Gender in Face-Voice Integration (Face-Voice)

Neural Correlates of Multimodal Face/Voice Processing in a Gender Task.

Bayesian models of perception represent a promising approach to describe information processing by the brain. Predictive coding hypothesizes a process in which top-down expectations are continuously compared across multiple hierarchical levels with bottom-up sensory inputs and the differences or error signals are propagated in a bottom-up direction. The investigators hypothesize that strong expectations, are best investigated in expert processes such as face and voice recognition in humans. Individuals in complex social systems need to extract socially relevant information in a fast and efficient manner; hence, the majority of humans constitute face, voice and gender experts. Nevertheless, linking such combined abilities to brain activity with regards to the predictive coding hypothesis has not been attempted.Our results suggest asymmetric contributions of visual and auditory signals to the gender classification task. This sensitive psychophysical procedure is implemented in a decoding approach using fMRI and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA). The investigators plan to test whether cortical areas implicated in processing auditory and visual gender signals show similar asymmetries.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: fMRI study

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 38
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Bron, France, 69 500
    • Le Vinatier

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy men and women, right-handed
• No neurological antecedent
• Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant women
• Volunteers with MRI contraindications: persons using a pacemaker or insulin pump, persons with a metallic prosthesis or an intracerebral clip, as well as claustrophobic subjects, neurosensory stimulator or implantable defibrillator, cochlear implants, body Foreign ferromagnetic ocular or cerebral close to nerve structures, agitation of the subject (non-cooperating or agitated subjects), ventriculoperitoneal neurosurgical bypass valves, dental apparatus.
• Persons under guardianship, curatorship or any other administrative or judicial measure of deprivation of rights or liberty, as well as persons of legal age protected by law.
• Participants refusing to be informed of the results of the medical examination (inclusion).
• Participants refusing to be informed of the possible detection of an anomaly.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: fMRI study	Other: fMRI study; Functional brain activations of face-voice processing during a gender task

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Identify neural correlates (fMRI) of face / voice interaction in a gender classification task	Classical functional analyses (GLM) and advanced statistical analyses of brain activations (BrainVoyager and Matlab softwares).	Maximum 90 days between inclusion of the subject and the 1st fMRI session (1h1 / 2). Then maximum 90 days before the 2nd session (1h1 / 2).
Identify neural correlates (fMRI) of face / voice respective contribution in a gender classification task	Classical functional analyses (GLM) and advanced statistical analyses of brain activations	Maximum 90 days between inclusion of the subject and the 1st fMRI session (1h1 / 2). Then maximum 90 days before the 2nd session (1h1 / 2).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Alain NICOLAS, MD, Le Vinatier

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gerardin P, Kourtzi Z, Mamassian P. Prior knowledge of illumination for 3D perception in the human brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Sep 14;107(37):16309-14. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1006285107. Epub 2010 Aug 30.
• Wacongne C, Changeux JP, Dehaene S. A neuronal model of predictive coding accounting for the mismatch negativity. J Neurosci. 2012 Mar 14;32(11):3665-78. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5003-11.2012.
• Pegado F, Comerlato E, Ventura F, Jobert A, Nakamura K, Buiatti M, Ventura P, Dehaene-Lambertz G, Kolinsky R, Morais J, Braga LW, Cohen L, Dehaene S. Timing the impact of literacy on visual processing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Dec 9;111(49):E5233-42. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1417347111. Epub 2014 Nov 24.
• Markov NT, Ercsey-Ravasz M, Van Essen DC, Knoblauch K, Toroczkai Z, Kennedy H. Cortical high-density counterstream architectures. Science. 2013 Nov 1;342(6158):1238406. doi: 10.1126/science.1238406.
• Charrier C, Knoblauch K, Maloney LT, Bovik AC, Moorthy AK. Optimizing multiscale SSIM for compression via MLDS. IEEE Trans Image Process. 2012 Dec;21(12):4682-94. doi: 10.1109/TIP.2012.2210723. Epub 2012 Jul 30.
• Gerardin P, Devinck F, Dojat M, Knoblauch K. Contributions of contour frequency, amplitude, and luminance to the watercolor effect estimated by conjoint measurement. J Vis. 2014 Apr 10;14(4):9. doi: 10.1167/14.4.9.
• Abbatecola C, Kennedy H, Knoblauch K. Directed attention influences optimality of top-down and bottom-up multi-modal perceptual integration. Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 16;15(1):25742. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-09542-6.
• Abbatecola C, Gerardin P, Beneyton K, Kennedy H, Knoblauch K. The Role of Unimodal Feedback Pathways in Gender Perception During Activation of Voice and Face Areas. Front Syst Neurosci. 2021 May 28;15:669256. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.669256. eCollection 2021.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 20, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 28, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): May 28, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 15, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): February 20, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 9, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fMRI, perception, face-voice processing
• Other Study ID Numbers: 69HCL16_0674

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No