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。     

男性与女性对不同性别和种族面孔识别的差异

研究以大学生为被试,采用延时匹配任务,旨在探讨性别和种族因素对面孔识别的影响,结果发现:(1)男、女被试对女性面孔识别的反应时及正确率均优于男性面孔;(2)被试对不同种族女性面孔识别的优势存在差异,被试对高加索女性面孔的识别表现为更高的正确率,而对中国女性面孔的识别表现为更快的识别速度;(3)面孔种族是导致女性面孔识别优势的重要影响因素。研究表明,面孔识别受到面孔种族、面孔性别和被试性别共同作用的影响。     

面孔识别的眼动研究

采用眼动记录法探讨面孔识别的加工过程。在实验一中,通过记录被试识别面孔图片和非面孔图片时的即时加工过程,考查被试在知觉面孔与一般物体时的眼动差异。在实验二中,考察被试在知觉熟悉面孔与陌生面孔时的眼动差异与时间进程的差异。结果表明:(1)个体在加工面孔时倾向于首先在双眼间平移而后向嘴巴运动,完成面孔识别,而在识别物体图片时则没有固定的运动轨迹。(2)在知觉熟悉面孔时被试倾向于只注视眼睛,而在知觉陌生面孔图片时则与实验一的面孔图片眼动轨迹相似。     

愉快面孔识别优势及其认知神经机制

愉快面孔识别优势表现为被试对高兴面孔比对其他情绪面孔的识别正确率更高、反应时更短。大量研究以简笔画和面孔图片为材料, 在情绪分类任务和视觉搜索任务中均发现这一优势。该优势存在诊断性价值假说、情绪独特性假说和出现频率假说三种不同的理论解释。近年来, 研究者采用ERP技术发现这一优势形成于反应选择阶段, 但其起始阶段尚无一致结论。未来可借助fMRI技术进一步研究其认知神经机制。     

识别名人与陌生人面孔的功能磁共振成像

探讨名人与陌生人身份判断的脑功能。6名被试参加实验,运用功能磁共振技术采集数据,AFNI软件进行统计处理。实验结果显示,名人面孔身份识别主要激活了额颞区和梭状回等,陌生人面孔识别主要激活了脑岛和梭状回。实验表明,熟悉名人面孔与陌生人面孔识别有其不同的区域;都有梭状回的视觉加工,但是激活的程度不同。     

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。     

5岁儿童对熟悉面孔的特征信息识别

关于儿童面孔认知的已有研究大多未曾控制好实验材料的熟悉度。研究选用10个同班同学的面孔作为材料,考察了5岁儿童对熟悉面孔的识别特点。结果发现,5岁儿童能准确辨认同伴的面孔。依赖面孔的部分信息(内、外轮廓)甚至单一部件(眼睛),儿童辨认同伴面孔的成绩就可以高于随机水平。儿童的面孔识别模式和成人相似,辨认内轮廓的绩效高于外轮廓,眼睛的绩效高于鼻子和嘴巴。儿童识别自我面孔的模式和成人相反,辨认他人面孔的成绩好于辨认自我面孔。实验证明熟悉度是影响儿童面孔识别绩效的重要因素。     

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。     

人类面孔识别工作记忆的脑电位特征

采用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术探索延迟匹配任务范式下面孔识别工作记忆的脑电位特征。实验以面孔图片为刺激,在校大学生被试完成靶匹配工作记忆任务。结果发现,被试识别靶面孔及分心物面孔时均在枕颞区两侧诱发N170,且靶与分心物的N170振幅在相同电极上都没有显著差异,在颞区两侧的P7和P8上差异显著;无论靶面孔还是分心物面孔,工作记忆的 ERPs均产生了 P300成分。在分别追踪新靶和熟悉靶的工作记忆任务条件下,靶与分心物的ERPs波形在250 ms后出现分离,且靶刺激波幅均比分心物更正,新靶比熟悉靶更正。熟悉分心物与新分心物之间显示出250~650 ms的前额区旧/新效应,在晚期的450~650 ms时段,新工作记忆比旧工作记忆波幅更正。这些结果表明,面孔识别的N170效应可能反映的是面孔知觉的整体加工,且 N170的右半球优势具体为颞区的右侧优势;先前的面孔学习会影响工作记忆期间大脑对面孔的识别反应。     

偶像参照与自我参照对面孔再认任务的影响

采用面孔再认范式,比较了自我面孔融合图片与偶像面孔融合图片对面孔再认任务的影响。结果表明偶像组和普通组差异不显著,而自我组反应时显著更高,正确率显著更低,基于此本文提出自我概念中包含偶像成分的观点。     

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”。     

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.     

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.     

Self-face advantage over familiar and unfamiliar faces: A three-level meta-analytic approach

Despite the increasing number of researchers interested in self-face, so far, no study has summarized the behavioral findings that contribute to the debate on self-face advantage. Most studies have focused on neural correlates of the self, although functional uniqueness can also be considered an important criterion for determining whether a stimulus is unique. The present meta-analysis systematically compared reaction time (RT) responses for self-face with other face identities across 54 studies. Different moderator factors were tested: familiarity, identity, head angle, laterality, and culture. We used a three-level meta-analytic approach, which is the best approach to account for the dependency of effect sizes. Results showed a significant (Hedges’s g_av = ?0.298) effect size, indicating faster RT for self-face than for other faces in general. Except for culture, none of the moderators employed significantly impacted on the main effect. Regarding culture, results showed that participants from Western cultures tend to respond faster to their own face than to other people’s faces, while for participants from Eastern cultures, the effect was not significant. In summary, our results indicate that the self-face benefits from an advantage in terms of reaction time and may be considered a unique stimulus. Implications and limitations of the results are discussed.     

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.     

知觉适应对种族融合面孔的种族分类和知觉辨别的影响

面孔加工的种族效应(the other-race effects)指人们对面孔做个体辨别任务时辨别本族面孔的绩效优于辨别他族面孔的绩效, 而做种族分类任务时分类他族面孔的绩效优于分类本族面孔的绩效。本研究通过知觉适应操纵被试对种族两歧(高加索和亚洲)融合面孔的种族知觉, 进而比较被试在两种条件下对同一张融合面孔进行种族分类和知觉辨别的绩效的差异。结果发现, 知觉适应能使被试产生将两歧融合面孔知觉为与原始面孔所属种族相反种族的知觉偏向, 并且, 伴随着这种知觉偏向, 两歧融合面孔的加工出现了他族分类优势和本族辨别优势, 提示社会认知因素对面孔加工的种族效应有重要作用。     

Recognizing face identity from natural and morphed smiles

It is easier to identify a degraded familiar face when it is shown moving (smiling, talking; nonrigid motion), than when it is displayed as a static image (Knight & Johnston, 1997; Lander, Christie, & Bruce, 1999). Here we explore the theoretical underpinnings of the moving face recognition advantage. In Experiment 1 we show that the identification of personally familiar faces when shown naturally smiling is significantly better than when the person is shown artificially smiling (morphed motion), as a single static neutral image or as a single static smiling image. In Experiment 2 we demonstrate that speeding up the motion significantly impairs the recognition of identity from natural smiles, but has little effect on morphed smiles. We conclude that the recognition advantage for face motion does not reflect a general benefit for motion, but suggests that, for familiar faces, information about their characteristic motion is stored in memory.     

Recognizing face identity from natural and morphed smiles

It is easier to identify a degraded familiar face when it is shown moving (smiling, talking; nonrigid motion), than when it is displayed as a static image (Knight & Johnston, 1997; Lander, Christie, & Bruce, 1999). Here we explore the theoretical underpinnings of the moving face recognition advantage. In Experiment 1 we show that the identification of personally familiar faces when shown naturally smiling is significantly better than when the person is shown artificially smiling (morphed motion), as a single static neutral image or as a single static smiling image. In Experiment 2 we demonstrate that speeding up the motion significantly impairs the recognition of identity from natural smiles, but has little effect on morphed smiles. We conclude that the recognition advantage for face motion does not reflect a general benefit for motion, but suggests that, for familiar faces, information about their characteristic motion is stored in memory.