自我面孔识别的独特性

与识别他人的面孔相比,自我面孔识别在行为反应、种系发生、个体发展以及脑机制等方面都具有很大的独特性。行为指标方面,自我面孔识别在速度上快于识别他人的面孔;种系发生方面,只有人类和大猩猩等高级灵长类动物才具有识别自己面孔的能力;个体发展方面,儿童出生后不久即能识别他人面孔,但要在18个月左右才能表现出自我面孔识别能力;脑机制方面,神经心理学和脑成像研究结果表明自我面孔识别可能主要是右脑的功能。该领域的研究进展将为深入了解自我的形成机理提供一个新的探视“窗口”。     

精神分裂症患者的自我信息加工

本研究通过自我动态面孔和自我声音的录音来考察精神分裂症患者在视觉和听觉通道中的自我加工，同时也考察了同时呈现的自我信息会促进或抑制自我识别。75位被试（其中患者38人）在单通道条件下完成了自我识别任务；74位被试（其中患者38人）在双通道条件下完成了自我识别任务；结果一致表明，精神分裂症患者的视觉自我加工完好无损，但其听觉自我识别受损，同时呈现的自我信息抑制了自我加工。     

自我面孔识别的脑机制

自我面孔识别是自我参照加工的一种研究范式, 反映了人们通过自我与他人的区分识别出自我面孔的过程。自我面孔识别的脑区定位涉及前额叶、脑岛、扣带回、颞叶和顶叶等脑区的协同作用, 其认知加工有三个阶段：低水平的感觉处理阶段, 对自我参照的面孔信息的处理阶段和身份辨别阶段。在今后的研究中, 应该在时程上区分自我面孔识别的各个加工过程, 并且结合脑区定位结果, 明确自我面孔识别的各加工阶段及认知成分。     

自我概念威胁以及与重要他人的比较共同削弱自我面孔优势效应

内隐积极联想理论(implicit positive association, IPA)认为自我面孔识别以及与之伴随的自我意识激发了自我概念的积极属性, 促进了对自我面孔的识别优势, 因此通过自我概念威胁可以削弱自我面孔识别的优势效应。本研究旨在探讨自我概念威胁以及与重要他人的比较对自我面孔优势效应的共同影响。实验一为自我-朋友对比实验, 10对同性好友(20名被试)在接受完自我概念威胁启动或者非威胁性启动后对自我面孔和朋友面孔进行朝向的判断, 结果发现非威胁性启动后, 自我面孔的优势效应依然存在, 而在自我概念威胁启动后, 自我面孔优势效应消失。实验二为自我-陌生人对比实验, 另外20名被试在接受完自我概念威胁启动或者非威胁性启动后, 对自我面孔和陌生人面孔进行朝向的判断, 结果发现, 无论是自我概念威胁启动还是非威胁性启动后, 自我面孔识别优势效应都依然存在。两个实验的结果均主要体现在用左手进行反应的时候。结果表明：自我概念威胁以及与重要他人的比较共同削弱自我面孔优势效应; 而左手效应的发生似乎表明了大脑右半球对自我面孔识别的主导和调节作用。     

5岁儿童自我面孔的认知特点

具备自我面孔的识别能力是个体发展中的里程碑,以往的研究大多集中于儿童镜像自我面孔认知能力的发生发展,而缺乏对稍微年长儿童自我面孔识别发展特点的研究。本研究采用逐张呈现被试原本照片以及通过Photoshop改变内外部特征的面孔让儿童进行辨认的方法,考察5岁儿童自我面孔识别的特点。结果发现：（1）5岁儿童能正确识别原本的自我整体面孔,但对自我外部特征和内部特征的识别出现了明显的性别差异;（2）大多数5岁儿童认为发型变化的自我面孔不再是自己的,尤其是更换了异性发型的面孔;（3）儿童对自我面孔的眼睛部位更为敏感。     

面孔识别的自我群体偏向

面孔认知研究表明, 人们识别和再认自己所属群体(如种族、性别、年龄)面孔的成绩显著好于识别其他群体面孔的成绩。近年来围绕面孔识别的这种自我群体偏向进行了实验研究, 研究者提出了知觉经验说和社会认知论两种理论来解释其认知加工机制, 而类别化-个性化模型和双路径模型则是将两种理论分别加以整合提出的新解释。研究者还对面孔识别自我群体偏向的神经机制进行了研究, 探讨了评价者、评价对象和评价任务等因素对自我群体偏向的影响。提升面孔识别自我群体偏向研究的生态效度, 构建整合性理论模型以及加强跨文化和本土研究是未来研究的重要方向。     

自我面孔识别的特征、影响因素及ERP研究述评

自我面孔识别成为近年来面孔研究领域的一个热点。自我面孔识别的速度优势、文化差异和正性自我偏见是自我面孔识别的三个主要特征, 影响自我面孔识别的因素主要有加工背景和其他自我相关的信息。此外, 自我面孔的注意性质存在优先加工和难以移除的争论。未来的研究除了需要揭示外显任务中自我面孔识别速度优势的机制、内隐积极联想在脑内如何实现以及自我面孔的注意性质是否是特殊的等问题之外, 还应该深入探讨其他因素影响自我面孔识别的机制等问题。     

自我面孔识别的神经机制：基于fMRI研究的ALE元分析

自我面孔识别反映了个体通过自我与他人的区分识别出自我面孔的过程。本文采用ALE元分析的方法, 对自我面孔识别的fMRI研究进行系统的定量分析, 探究自我面孔识别的神经基础。结果显示, 自我面孔识别的关键脑区包括顶上小叶、额中回、额下回、脑岛、梭状回、楔前叶和枕叶皮层。另外, 自我面孔识别可能包括两个层面的加工过程：知觉层面的加工整合过程以及由知觉引发的评价和情绪反应过程。知觉加工整合涵盖了自我面孔识别的各个加工阶段, 主要涉及枕叶、梭状回和楔前叶的功能; 而评价加工及情绪反应过程则发生在自我面孔识别的中晚期, 主要涉及顶上小叶、额中回、额下回及脑岛的功能。未来研究可结合时间和空间数据并关注脑区间的协同功能, 考察与内感受的神经关联, 开展临床研究并探索威胁信息的影响机制。     

自我参照框架决定了自我面孔优势效应的出现

研究使用外显面孔再认实验(实验一)和内隐面孔感知实验(实验二)检验自我参照框架是否是自我面孔加工优势出现的决定性因素这一假设。具有不同朝向(左或右)的被试自己面孔和朋友面孔呈现在视野中央, 实验一中, 被试的任务为参照自我框架(观察者角度)或他人框架(被观察的像的角度)判断自我面孔的朝向(忽视朋友面孔), 或者判断朋友面孔的朝向(忽视自我面孔); 实验二中, 被试的任务为参照自我框架或他人框架判断所有面孔的朝向。结果表明：自我参照框架促进自我面孔加工优势的出现, 而他人参照框架消减自我面孔优势, 这种效应稳定地存在于外显和内隐两项任务中。并且, 自我参照框架对自我优势效应的促进作用不依赖于面孔刺激背景。     

自我旋转面孔识别的ERPs研究

本研究采用事件相关电位技术考察平面旋转角度对自我面孔识别影响的时间进程。实验采用面孔异同匹配范式(same-different judgment), 首先呈现一张正立的自我或他人内特征的探测面孔, 然后再呈现一张旋转至某个角度(0°、90°、180°)的自我或他人的目标面孔, 要求被试判断两张面孔是否属于同一个人, 并记录其判断的反应时和ERP成分。实验发现, 在N170 (180~240 ms)和N2 (240~300 ms)成分上, 旋转至90°、180°的面孔刺激比正立条件下的面孔刺激分别在枕颞叶和额区诱发了更大的平均波幅。在LPP (400~500 ms)成分上, 对于自我面孔, 正立条件、旋转至90°、旋转至180°所诱发的波幅差异显著。而对于他人面孔, 3个角度所诱发的波幅无显著差异。结果表明, 面孔识别早期阶段是自动化的结构编码, 旋转角度增加了面孔结构编码的难度; 在面孔识别晚期阶段, 大脑对面孔的特异性信息进行精细加工, 自我面孔会占用个体有限认知资源进行下一步精细的心理旋转加工, 因此平面旋转角度会调节晚期个体对自我面孔的加工过程, 并且其影响时间约为100 ms。     

Self-face advantage is modulated by social threat - Boss effect on self-face recognition

Human adults usually respond faster to self-face than to faces of others. The self-face advantage has been associated with an implicit positive association with the self. The current work investigated whether social threats modulate self-face recognition by asking graduate students to identify orientations of self-face in a high-threat context, in which self-face and a faculty advisor’s face were presented in one block of trials, or in a low-threat context, in which self-face and a face of another faculty member were presented in one block of trials. We found a self-face advantage in the low-threat context but a self-face disadvantage in the high-threat context (i.e., slower responses to self-face compared to the advisor’s face). Moreover, the self-face disadvantage positively correlated with the degree of fear of negative evaluations from advisors. Our findings suggest that self-face recognition is strongly modulated by social interactions with influential superiors within social hierarchies.     

Active and passive-touch during interpersonal multisensory stimulation change self–other boundaries

In the “enfacement” illusion seeing an unfamiliar face being touched at the same time as one’s own face evokes changes in self-face recognition. We investigated the contribution of proprioceptive and motor signals derived from self-generated actions in the sensory-driven malleability of self–other boundaries during the “enfacement” illusion. Changes in self-face recognition during active- and passive-touch interpersonal visuo-tactile stimulation were quantified by means of psychophysical and psychometric tasks. Active- and passive-touch evoked comparable changes in the categorical boundaries of self–other distinction, changing the extent to which the other is assimilated into the mental self-representation. Actively touching or simply feeling touch on one’s own face with concurrent observed touch on someone else’s face seems to elicit comparable changes in self-recognition, suggesting that afferent input might be sufficient for updating one’s body-image, although some components of the experience of self-identification seem to be more affected by passive- than by active-touch.     

Deficits of subliminal self-face processing in schizophrenia

Most studies show that self-processing in schizophrenia is impaired at the supraliminal level. Schizophrenic patients generally lack the ability to prioritize the processing of self-related information, such as their own face. However, some evidence suggests that schizophrenic patients may retain intact subliminal processing abilities even though their conscious experiences are compromised. We conducted the first study exploring schizophrenic patients’ subliminal self-face processing. Using a breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) paradigm, we interocularly suppressed face images (self, famous, and unknown faces). Participants’ reaction times to detect the faces when they broke the suppression were recorded as an index for the subliminal processing of faces. Unlike the healthy controls, schizophrenic patients did not demonstrate a processing advantage for their own face when it broke interocular suppression; only a face familiarity effect was found. These findings contribute to the understanding of self-processing deficits in schizophrenia.     

Self-face perception in 12-month-old infants: A study using the morphing technique

The present study investigated self-face perception in 12-month-old infants using the morphing technique. Twenty-four 12-month-old infants participated in both the main and control experiments. In the main experiment, we used the participant’s own face, an unfamiliar infant’s face (age- and gender-matched), and a morphed face comprising 50 % each of the self and unfamiliar faces as stimuli. The control experiment followed the same procedure, except that the self-face was replaced with another unfamiliar face. In both experiments, two of these stimuli were presented side by side on a monitor in each trial, and infants’ fixation duration was measured. Results showed that shorter fixation durations were found for the morphed face compared with the self-face and the unfamiliar face in the main experiment, but there were no significant preferences for any comparisons in the control experiment. The results suggest that 12-month-old infants could detect subtle differences in facial features between the self-face and the other faces, and infants might show less preference for the self-resembling morphed face due to increased processing costs, which can be interpreted using the uncanny valley hypothesis. Overall, representations of the self-face seem to a certain extent to be formed by the end of the first year of life through daily visual experience.