网络成瘾倾向者对负性表情注意的脱离困难

采用Young编制的IAT量表从382名青少年中筛选出网络成瘾倾向者15名,非网络成瘾控制组被试18名,利用视觉搜索范式比较了两组被试对真人面孔和卡通面孔表情的注意偏向差异。结果表明：（1）在注意快速定向阶段,当要求被试快速准确地从中性面孔矩阵中搜索高兴或者愤怒面孔时,相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者搜索愤怒面孔更迅速,尤其表现为对卡通愤怒面孔的快速定向优势;（2）在注意的维持和脱离阶段,当在愤怒或高兴面孔矩阵中搜索中性面孔时,相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者在更具威胁性的真人愤怒面孔矩阵中最难脱离。结论：网络成瘾倾向者具有负性注意偏向特点,表现为对负性表情具有快速定向和解脱困难。且相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者对卡通面孔注意定向更快而更难从真人愤怒面孔矩阵中脱离,也说明了其注意偏向主要为对负性信息的注意解除困难。     

Bridging novelty and familiarity-based recognition memory: A matter of timing

Novelty detection is essential to adapt to changes. However, the relationship between novelty detection and visual recognition memory remains unclear. To characterize the temporal dynamics of novelty and its connection to familiarity, we probed early behavioural performance of novelty and familiarity in 31 participants using a speeded go/no-go recognition task with a 600-ms response deadline. Responses to familiarity and novelty produced symmetrical biases and correlated accuracies and biases, but novelty decisions were less accurate and had slower minimal reaction times (410?ms). These processes thus appear to be independent, as suggested by a more efficient system in the case of familiarity, but with common factors bringing overlapping contributions to both processes. This may possibly be explained by the more fluent processing of repeated stimuli, but with familiarity and novelty potentially relying on one decision criterion, as suggested by the correlated and remarkably symmetrical biases. This study supports models that conceptualize novelty and familiarity decisions as two partly overlapping processes.     

Memory for disguised same- and cross-race faces: The eyes have it

According to research on the cross-race effect, through experience, observers learn which diagnostic facial features are important for recognizing same-race compared to cross-race faces. These diagnostic facial features differ across racial groups; whereas the upper facial region is more diagnostic for White faces, the lower facial region is more diagnostic for Black faces. We tested how disguises at encoding (sunglasses [upper region] or bandana [lower region]) affect White and Black observers’ recognition memory for White and Black faces. We found that disguises override the diagnosticity of race-specific regions and have similar effects on recognition of same- and cross-race faces. Relative to no disguise, recognition memory was impaired more by disguising upper (sunglasses) than lower (bandana) facial regions. This supports the hypothesis that facial features trump race-specific diagnostic regions, and the eye region provides relatively more diagnostic information than lower facial features.     

Social and attention‐to‐detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability

This study distinguished between different subclusters of autistic traits in the general population and examined the relationships between these subclusters, looking at the eyes of faces, and the ability to recognize facial identity. Using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) measure in a university‐recruited sample, we separate the social aspects of autistic traits (i.e., those related to communication and social interaction; AQ‐Social) from the non‐social aspects, particularly attention‐to‐detail (AQ‐Attention). We provide the first evidence that these social and non‐social aspects are associated differentially with looking at eyes: While AQ‐Social showed the commonly assumed tendency towards reduced looking at eyes, AQ‐Attention was associated with increased looking at eyes. We also report that higher attention‐to‐detail (AQ‐Attention) was then indirectly related to improved face recognition, mediated by increased number of fixations to the eyes during face learning. Higher levels of socially relevant autistic traits (AQ‐Social) trended in the opposite direction towards being related to poorer face recognition (significantly so in females on the Cambridge Face Memory Test). There was no evidence of any mediated relationship between AQ‐Social and face recognition via reduced looking at the eyes. These different effects of AQ‐Attention and AQ‐Social suggest face‐processing studies in Autism Spectrum Disorder might similarly benefit from considering symptom subclusters. Additionally, concerning mechanisms of face recognition, our results support the view that more looking at eyes predicts better face memory.     

面孔识别中脑电成分N170的研究概述

N170是在面孔刺激呈现后的130-200ms记录到的并在160~170ms时达到峰值的一种脑电负成分。目前, 在N170的研究中存在争议性的问题有：N170反映面孔结构编码还是面孔特征编码; N170是否是面孔特异性成分; 以及N170是否受注意的影响等。这些争议也为N170后续研究指明了方向, 即探讨结构编码和特征编码在诱发N170成分上起着怎样的作用; 比较不同熟悉度的刺激材料所诱发的N170反应差异; 探讨N170成分与识别电位间的关系;采用多研究方法的结合从不同层面深入揭示N170的认知机制。     

大中学生对悲伤与愉快面孔区分的特征比较

采用面孔识别研究范式和事件相关电位方法,研究初中生、高中生和大学生三个年龄段被试情绪面孔加工特征。研究发现,在刺激呈现后的550~800ms,三个年龄段被试均产生悲伤效应,悲伤面孔引发的LPC波幅大于愉快面孔引发的LPC波幅,三个年龄段的悲伤效应脑区分布大致相同,表明三个年龄段情绪面孔加工有着类似的神经机制。进一步比较三个年龄段悲伤面孔引发的ERPs发现,在刺激呈现后的200~550ms,悲伤面孔的加工产生年龄效应。年龄段越低的被试N2波幅越大,年龄段越高的被试P3波幅越大。这一结果提示,随着年龄的增长,青少年大脑高级功能的发育日趋成熟。     

An fMRI study of working memory for schematic facial expressions

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine neuronal activation in relation to increasing working memory load in an n-back task, using schematic drawings of facial expressions and scrambled drawings of the same facial features as stimuli. The main objective was to investigate whether working memory for drawings of facial features would yield specific activations compared to memory for scrambled drawings based on the same visual features as those making up the face drawings. fMRI-BOLD responses were acquired with a 1.5 T Siemens MR scanner while subjects watched the facial drawings alternated with the scrambled drawings, in a block-design. Subjects had to hold either 1 or 2 items in working memory. We found that the main effect of increasing memory load from one to two items yielded significant activations in a bilaterally distributed cortical network consisting of regions in the occipitotemporal cortex, the inferior parietal lobule, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area and the cerebellum. In addition, we found a memory load x drawings interaction in the right inferior frontal gyrus in favor of the facial drawings. These findings show that working memory is specific for facial features which interact with a general cognitive load component to produce significant activations in prefrontal regions of the brain.     

Underlying mechanisms of initial feelings of knowing in children

Past research has pointed to two contrasting mechanisms behind feeling‐of‐knowing judgments (FOKs). The trace‐based account proposes a direct internal monitor that detects the presence or non‐presence of a target item. The inferential account dictates that judgments are actually based on cues external to the memory trace, such as familiarity; FOKs could therefore be based on sometimes misleading information. Thus, while a direct mechanism will lead to good learning strategies (i.e. successful searches), an inferential process could potentially lead to less optimal strategies (i.e. search for unknown target information). The question posed in this research was: What processes underlie the judgments children make prior to fully retrieving a target item? We used a simplified version of Reder and Ritter's (1992 ) game show paradigm to investigate the accuracy (and mechanism) of children's initial FOKs. The experiment found that initial FOKs were largely driven by familiarity of the cues. These data have important implications for strategies children utilize in educational settings.     

Processing valence and intensity of infant expressions: the roles of expertise and gender

Several studies have provided evidence of a women's better accuracy in interpreting emotional states. Despite this difference is generally ascribed to the primary role of female gender in the affective relation with the offspring, to date, little information is available regarding gender differences in the ability to interpret infant facial expressions. In the present study, we examined the roles of gender and expertise in interpreting infant expression in 34 men and women who differed in their experience with infants. Women showed a significantly higher level of decoding accuracy compared to men. Expertise positively affected facial expressions decoding among women only. Our results suggest that in judging emotional facial expressions of infants, there is an interaction of biological (i.e., gender) and cultural factors that is independent of a woman's socioeconomic status.     

Development of a view-invariant representation of the human head

Do infants perceive visual cues as diverse as frontal-view faces, profiles or bodies as being different aspects of the same object, a fellow human? If that is the case, visual exposure to one such cue should facilitate the subsequent processing of the others. To verify this hypothesis, we recorded event-related responses in 4-month-old infants and in adults. Pictures of eyes were interleaved amongst images belonging to three human contexts (frontal-view faces, profiles or bodies) or non-human contexts (houses, cars or pliers). In adults, both profile and frontal-face contexts elicited suppression of the N170 response to eye pictures, indicating an access to a view-invariant representation of faces. In infants, a response suppression of the N290 component was recorded only in the context of frontal faces, while profile context induces a different effect (i.e., a P400 enhancement) on eye processing. This dissociation suggests that the view-invariant representation of faces is learned, as it is for other 3-D objects and needs more than 4 months of exposure to be established. In a follow-up study, where infants were exposed to a short movie showing people rotating their heads, the profile-induced P400 effect was speeded up, indicating that exposure to successive views of the same object is probably a way to build up adult-like face representations.