The social function of imitation in severe dementia

We report the case of Jessie, an individual with severe Alzheimer's disease. Over two sessions, we examine Jessie's spontaneous conversation behaviour and urge to communicate using the ‘still face’ paradigm. Spontaneous and deliberate imitation are also examined to identify their importance in social interactions in severe dementia. Although Jessie has difficulty producing meaningful conversation, she retains the urge to communicate and participate in social interactions. These results confirm the importance of imitation in facilitating and maintaining people with communication problems in the social world. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Masks and Faces in the Setting at the Time of Coronavirus

The “health emergency” forced analysts to seek new ways of continuing with analysis. The article focuses, in particular, on the changes brought about in the setting by the presence of the sanitary mask, following a line that begins with the theme of the “mask” in the collective uses of human cultures, and develops through the Jungian concept of persona, as opposed to the “face” that may convey an authentic image of oneself. A clinical vignette illustrates the issues that the mask raises in the setting by obstructing the communication of emotions. When there is no transformative processing of concrete data, “unmasking” can also lead to an uncanny encounter and to moments of darkness and confusion in analysis, when the analyst experiences the kind of “unconscious identity” between therapist and patient that Jung defined as nigredo. The article is intended as a contribution to the analytic community's current reflections on the new and unforeseen challenges encountered in analysis at the time of the Coronavirus. It is possible to learn from these experiences with a view to integrating new elements and thus modify one's own internal setting, the compass with which each analyst orientates himself.     

Metacognition during unfamiliar face matching

Kruger and Dunning (1999) described a metacognitive bias in which insight into performance is linked to competence: poorer performers are less aware of their mistakes than better performers. Competence-based insight has been argued to apply generally across task domains, including a recent report investigating social cognition using a variety of face-matching tasks. Problematically, serious statistical and methodological criticisms have been directed against the traditional method of analysis used by researchers in this field. Here, we further illustrate these issues and investigate new sources of insight within unfamiliar face matching. Over two experiments (total N = 1077), where Experiment 2 was a preregistered replication of the key findings from Experiment 1, we found that insight into performance was multi-faceted. Participants demonstrated insight which was not based on competence, in the form of accurate updating of estimated performance. We also found evidence of insight which was based on competence: the difference in confidence on correct versus incorrect trials increased with competence. By providing ways that we can move beyond problematic, traditional approaches, we have begun to reveal a more realistic story regarding the nature of insight into face perception.     

The sibling familiarity effect: Is within-person facial variability shared across siblings?

Humans are experts at familiar face recognition, but poor at unfamiliar face recognition. Familiarity is created when a face is encountered across varied conditions, but the way in which a person’s appearance varies is identity-specific, so familiarity with one identity does not benefit recognition of other individuals. However, the faces of biological siblings share structural similarities, so we explored whether the benefits of familiarity are shared across siblings. Results show that familiarity with one half of a sibling pair improves kin detection (experiment 1), and that unfamiliar face matching is more accurate when targets are the siblings of familiar versus unfamiliar individuals (experiment 2). PCA applied to facial images of celebrities and their siblings demonstrates that faces are generally better reconstructed in the principal components of a same-sex sibling than those of an unrelated individual. When we encounter the unfamiliar sibling of someone we already know, our pre-existing representation of their familiar relation may usefully inform processing of the unfamiliar face. This can benefit both kin detection and identity processing, but the benefits are constrained by the degree to which facial variability is shared.     

面孔识别动态增益效应研究综述

近年来,研究者围绕动态面孔识别中的动态增益效应开展了一系列的研究。本文围绕面孔熟悉程度和面孔的活动类型两个方面对与动态增益效应有关的一系列动态面孔认知研究进行了总结,并对不同研究的差异进行了比较和分析。最后,对动态面孔认知规律、眼动模式和脑机制等研究方向上的发展进行了展望。     

面孔识别的本族效应理论述评

面孔识别的本族效应指,个体对本族面孔总是比不熟悉的异族面孔有更好的再认。研究者对该效应提出多种解释。这些理论可分成三大类：侧重于社会认知的接触假说、效用分析;侧重于面孔表征的多维空间理论、整体/部分假说;侧重于加工过程的认知忽视和注意、加工水平说、内群/外群模型、双加工理论。每种观点与其他观点既有区别,又有联系,但均不能很好地解释现有的研究结果。未来的研究需致力于直接操纵可能影响本族效应的因素     

自闭症谱系障碍者面孔识别的神经机制

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种心理状况的谱系障碍,其症状是社交及沟通上的广泛性异常、异常局限性的兴趣和高度重复性的刻板行为。包括自闭症、亚斯伯格症候群和待分类的广泛性发展障碍3类。研究主要以事件相关电位和功能性磁共振成像两种技术为线索,通过深入分析ASD患者在面孔识别认知过程中脑的异常变化,探讨其面孔识别障碍的神经机制问题。研究表明,ASD患者面孔识别能力的损伤主要与N170、N300、P400和Nc等ERPs成份异常及梭状回面孔区和杏仁核的低激活有关。研究推论ASD患者面孔识别障碍是多个异常脑区联合作用的结果,且主要受异常脑区的数量和损伤程度的影响。     

What do infants see in faces? ERP evidence of different roles of eyes and mouth for face perception in 9‐month‐old infants

The study examined whether face‐specific perceptual brain mechanisms in 9‐month‐old infants are differentially sensitive to changes in individual facial features (eyes versus mouth) and whether sensitivity to such changes is related to infants' social and communicative skills. Infants viewed photographs of a smiling unfamiliar female face. On 30% of the trials, either the eyes or the mouth of that face were replaced by corresponding parts from a different female. Visual event‐related potentials were recorded to examine face‐sensitive brain responses. Results revealed that increased competence in expressive communication and interpersonal relationships was associated with a more mature response to faces, as reflected in a larger occipito‐temporal N290 with shorter latency. Both eye‐ and mouth changes were detected, though infants derived different information from these features. Eye changes had a greater impact on the face perception mechanisms and were not correlated with social or communication development, whereas mouth changes had a minimal impact on face processing but were associated with levels of language and communication understanding. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

婴儿面孔偏好理论模型述评

在婴儿早期的视觉经验中,面孔是最特殊的一类刺激,小婴儿从出生开始就喜欢看面孔,这种现象称为面孔偏好。面孔偏好的发展反映了婴儿知觉能力的发展规律,具有重要的社会化意义。该文系统介绍了线性系统模型、右脑优势模型、CONSPEC理论、视觉模块理论和非特异化识别理论5种最主要的婴儿面孔偏好理论,并对这些理论的区别和联系进行了探讨。最后,对面孔偏好研究的新趋势和未来方向进行了评价和展望     

Infant touching behaviour during mother–infant face‐to‐face interactions

The study of infant communication during mother–infant interactions has largely focused on infants' distal behaviours, while neglecting their more proximal behaviours, such as touch. Yet, touch is an important modality through which infants and mothers communicate; it is also a vital means through which infants self‐regulate and explore their surroundings. The present study was designed to investigate the touching behaviours of 44, 51/2‐month‐old, healthy, full‐term infants during face‐to‐face mother–infant interactions. A still‐face (SF) procedure was used in order to examine differences in the types and locations of infant touch across normal and perturbed interaction periods, when mothers exhibit changes in their emotional availability. Results revealed that infant touch varied with changes in maternal availability. During the SF period, when mothers were unavailable, infants used more active, soothing, and reactive tactile behaviours (stroke, finger, pat, and pull), and they spent more time touching themselves. In contrast, infants used mostly passive touch (static) during the Normal periods, when their mothers were available. They also spent a significant portion of time touching their mothers. The variations in infant touch across periods suggest that infants communicate their affective states through touch. The findings also support the regulatory and exploratory roles of infant touch, especially during periods of maternal unavailability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.