Self-recognition in patients undergoing facial surgery (version1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) study of patients undergoing corrective facial surgery, to investigate how the face before surgery and after surgery (compared with the face before the onset of the condition affecting the face) are represented in brain circuits known to underpin self-face recognition.
IRAS ID
88210
Contact name
Manos Tsakiris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London
Research summary
Our faces are an important aspect of our self-identity. When individuals experience facial disfigurement, and/or undergo facial surgery, they must adapt to their new facial appearance in order to recognize it as their own face. Some patients find this difficult, yet, we do not know how the brain responds to changes in facial appearance. Research indicates that the brain has different circuits for recognising our own faces from those which are used to recognise other familiar faces. The proposed study will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how a change in appearance is initially represented in brain circuits and then alters over time, as the face starts to be recognized as “me“. Participants will be volunteer patients from the department of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery at the Royal Free Hospital, recruited by poster. Photographs of the patient’s face (i) before the onset of the facial change, (ii) after facial change/before surgery and (iii) after surgery will be morphed (mixed) into the face of someone who is highly familiar to the patient (e.g. a morph might contain 60% of the patient’s face and 40% of a sibling’s face) to produce ambiguous pictures of faces. Volunteers will then participate in an fMRI study taking place at Royal Holloway, University of London. During fMRI scanning, the participant will be presented with pictures containing a varying amount of the two faces and will be asked to make a face recognition judgment (i.e. “self or other”) using a keypad. Participants will be scanned before surgery, after recovery from surgery and 2 months after the second scan. We expect brain activity to change over time, reflecting an adaptation to the new facial appearance. It is anticipated that the results will inform rehabilitation programs for individuals who are adjusting to changes in facial appearance.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0745
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion