Neural developmental changes in processing inverted faces

We explored developmental changes in neural substrates for face processing, using fMRI. Children and adults performed a perceptual-matching task with upright and inverted face and animal stimuli. Behaviorally, inversion disrupted face processing more than animal processing for adults and older children. In line with this behavioral pattern, the left middle occipital gyrus showed a stronger face than animal inversion effect in adults. Moreover, a superior aspect of this region showed a greater face inversion effect in older than in younger children, indicating a developmental change in the processing of inverted faces. The visual regions recruited for inverted face processing in adults also overlapped more with brain regions involved in the viewing of upright objects than with regions involved in the viewing of upright faces in an independent localizer task. Hence, when faces are inverted, adults recruit regions normally engaged for recognizing objects, possibly pointing to a role for the featural processing of inverted faces.     

Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition: cross-language and writing system transfer

This study investigated cross-language and writing system relationship in biliteracy acquisition of children learning to read two different writing systems-Chinese and English. Forty-six Mandarin-speaking children were tested for their first language (Chinese-L1) and second language (English-L2) reading skills. Comparable experiments in Chinese and English were designed focusing on two reading processes-phonological and orthographic processing. Word reading skills in both writing systems were tested. Results revealed that Chinese onset matching skill was significantly correlated with English onset and rime matching skills. Pinyin, an alphabetic phonetic system used to assist children in learning to read Chinese characters, was highly correlated with English pseudoword reading. Furthermore, Chinese tone processing skill contributed a moderate but significant amount of variance in predicting English pseudoword reading even when English phonemic-level processing skill was taken into consideration. Orthographic processing skill in the two writing systems, on the other hand, did not predict each other's word reading. These findings suggest that bilingual reading acquisition is a joint function of shared phonological processes and orthographic specific skills.     

Preschoolers' understanding of knowing-that and knowing-how in the United States and Hong Kong

Two experiments on preschoolers' understanding of the effects of exposure on knowing-that and knowing-how were conducted with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children (N=388) in 2 locations: a small midwestern city in the United States and a suburban area of Hong Kong, China. By using both English- and Chinese-speaking samples, the authors examined differences in children's understanding of knowing-that and knowing-how as well as the impact of different types of linguistic markers on the understanding of these concepts. Across both studies, in both locations, and for judging the knowledge of self or of others, children's understanding for knowing-that preceded their understanding for knowing-how. Implications of these findings both for universal patterns of theory-of-mind development and for how culture may impact on that development are discussed.     

Reassessing the 3/4 view effect in face recognition

It is generally accepted that unfamiliar faces are better recognized if presented in 3/4 view. A common interpretation of this result is that the 3/4 view represents a canonical view for faces. This article presents a critical review of this claim. Two kinds of advantage, in which a 3/4 view either generalizes better to a different view or produces better recognition in the same view, are discussed. Our analysis of the literature shows that the first effect almost invariably depended on different amounts of angular rotation that was present between learning and test views. The advantage usually vanished when angular rotation was equalized between conditions. Reports in favor of the second effect are scant and can be countered by studies reporting negative findings. To clarify this ambiguity, we conducted a recognition experiment. Subjects were trained and tested on the same three views (full-face, 3/4 and profile). The results showed no difference between the three view conditions. Our analysis of the literature, along with the new results, shows that the evidence for a 3/4 view advantage in both categories is weak at best. We suggest that a better predictor of performance for recognition in different views is the angular difference between learning and test views. For recognition in the same view, there may be a wide range of views whose effectiveness is comparable to the 3/4 view.     

Use of parafoveally visible characters during the reading of Chinese sentences

Chinese readers' use of parafoveal character previews was examined. In Experiment 1, the preview of target characters consisted of targets or of graphemically similar, homophonic, or dissimilar characters. Each preview was replaced with the corresponding target when the eyes reached the target location. Oculomotor measures revealed preview benefits for targets, for graphemically similar characters, and for homophonic characters. Experiment 2 showed that parafoveal preview of graphemically similar characters yielded benefits primarily when they shared the phonetic radical with their targets. The phonological relationship between previewed radicals and subsequently viewed targets was ineffective. Chinese character processing thus involves the initial use of orthographic information from the phonetic radical and the activation of the character's phonological form.     

Imageability and word recognition in the left and right visual fields: a signal detection analysis

Identifying the information processing constraints that determine whether or not imagery moderates visual field asymmetries is essential for constructing a dynamic model of hemispheric interaction during language processing. In this investigation, we manipulated the global experimental context in which imageable and nonimageable words were presented by contrasting mixed and blocked word lists using a lateralized lexical decision task. Signal detection analyses were employed to assess whether global stimulus context and imageability differentially affect word discriminability (d prime) and response bias (log beta) across visual fields. Both discriminability and response bias varied with imageability and stimulus context, but to a comparable extent across visual fields. This suggests that both hemispheres are sensitive to the global context in which words are presented, and can adjust processing based not only on semantic characteristics of the words themselves, but also on the variability of items in the stimulus environment.