面孔相似性判断中各部件的权重分配

采用多级估量法,通过分析不同隶属度的部件样例组合成的面孔样例对原型的隶属度,考察耳朵、脸型、眼睛和嘴巴等部件在面孔相似性判断中的作用。结果发现,面孔相似性判断中,人们对不同面孔部件赋予的权重并不相同,对脸型和嘴巴赋予的权重较大,而对耳朵和眼睛赋予的权重较小。表明,面孔各部件在面孔相似性判断中的作用不同,相对于耳朵和眼睛,脸型和嘴巴的作用更大;面孔内部特征和外部特征的划分方法并不一定适合于面孔相似性判断。     

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。     

眼睛区域构型信息与特征信息的跨维共变增益效应及其加工特异性

面孔知觉可能在区域尺度上发生多维信息整合, 但迄今无特异性实验证据。本研究在两个实验中操纵面孔眼睛区域或嘴巴区域的单维构型或特征信息, 测量人们觉察单维变化或跨维共变的敏感度, 以此检测面孔区域尺度上的多维信息整合有何现象与规律, 进而揭示面孔知觉的多维信息整合机制。实验获得3个发现：(1)正立面孔眼睛区域的信息变化觉察呈现出“跨维共变增益效应”, 跨维信息共变觉察的敏感度显著高于任意一种单维信息变化觉察的敏感度; (2)“跨维共变增益效应”只在正立面孔的眼睛区域出现, 在倒置面孔的眼睛区域、正立面孔的嘴巴区域或倒置面孔的嘴巴区域都没有出现, 因此具有面孔区域特异性和面孔朝向特异性; (3)就单维信息变化觉察而言, 眼睛区域的敏感度不会受到面孔倒置的损伤, 但是嘴巴区域的敏感度会受到面孔倒置的显著损伤。综合可知, 面孔知觉确实会发生区域尺度上的信息整合, 它不是普遍性的信息量效应, 而是特异性的眼睛效应(只发生在正立面孔的眼睛区域)。这是面孔整体加工(face holistic processing)在单维信息分辨和多维信息整合之间建立联系的必经环节。这提示我们对全脸多维信息知觉整合的理解需要从传统的面孔整体加工假设升级到以眼睛为中心的层级化多维信息整合算法(a hierarchical algorithm for multi-dimensional information integration)。     

本族和异族面孔的视觉工作记忆容量:面孔特征的影响

采用延迟探测刺激匹配再认任务,考察面孔种族和内外部特征是否会影响面孔视觉工作记忆容量。被试先识记2或4张中国人或白人的真实面孔图片,一半有内部特征(眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴),另一半有内部和外部特征(脸型、发型),再进行面孔再认判断。采用Cowan’s K值的分析显示,我国被试对本族和异族面孔的视觉工作记忆容量没有差异,但面孔数量与特征多少会影响面孔工作记忆容量,表明对本族和异族面孔的视觉加工不同。     

微笑影响面孔吸引力判断的眼动研究

运用眼动仪技术,探寻微笑对面孔吸引力认知加工的影响及其眼动模式。眼动结果发现:被试注视微笑图片嘴巴部位的总注视时间长于中性图片嘴巴部位;被试注视高吸引力图片眼睛部位的总注视时间长于低吸引力眼睛部位。被试先看嘴巴,后看鼻子,最后是眼睛部位。首次注视持续时间从长到短依次是:嘴巴、鼻子,眼睛部位。结果表明微笑影响面孔吸引力的认知加工及其眼动模式。嘴巴对微笑图片有影响,眼睛对面孔吸引力的判断有重要的作用。     

面孔部件相似性判断中不同部件的相互影响研究

采用眼动追踪法考察面孔部件相似性判断中,其他部件对目标部件的影响机制。研究结果发现:(1)做出"很相似"判断和"一般相似"判断的平均总注视时间显著长于做出"很不相似"判断的平均总注视时间;(2)判断目标部件的相似性时,被试对目标部件的注视不一定显著多于对其他部件的注视;(3)目标部件相似性判断中,被试对其他部件的注视在相似性加工的中期阶段更为明显。研究结果表明:(1)做出"很相似"判断和"一般相似"判断的加工过程比做出"很不相似"判断的加工过程更复杂;(2)面孔部件相似性判断中,其他部件会影响目标部件的判断;(3)其他部件对目标部件相似性判断的影响主要发生在相似性加工的中、晚期阶段。     

感知到亲子间面孔相似性对亲子虐待的影响：一个双重调节模型

由于体内受精,父亲面临着父亲身份不确定性的风险,亲子间面孔相似性是辨别父亲身份的一个常用的有效线索,因此,父亲往往依据亲子间面孔相似性程度调整着亲子投资。而中国传统文化强调重男轻女,因此,父子间面孔相似性比父女间面孔相似性对父亲的亲子投资的预测效应更强。本研究采用自我报告的方法测量了212名中学生感知到亲子间面孔相似性、亲子虐待以及人口学变量。结果表明:（1）感知到的亲子间面孔相似性与亲子虐待中的精神虐待存在显著的相关,与身体虐待的相关没有达到显著水平;（2）父母的性别显著地调节着感知到亲子间面孔相似性对精神虐待的预测,具体而言, 父子（女）间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲的精神虐待,而母子（女）间面孔相似性对母亲精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平;（3）进一步的分析表明,子女的性别显著地调节着感知到父子（女）间面孔相似性对父亲精神虐待的影响,具体而言,父子间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲对儿子的精神虐待,但父女间面孔相似性对父亲对女儿的精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平。研究结果支持并拓展了父亲身份不确定性假设。     

感知到亲子间面孔相似性对亲子虐待的影响：一个双重调节模型

由于体内受精,父亲面临着父亲身份不确定性的风险,亲子间面孔相似性是辨别父亲身份的一个常用的有效线索,因此,父亲往往依据亲子间面孔相似性程度调整着亲子投资。而中国传统文化强调重男轻女,因此,父子间面孔相似性比父女间面孔相似性对父亲的亲子投资的预测效应更强。本研究采用自我报告的方法测量了212名中学生感知到亲子间面孔相似性、亲子虐待以及人口学变量。结果表明:（1）感知到的亲子间面孔相似性与亲子虐待中的精神虐待存在显著的相关,与身体虐待的相关没有达到显著水平;（2）父母的性别显著地调节着感知到亲子间面孔相似性对精神虐待的预测,具体而言, 父子（女）间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲的精神虐待,而母子（女）间面孔相似性对母亲精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平;（3）进一步的分析表明,子女的性别显著地调节着感知到父子（女）间面孔相似性对父亲精神虐待的影响,具体而言,父子间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲对儿子的精神虐待,但父女间面孔相似性对父亲对女儿的精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平。研究结果支持并拓展了父亲身份不确定性假设。     

面孔部件在群体注意方向判断中的作用

探讨面孔部件(眼睛和鼻子)在个体和群体注意方向判断中的作用。实验1使用不同数量面孔的图片,要求报告群体或个体的注意方向。结果发现,多面孔条件下对群体注意方向估计的准确性高于单面孔条件。实验2采用眼动技术,探讨眼睛和鼻子在判断其注意方向时注视的空间与时间分布特征。结果发现,基于单张面孔判断时,对鼻子的总注视时间长于眼睛;基于多张面孔判断时,对眼睛和鼻子的总注视时间没有差异。整个研究表明,知觉个体注意主要依赖鼻子,知觉群体注意依赖眼睛和鼻子。     

表面概貌对原理运用的影响的实验研究

探讨样例与作业问题的表面概貌相似性对原理运用的影响作用。实验１扩大了Ｒｏｓｓ的研究材料中样例与测题表面概貌方面的差异程度,探讨两者的表面概貌相似性对原理运用的影响。实验２探讨样例与测题在表面概貌的事件类型方面发生改变的条件下,两者的表面概貌相似性对原理运用的影响。实验３探讨在样例与测题表面概貌有两个级别差异的条件下,两者的表面概貌相似性对原理运用的影响。３个实验均采用被试内设计,要求被试学习原理及样例后完成与样例的表面概貌有不同相似关系的测题。结果表明：（１）样例与问题的表面概貌对原理运用有影响,当两者表面概貌发生较大的变化尤其是在表面概貌的事件类型方面发生变化时,其表面概貌相似性对原理运用的影响就会明显地表现出来;（２）样例与问题的表面概貌对原理运用的影响作用,受到两者对象对应性质的制约,当对象对应相似时,其表面概貌相似就会促进解答测题时运用原理,而当两者的对象对应相反时,其表面概貌相似就会对原理运用产生干扰作用。据此可以认为,样例与作业问题表面概貌的相似性,不仅会影响原理的通达,而且也会影响原理的运用。Ｒｏｓｓ关于表面概貌相似与否不影响原理运用的结论应该予以修正。     

The effect of inversion on the encoding of normal and “thatcherized” faces

In the “Thatcher illusion” a face, in which the eyes and mouth are inverted relative to the rest of the face, looks grotesque when shown upright but not when inverted. In four experiments we investigated the contribution of local and global processing to this illusion in normal observers. We examined inversion effects (i.e., better performance for upright than for inverted faces) in a task requiring discrimination of whether faces were or were not “thatcherized”. Observers made same/different judgements to isolated face parts (Experiments 1-2) and to whole faces (Experiments 3-4). Face pairs had the same or different identity, allowing for different process- ing strategies using feature-based or configural information, respectively. In Experiment 1, feature-based matching of same-person face parts yielded only a small inversion effect for normal face parts. However, when feature-based matching was prevented by using the face parts of different people on all trials (Experiment 2) an inversion effect occurred for normal but not for thatcherized parts. In Experiments 3 and 4, inversion effects occurred with normal but not with thatcherized whole faces, on both same- and different-person matching tasks. This suggests that a common configural strategy was used with whole (normal) faces. Face context facilitated attention to misoriented parts in same-person but not in different-person matching. The results indicate that (1) face inversion disrupts local configural processing, but not the processing of image features, and (2) thatcherization disrupts local configural processing in upright faces.     

When context hinders! Learn-test compatibility in face recognition

Some theories of holistic face processing propose that parts in faces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) are not explicitly represented. So far, the empirical evidence has shown that whole-to-part superiority is found when wholes are learned. We substantiated this using photographic faces. More importantly, we investigated whether learning parts also reveals holistic effects. This has not been attempted before. Four experiments showed that after learning facial parts, recognition of these parts was disrupted when the part was shown in the full face. This distraction effect was strongest when perceivers were not directed to focus on a particular facial feature. Thus, it is very difficult to ignore irrelevant parts in faces. In fact, this might be the essence of holistic face processing.     

The representations of spacing and part-based information are associated for upright faces but dissociated for objects: Evidence from individual differences

Considerable evidence suggests that qualitatively different processes are involved in the perception of faces and objects. According to a central hypothesis, the extraction of information about the spacing among face parts (e.g., eyes and mouth) is a primary function of face processing mechanisms that is dissociated from the extraction of information about the shape of these parts. Here, we used an individual-differences approach to test whether the shape of face parts and the spacing among them are indeed processed by dissociated mechanisms. To determine whether the pattern of findings that we reveal is unique for upright faces, we also presented similarly manipulated nonface stimuli. Subjects discriminated upright or inverted faces or houses that differed in parts or spacing. Only upright faces yielded a large positive correlation across subjects between performance on the spacing and part discrimination tasks. We found no such correlation for inverted faces or houses. Our findings suggest that face parts and spacing are processed by associated mechanisms, whereas the parts and spacing of nonface objects are processed by distinct mechanisms. These results may be consistent with the idea that faces are special, in that they are processed as nondecomposable wholes.     

Prosopagnosia: a case study involving problems in processing configural information

An ongoing issue in face recognition research is whether holistic face processing relies on the segregation of local discrete facial parts. Evidence in favor of the holistic-plus-parts view stems from a recent study reported by Arguin and Saumier (1999), who show that the priming effects of individual facial parts (i.e., eyes, nose, mouth, orcontour) depends on the presence of configural information and that the magnitude of priming augments as the number of facial parts serving as primes increase. The present study demonstrates that these global processing effects are absent in a prosopagnosic patient (A.R.), who shows no priming from single face parts and a linear increase in the magnitude of priming as a function of the number of parts presented. These findings indicate that A.R. is incapable of integrating individual facial parts into a global facial configuration ant that this is likely at the root of her prosopagnosia.     

The composite face illusion: A whole window into our understanding of holistic face perception

Two identical top halves of a face are perceived as being different when their bottom halves belong to different faces, showing that the parts of a face cannot be perceived independently from the whole face. When this visual illusion is inserted in a matching task, observers make more mistakes and/or are slower at matching identical top face halves aligned with different bottom halves than when the bottom halves are spatially offset: The composite face effect. This composite face paradigm has been used in more than 60 studies that have provided information about the specificity and nature of perceptual integration between facial parts (“holistic face perception”), the impairment of this process in acquired prosopagnosia, its developmental course, temporal dynamics, and neural basis. Following a review of the main contributions made with the paradigm, I explain its rationale and strengths, and discuss its methodological parameters, making a number of proposals for its optimal use and refinement in order to improve our understanding of holistic face perception. Finally, I explain how this standard composite face paradigm is fundamentally different than the application to facial parts of a congruency/interference paradigm that has a long tradition in experimental psychology since Stroop (1935), and which was originally developed to measure attentional and response interference between different representations rather than perceptual integration. Moreover, a version of this congruency/interference paradigm used extensively over the past years with composite faces lacks a baseline measure and has decisional, attentional, and stimulus confounds, making the findings of these studies impossible to interpret in terms of holistic perception. I conclude by encouraging researchers in this field to concentrate fully on the standard composite face paradigm, gaze contingency, and other behavioural measures that can help us take one of the most important challenges of visual perception research: Understanding the neural mechanisms of holistic face perception.     

Developmental plateau in visual object processing from adolescence to adulthood in autism

A lack of typical age-related improvement from adolescence to adulthood contributes to face recognition deficits in adults with autism on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). The current studies examine if this atypical developmental trajectory generalizes to other tasks and objects, including parts of the face. The CFMT tests recognition of whole faces, often with a substantial delay. The current studies used the immediate memory (IM) task and the parts-whole face task from the Let’s Face It! battery, which examines whole faces, face parts, and cars, without a delay between memorization and test trials. In the IM task, participants memorize a face or car. Immediately after the target disappears, participants identify the target from two similar distractors. In the part-whole task, participants memorize a whole face. Immediately after the face disappears, participants identify the target from a distractor with different eyes or mouth, either as a face part or a whole face.Results indicate that recognition deficits in autism become more robust by adulthood, consistent with previous work, and also become more general, including cars. In the IM task, deficits in autism were specific to faces in childhood, but included cars by adulthood. In the part-whole task, deficits in autism became more robust by adulthood, including both eyes and mouths as parts and in whole faces. Across tasks, the deficit in autism increased between adolescence and adulthood, reflecting a lack of typical improvement, leading to deficits with non-face stimuli and on a task without a memory delay. These results suggest that brain maturation continues to be affected into adulthood in autism, and that the transition from adolescence to adulthood is a vulnerable stage for those with autism.     

Emotions help memory for faces: Role of whole and parts

The role of holistic or parts-based processing in face identification has been explored mostly with neutral faces. In the current study, we investigated the nature of processing (holistic vs. parts) in recognition memory for faces with emotional expressions. There were two phases in this experiment: learning phase and test phase. In the learning phase participants learned face–name associations of happy, neutral, and sad faces. The test phase consisted of a two-choice recognition test (whole face, eyes, or mouth) given either immediately or after a 24-hour delay. Results indicate that emotional faces were remembered better than neutral faces and performance was better with whole faces as compared to isolated parts. The performance in immediate and delayed recognition interacted with emotional information. Sad eyes and happy mouth were remembered better in the delayed recognition condition. These results suggest that in addition to holistic processing, specific parts–emotion combinations play a critical role in delayed recognition memory.     

The electrophysiological correlates of integrated face and body-part perception

Previous studies have suggested that the human visual system processes faces and bodies holistically—that is, the different body parts are integrated into a unified representation. However, the time course of this integrative process is less known. In the present study, we investigated this issue by recording event-related potentials evoked by a face and two hands presented simultaneously and in different configurations. When the hands were rotated to obtain a biologically implausible configuration, a reduction of the P2 amplitude was observed relative to the condition in which the face and hands were retained in their veridical configuration and were supplemented with visual cues to highlight further the overall body posture. Our results show that the P2 component is sensitive to manipulations affecting the configuration of face and hand stimuli and suggest that the P2 reflects the operation of perceptual mechanisms responsible for the integrated processing of visually presented body parts.     

Configurational information in face perception

A new facial composites technique is demonstrated, in which photographs of the top and bottom halves of different familiar faces fuse to form unfamiliar faces when aligned with each other. The perception of a novel configuration in such composite stimuli is sufficiently convincing to interfere with identification of the constituent parts (experiment 1), but this effect disappears when stimuli are inverted (experiment 2). Difficulty in identifying the parts of upright composites is found even for stimuli made from parts of unfamiliar faces that have only ever been encountered as face fragments (experiment 3). An equivalent effect is found for composites made from internal and external facial features of well-known people (experiment 4). These findings demonstrate the importance of configurational information in face perception, and that configurations are only properly perceived in upright faces.