I have a particular interest in the visual perception and recognition of a fascinating category of objects: faces.

The face is undoubtedly a ‘special’ type of stimulus, with a long evolutionary history and a critical role in humans for social communication.

To clarify the neuro-functional mechanisms of face perception, I believe in the combination of data from various methods. We perform our own studies using neuroimaging (PET, fMRI), EEG and ERP, eye movement recordings, and behavioral studies in normal adults and children, as well as in brain-damaged people suffering from face recognition deficits (acquired prosopagnosia). This does not prevent us from having a rich network of international collaborators.

Overview of lab projects

 *see home page of the lab publications for full list of publications

Rossion, B. (in press). The composite face illusion: a whole window into our understanding of holistic face perception. Visual Cognition. PDF fileREVIEW

Rossion, B. & Boremanse, A. (2011). Robust sensitivity to facial identity in the right human occipito-temporal cortex as revealed by steady-state visual-evoked potentials. Journal of Vision. 11(2):16, 1–21. PDF file

Jiang, F., Dricot, L., Weber, J., Righi, G., Tarr, M.J., Goebel, R., Rossion, B. (2011). Face categorization in visual scenes may start in a higher order area of the right fusiform gyrus: evidence from dynamic visual stimulation in neuroimaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 106, 2720-2736. PDF file STIMULI AS FIGURES

Busigny, T., Joubert, S., Felician, O., Ceccaldi, M., Rossion, B. (2010). Holistic perception of the individual face is specific and necessary: evidence from an extensive case study of acquired prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia, 48, 4057-4092.PDF file

Van Belle, G., de Graef, P., Verfaillie, K., Busigny, T., Rossion, B. (2010). Whole not hole: expert face recognition requires holistic perception. Neuropsychologia, 48, 2609-2620. PDF file

Jacques, C., Rossion, B. (2009). The initial representation of individual faces in the right occipito-temporal cortex is holistic: electrophysiological evidence from the composite face illusion. Journal of Vision, 9(6):8, 1–16, http://journalofvision.org/9/6/8/, doi:10.1167/9.6.8.PDF file

Caharel, S., Jiang, F., Blanz, V., Rossion, B. (2009). Recognizing an individual face: 3D shape contributes earlier than 2D surface reflectance information. NeuroImage, 47, 1809-1818. PDF file

de Heering, A. & Rossion, B. (2008). Prolonged visual experience in adulthood modulates holistic face perception. PLOS One, 3(5):e2317 PDF file

Rossion, B. (2008). Picture-plane inversion leads to qualitative changes of face perception. Acta Psychologica, 128, 274-289. PDF file

Rossion, B. (2008). Constraining the cortical face network by neuroimaging studies of acquired prosopagnosia. NeuroImage, 40, 423-426. PDF file

Orban de Xivry, J.-J., Ramon, M., Lefèvre, P., Rossion, B. (2008). Reduced fixation on the upper area of personally familiar faces following acquired prosopagnosia. Journal of Neuropsychology, 2, 245-268. PDF file

Rossion, B. & Jacques, C. (2008). Does physical interstimulus variance account for early electrophysiological face sensitive responses in the human brain? Ten lessons on the N170. NeuroImage, 39, 1959-1979. PDF file

Jacques, C. d'Arripe, O., Rossion, B. (2007). The time course of the inversion effect during individual face discrimination. Journal of Vision, 7(8):3, 1-9, http://journalofvision.org/7/8/3/, doi:10.1167/7.8.3. PDF file

Rossion, B., Collins, D., Goffaux, V., Curran, T. (2007). Long-term expertise with artificial objects increases visual competition with early face categorization processes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 543 - 555.PDF file SLIDESHOW_SUMMARY PDF file (color)

Schiltz, C. & Rossion, B. (2006). Faces are represented holistically in the human occipito-temporal cortex. NeuroImage, 32, 1385-1394.PDF file  SLIDESHOW_SUMMARY

Jacques, C. & Rossion, B. (2006). The speed of individual face categorization. Psychological Science,17, 485-492. PDF file

Schiltz C, Sorger B, Caldara R, Ahmed F, Mayer E, Goebel R, Rossion B. (2006). Impaired face discrimination in acquired prosopagnosia is associated with abnormal response to individual faces in the right middle fusiform gyrus. Cerebral Cortex, 16, 574-586. PDF file

Joyce, C.A. & Rossion, B. (2005). The face-sensitive N170 and VPP components manifest the same brain processes: The effect of reference electrode site. Clinical Neurophysiology. 116, 2613-2631. PDF file

Rossion, B., Kung, C.C., Tarr, M.J. (2004). Visual expertise with nonface objects leads to competition with the early perceptual processing of faces in the human occipitotemporal cortex. PNAS, 101, 14521-14526. PDF file

Rossion, B., Caldara, R., Seghier, M., Schuller, A.-M., Lazeyras, F., Mayer, E. (2003). A network of occipito-temporal face-sensitive areas besides the right middle fusiform gyrus is necessary for normal face processing. Brain, 126, 2381-2395.PDF file.

Rossion, B., Schiltz, C., Robaye, L., Pirenne, D., Crommelinck, M. (2001). How does the brain discriminate familiar and unfamiliar faces: a PET study of face categorical perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 1019-1034. PDF file.

Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M.-J., Despland, P., Linotte, S., Bruyer, R., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is enhanced and delayed to inverted faces but not to inverted objects: an electrophyiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain, Neuroreport, 11, 1-6. PDF file.