面孔熟悉过程中部件加工与整体加工的区域异步性和眼睛区域特异性

Regional asynchrony and eye region-specificity in part-based processing and holistic processing during face familiarization

人们对熟悉面孔的识别绩效显著好于陌生面孔。然而,对于熟悉度提升面孔识别绩效背后的认知加工与信息整合机制,我们仍然知之甚少。本研究招募了两个班级的大学生(分别为相互接触1个月和相互接触13个月),操纵被试第一注视点所落的区域(眼睛或嘴巴),呈现完整面孔、区域部件(regional part,眼睛或嘴巴)和区域外周(regional periphery,完整面孔上,遮挡眼睛或嘴巴后剩余的外周部分),用延迟匹配任务测量两组学生对同班同学面孔和陌生人面孔的识别绩效。获得四个发现:(1)接触1个月的被试组表现出较弱的熟悉度效应,接触13个月的被试组表现出较强的熟悉度效应。(2)熟悉面孔的区域部件和区域外周的识别绩效都高于陌生面孔。(3)在面孔熟悉度增加的过程中,眼睛区域和嘴巴区域表现出区域异步性(regional asynchronization)。(4)眼睛区域在面孔识别中存在特殊的重要性。综上,实验提示面孔熟悉是一个具有区域异步性的绩效提升累积过程,以眼睛区域为中心的面孔整体加工在面孔知觉与记忆表征的形成过程中起到关键作用。

People recognize familiar faces more quickly and accurately than unfamiliar faces.Previous studies found that both holistic processing and part-based processing play a role in recognizing familiar faces efficiently.However,familiarization with faces may not happen and be accomplished in a short period of time for both types of processing.Few research has focused on the progress of familiarization with individuals'faces in real life:Did it reach a ceiling-level of recognition in a short period of time(sudden change)or over a long period of time(gradual change)?And what role did part-based processing and holistic processing play in the recognition improvement during face familiarization?In the current study,we recruited 57 undergraduate students,30 from one class(Group 1:20 females,Mage=18.4,SD=0.8)and the remaining 27 from another class(Group 2:18 females,Mage=19.2,SD=0.8).They got along with their classmates for 1 month(Group 1)and 13 months(Group 2)of daily interactions,respectively.Three delayed-matching tasks(Whole-face Learning,Regional-part Learning,and Regional-periphery Learning)were used to test the participants'face recognition performance in part-based processing and holistic processing.The“Regional-part”was an eye or the mouth,respectively.The“Regional-periphery”was a face with an eye masked or the mouth masked.In each trial,a fixation point(800 ms)was presented at the center of the screen,then the learning stimulus(500 ms)was presented with the specific part(eye or mouth)at the fixation point location.After that,four whole faces(5000 ms)were displayed on the screen after a blank(1000 ms).The participants were asked to choose the face with the same identity as the learning stimuli.Results showed:(1)The recognition performance of familiar faces improved with the increase in daily-interaction time.The familiarity effect(the difference between recognizing the classmates and strangers)of participants with 13 months of daily interaction was higher than that of participants with 1 month.(2)The recognition performance of familiar faces was higher than that of unfamiliar faces in the Part Learning task and in the Part-masking Learning task,which indicated that both the part-based processing and holistic processing were enhanced by familiarity.(3)With the increase in face familiarity,the performance of the eye region and mouth region showed regional asynchronization.Participants with 1 month of daily-interaction time showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye,but a significant familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye;and they showed significant familiarity effects both in recognizing the region of the mouth and the peripheral region of the mouth.Participants with 13 months showed a familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye,and a stronger familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye;and they showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the mouth but a familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the mouth.(4)For unfamiliar faces(r=0.412,p=0.024;r=0.439,p=0.022)and familiar faces with 1 month(r=0.428,p=0.018)and 13 months daily interaction(r=0.609,p=0.001),the performance of recognizing the peripheral region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole faces.For familiar faces with 13 months of daily interaction,the performance of recognizing the region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole face(r=0.562,p=0.002).The results implied that familiarization of face identity was gradual.Familiarization promoted part-based processing and holistic processing.The improvement of the holistic processing preceded that of the part-based processing.In addition,the improvement in recognizing the eye region and the mouth region showed regional asynchrony during familiarization.Familiar face recognition has eye region specificity.Holistic processing in the eye region plays a key role in the establishment of memory representations of familiar faces.These results suggest that Regional Asynchrony and Eye Region-specificity emerged during the familiarization.New knowledge for understanding the mechanism of face memory representation formation was provided.