, Chronic, clinical feature, confusion, Contrast Sensitivity, controlled study, Dyslexia, Functional Laterality, human, human experiment, Humans, Infarction, male, Mental Processes, parallel design, Pattern Recognition, Photic Stimulation, Posterior Cerebral Artery, priority journal, reaction time, Reading, Reference Values, spatial frequency discrimination, Visual, visual discrimination, Visual Perception, visual system, word recognition},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Letter-by-letter (LBL) dyslexia is an acquired reading disorder characterized by very slow reading and a large linear word length effect. This suggests the use of a sequential LBL strategy, in sharp contrast with the parallel letter processing used by normal subjects. Recently, we have proposed that the reading difficulty of LBL dyslexics is due to a deficit in discriminating visually similar letters based on parallel letter processing [Arguin, M., Fiset, S., & Bub, D. Sequential and parallel letter processing in letter-by-letter dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 19, 535-555, 2002]. The visual mechanisms underlying this deficit and the LBL strategy, however, are still unknown. In this article, we propose that LBL dyslexic patients have lost the ability to use, for parallel letter processing, the optimal spatial frequency band for letter and word recognition. We claim that, instead, they rely on lower spatial frequencies for parallel processing, that these lower spatial frequencies produce confusions between visually similar letters, and that the LBL compensatory strategy allows them to extract higher spatial frequencies. The LBL strategy would thus increase the spatial resolution of the visual system, effectively resolving the issue pertaining to between-letter similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, we succeeded in replicating the main features characterizing LBL dyslexia by having normal individuals read low-contrast, high-pass-filtered words. Experiment 3, conducted in LBL dyslexic L.H., shows that, indeed, the letter confusability effect is based on low spatial frequencies, whereas this effect was not supported by high spatial frequencies. © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.