Date/Time
Date(s) - 26/09/2024
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Please join us this Thursday to hear one of our own, Gabriel Xiao, update us on the latest developments in the development of face perception: Bringing Faces to Life: How Movement Shapes Early Face Processing.
2 PM Coffee and Cookies in the lobby
2:30 Seminar in PC 155*
4:00 Reception in PC 205
*There is a class in the lecture hall before us: please do not interrupt the class before 2:20. We will start sharply at 2:30.
Our next talk in the series will be by Yair Berson who will discuss teams and leaders: Host is Mel Rutherford.
Gabriel Xiao
Bringing Faces to Life: How Movement Shapes Early Face Processing
Abstract
Our visual system thrives on the rich tapestry of the visual world, and faces, as constant companions, hold a special power over its development. Decades of research have revealed the remarkable tuning of the human brain to faces presented in static images. However, real-life encounters are anything but static. People smile, frown, talk, and nod, creating a dynamic dance of facial movements that fundamentally changes how we perceive and interact with them.
This talk ventures beyond the still image to explore the fascinating, and often overlooked, realm of dynamic face processing in infancy. Despite its importance, surprisingly little is known about how facial movement influences the development of face perception during this critical period. My research aims to bridge this gap by investigating how facial movements contribute to core aspects of face processing in the first year of life, including face representation, discrimination, emotion perception, speech perception, and social cognition.
Bio
Dr. Gabriel (Naiqi) Xiao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior at McMaster University (Canada). Prior to this appointment in 2020, Dr. Xiao received his Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto (Canada) in 2016 and worked as a post-doctoral associate at Princeton University (USA) from 2017 to 2019. Dr. Xiao is currently holding the Tier-2 Canada Research Chair for his contributions to advancing the understanding of early perceptual and social development. Dr. Xiao was also appointed as an Affiliated Research Fellow, International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN) at The University of Tokyo (Japan) from 2021 to 2023. He joined editorial board of Infancy in 2023. Since 2020, Dr. Xiao’s research projects have been funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant, Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund, Canada Research Chair, Tier 2, as well as multiple university internal fundings.