A holistic account of the own-race effect in face recognition: evidence from a cross-cultural study

A robust finding in the cross-cultural research is that people's memories for faces of their own race are superior to their memories for other-race faces. However, the mechanisms underlying the own-race effect have not been well defined. In this study, a holistic explanation was examined in which Caucasian and Asian participants were asked to recognize features of Caucasian and Asian faces presented in isolation and in the whole face. The main finding was that Caucasian participants recognized own-race faces more holistically than Asian faces whereas Asian participants demonstrated holistic recognition for both own-race and other-race faces. The differences in holistic recognition between Caucasian and Asian participants mirrored differences in their relative experience with own-race and other-race faces. These results suggest that the own-race effect may arise from the holistic recognition of faces from a highly familiar racial group.     

The recognition potential: An ERP index of lexical access

Recognition potential (RP) is a brain electrical response that appears when a subject views recognizable images of words. However, it has yet to be determined whether the processes reflected by RP are related to orthographic or to semantic analysis. This study aimed to resolve this question by studying the RP evoked by orthographically correct stimuli that were devoid of meaning. Results showed RP not only to this type of stimuli, but also to others achieving lower levels in the reading process. Strikingly, however, the RP amplitude significantly differed in parallel with the levels of the reading processes attained by the stimuli, the amplitude of the RP progressively increasing as the level approached the semantic one, which showed the highest amplitude. These results not only confirm the replicability of RP, but also its promise of potential usefulness in the study and assessment of language perception.     

儿童对抽象画情绪寓意理解的发展及文化因素的影响

本实验旨在探索儿童对抽象图画情绪寓意敏感性的发展规律以及文化因素的影响。被试年龄跨度从 5岁至高中学生。根据被试利用形态、主题、情绪等图片特性作为识辨依据的特点来发现规律。儿童对抽象图画寓意敏感性的发展与表征水平相关。年幼儿童只能利用颜色或图形等单一信息维量进行判断 ,年长儿童及中学生可以综合利用形态、主题、情绪等多个维量判断。在寓意明确的图片识辨中 ,儿童对积极寓意的识辨成绩较优。在双关寓意的图片识辨中 ,儿童组倾向于选择具有积极寓意的线索 ,而中学生组会受到识辨经验的影响。文化与教育方式影响儿童对抽象图画情绪寓意的理解。中国幼教方式有助于儿童对图画认知与情绪成分的识辨。     

Fleeting Signs of the Course of Life: Facial Expression and Personal Adjustment

In this article, we consider whether facial expressions of emotion relate in theoretically interesting ways to personal adjustment. We first consider the conceptual benefits of this line of inquiry. Then, to anticipate why brief samples of emotional behavior should relate to personal adjustment, we review evidence indicating that facial expressions of emotion correspond to intrapersonal processes and social outcomes. We then review studies showing that facial expressions relate in theoretically significant ways to adjustment after the death of a spouse, in long-term relationships, and in the context of chronic psychological disorders.     

Recognition Memory for Faces: Reliability and Validity of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test (RMT) in a Neurological Sample

In response to critiques regarding the psychometric limitations of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for faces (RMT-F), the current study was conducted to examine the test-retest reliability and validity of the measure in a neurological sample. Forty adult outpatients, ages 35–81, were administered the RMT-F as part of their diagnostic exam. A second evaluation was conducted after an average interval of 7 months (range = 2–20 months). Results yielded a Pearson reliability coefficient of 0.81 (p < .001), indicating a clinically satisfactory index of stability. Correlations with other measures were conducted to examine convergent and divergent validity. Results indicate that the facial component of the RMT has adequate reliability for patients with established neurological disease, shows moderate correlations with other measures of complex visuospatial function, and shows no significant correlation with measures of verbal reasoning, visual problem-solving, or verbal fluency. These findings provide additional support for the clinical efficacy of this instrument for use in a diverse neurological patient sample.     

Is the inversion effect in rhesus monkeys face-specific?

This study investigated the face inversion effect in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Face stimuli consisted of ten black-and-white examples of unfamiliar rhesus monkey faces, brown capuchin faces, and human faces. Two non-face categories included ten examples of automobiles and abstract shapes. All stimuli were presented in a sequential matching-to-sample format using an automated joystick-testing paradigm. Subjects performed significantly better on upright than on inverted presentations of automobiles, rhesus monkey and capuchin faces, but not human faces or abstract shapes. These results are inconsistent with data from humans and chimpanzees that show the inversion effect only for categories of stimuli for which subjects have developed expertise. The inversion effect in rhesus monkeys does not appear to be face-specific, and should therefore not be used as a marker of specialized face processing in this species. Received: 18 November 1998 / Accepted after revision: 9 May 1999     

Innate versus learned recognition of conspecifics in great spotted cuckoos Clamator glandarius

When birds raised by another species become adults, they (if they are non-brood-parasitic species) usually attempt to mate with birds of their foster species rather than with birds of their own species, a phenomenon called sexual imprinting. Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests of other species (the hosts) that rear the young, but the problem of sexual imprinting among brood parasites has generally been neglected, and brood parasites have been considered as an exception among birds. Here, we show, with data from field observations and field experiments, firstly, that adult great spotted cuckoos Clamator glandarius sometimes maintain contact with both older nestling and fledgling cuckoos. Adult cuckoos visited parasitized nests during the last days of the nestling period (5 observations) and, when parasitic chicks left the nest, adult cuckoos maintained contact with the young (14 observations). Adults and fledgling cuckoos communicated vocally (5 observations), and an adult great spotted cuckoo even fed a parasite fledgling in two cases. Secondly, when experimentally cross-fostered in nests of magpie Pica pica hosts outside the parasite breeding range (thus avoiding visual and acoustic communication with adult cuckoos), young cuckoos did not learn to recognize their own species when only one cuckoo chick was introduced per nest, but they learnt to recognize conspecifics when two cuckoos were reared together. This means that young great spotted cuckoos apparently must learn to recognize conspecifics, that is, recognition is not innate. Social interactions between adult brood parasites and young have also been reported in other brood parasites; thus, brood parasites are probably not an exception to the general phenomenon of imprinting, and young brood parasites may need to be imprinted on conspecifics, although more studies on other brood parasite species are needed to confirm this. Received: 7 January 1999 / Accepted after revision: 27 February 1999     

汉字词识别过程的形,音,义编码作用的研究

本文通过两个实验,采用汉字词形、音、义特征匹配任务,探讨了影响汉字词的形、音、义编码与提取方式的有关因素。实验一发现在速示条件下,对汉字词再认的成绩并不受字词的使用度的影响,反应时无明显变化,而主要受编码加工的深度影响。在形、音、义特征加工中,对音码的加工时间最长,再认的正确率最低;义码的加工时间较短,再认正确率最高;形码的反应时及再认成绩介于音码与义码之间。实验二在非速示条件下也获得了相同的结果。研究结果表明,在汉字词的形、音、义特征中,存在着编码加工深度的差异。     

汉字识别中的部件加工：错觉性结合实验的证据

本研究用“错觉性结合”的实验范式探讨汉字识别中的部件加工。被试对两个刺激字之后出现的目标字进行再认。结果发现在速示条件下,目标字部件与刺激字的部件相同时（如目标字为“她”,而刺激字为“姓”及“地”）,被试常把目标字误认为刺激字。这种错误再认率随字频及部件频率的升高而降低。此外,刺激字的排列方式不同于字的结构方式时,字频及部件频率的效应减弱。上述结果不但表明整字频率、字的空间组织因素影响汉字识别,更显示部件是汉字认知过程的一个重要加工层次。     

A differing bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of facial expression

This study explored a bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of various facial expressions deriving from both the observer and sender in a sample of Chinese participants. A facial manipulation task was used to examine the ability of an observer's facial feedback to modulate the recognition of various facial expressions. Furthermore, the effect of a sender's facial expression with an open or closed mouth on recognition accuracy was investigated. The results showed that only recognition accuracy of a sad facial expression was influenced simultaneously by bidirectional sources from a sender and observer. Moreover, the impact of the unidirectional cue of a sender's facial feature (i.e., mouth openness) on happy and neutral faces was found to influence the recognition accuracy of these faces, but not the observer's bodily state. These findings indicate that the bidirectional impact derived from an observer and sender on facial expression recognition accuracy differs for emotional and neutral expressions.