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Serafini L, Leo I, Pesciarelli F. Event-related potential correlates of implicit processing of own- and other-race faces in children. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 238:105773. [PMID: 37703721 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
Human adults typically experience difficulties in recognizing and discriminating individual faces belonging to racial groups other than their own. The origin of this "other-race" effect is set in infancy, but the understanding of its developmental course is fragmented. We aimed to access the mechanisms of the other-race effect in childhood by unraveling the neural time course of own- and other-race face processing during a masked priming paradigm. White 6- and 7-year-old children (N = 19) categorized fully visible Asian (other-race) or White (own-race) target faces according to gender. Target faces were preceded by masked same-identity or different-identity prime faces, matching the target for race and gender. We showed an early priming effect on the N100 component, with larger amplitude to different-face pairs than to same-face pairs, and a later race effect on the N200 component, with larger amplitude to own-race face pairs than to other-race face pairs. Critically, race did not interact with priming at any processing stage (P100, N100, P200, N200, or P300). Our results suggest that race could have a temporally limited impact on face processing and that the implicit and unconscious identity processing of own- and other-race faces could be similar in 6- and 7-year-olds, depicting an immature other-race effect during childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luana Serafini
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41100 Modena, Italy
| | - Irene Leo
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Francesca Pesciarelli
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41100 Modena, Italy.
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2
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Colour perception deficits after posterior stroke: Not so rare after all? Cortex 2023; 159:118-130. [PMID: 36623418 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Cerebral achromatopsia is an acquired colour perception impairment caused by brain injury, and is generally considered to be rare. Both hemispheres are thought to contribute to colour perception, but most published cases have had bilateral or right hemisphere lesions. In contrast to congenital colour blindness that affects the discrimination between specific hues, cerebral achromatopsia is often described as affecting perception across all colours. Most studies of cerebral achromatopsia have been single cases or case series of patients with colour perception deficits. Here, we explore colour perception deficits in an unbiased sample of patients with stroke affecting the posterior cerebral artery (N = 63) from the Back of the Brain project. Patients were selected based on lesion location only, and not on the presence of a given symptom. All patients were tested with the Farnsworth D-15 Dichotomous Colour Blindness Test and performance compared to matched controls (N = 45) using single case statistics. In patients with abnormal performance, the patterns of colour difficulties were qualitatively analysed. 22% of the patients showed significant problems with colour discrimination (44% of patients with bilateral lesions, 28% with left hemisphere lesions and 5% with right hemisphere lesions). Lesion analyses identified two regions in ventral occipital temporal areas in the left hemisphere as particularly strongly related to impaired performance in colour perception, but also indicated that bilateral lesions are more strongly associated with impaired performance that unilateral lesions. While some patients only had mild deficits, colour perception impairments were in many cases severe. Many patients had selective deficits only affecting the perception of some hues. The results suggest that colour perception difficulties following PCA stroke are common, and that they vary in severity and expression. In addition, the results point towards bilateral processing of colour perception with a left hemispheric domination, contradicting previous reports.
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3
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Silvestri V, Arioli M, Baccolo E, Macchi Cassia V. Sensitivity to trustworthiness cues in own- and other-race faces: The role of spatial frequency information. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0272256. [PMID: 36067183 PMCID: PMC9447876 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Research has shown that adults are better at processing faces of the most represented ethnic group in their social environment compared to faces from other ethnicities, and that they rely more on holistic/configural information for identity discrimination in own-race than other-race faces. Here, we applied a spatial filtering approach to the investigation of trustworthiness perception to explore whether the information on which trustworthiness judgments are based differs according to face race. European participants (N = 165) performed an online-delivered pairwise preference task in which they were asked to select the face they would trust more within pairs randomly selected from validated White and Asian broad spectrum, low-pass filter and high-pass filter trustworthiness continua. Results confirmed earlier demonstrations that trustworthiness perception generalizes across face ethnicity, but discrimination of trustworthiness intensity relied more heavily on the LSF content of the images for own-race faces compared to other-race faces. Results are discussed in light of previous work on emotion discrimination and the hypothesis of overlapping perceptual mechanisms subtending social perception of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Silvestri
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Martina Arioli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Elisa Baccolo
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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4
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Baccolo E, Macchi Cassia V. Age-Related Differences in Sensitivity to Facial Trustworthiness: Perceptual Representation and the Role of Emotional Development. Child Dev 2019; 91:1529-1547. [PMID: 31769004 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The ability to discriminate social signals from faces is a fundamental component of human social interactions whose developmental origins are still debated. In this study, 5-year-old (N = 29) and 7-year-old children (N = 31) and adults (N = 34) made perceptual similarity and trustworthiness judgments on a set of female faces varying in level of expressed trustworthiness. All groups represented perceived similarity of the faces as a function of trustworthiness intensity, but such representation becomes more fine-grained with development. Moreover, 5-year-olds' accuracy in choosing the more trustworthy face in a pair varied as a function of children's score at the Test of Emotion Comprehension, suggesting that the ability to perform face-to-trait inferences is related to the development of emotional understanding.
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5
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Gender Typicality of Faces Affects Children’s Categorization and Judgments of Women More than of Men. SEX ROLES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11199-018-0997-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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6
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Mondloch CJ, Gerada A, Proietti V, Nelson NL. The influence of subtle facial expressions on children's first impressions of trustworthiness and dominance is not adult-like. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 180:19-38. [PMID: 30611111 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2018] [Revised: 11/02/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Adults' first impressions of others are influenced by subtle facial expressions; happy faces are perceived as high in trustworthiness, whereas angry faces are rated as low in trustworthiness and high in threat and dominance. Little is known about the influence of emotional expressions on children's first impressions. Here we examined the influence of subtle expressions of happiness, anger, and fear on children's implicit judgments of trustworthiness and dominance with the aim of providing novel insights about both the development of first impressions and whether children are able to utilize emotional expressions when making implicit, rather than explicit, judgments of traits. In the context of a computerized storybook, children (4- to 11-year-olds) and adults selected one of two twins (two images of the same identity displaying different emotional expressions) to help them face a challenge; some challenges required a trustworthy partner, and others required a dominant partner. One twin posed a neutral expression, and the other posed a subtle emotional expression of happiness, fear, or anger. Whereas adults were more likely to select a happy partner on trust trials than on dominance trials and were more likely to select an angry partner on dominance trials than on trust trials, we found no evidence that children's choices reflected a combined influence of desirable trait and emotion. Follow-up experiments involving explicit trait judgments, explicit emotion recognition, and implicit first impression judgments in the context of intense emotional expressions provide valuable insights into the slow development of implicit trait judgments based on first impressions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ashley Gerada
- Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | | | - Nicole L Nelson
- University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
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7
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Matthews CM, Davis EE, Mondloch CJ. Getting to know you: The development of mechanisms underlying face learning. J Exp Child Psychol 2017; 167:295-313. [PMID: 29220715 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2017] [Revised: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 10/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Nearly every study investigating the development of face recognition has focused on the ability to tell people apart using one or two tightly controlled images to represent each identity. Such research ignores the challenge of recognizing the same person despite variability in appearance. Whereas natural variation in appearance makes unfamiliar faces difficult to recognize, by 6 years of age people easily recognize multiple images of familiar faces. Two mechanisms are proposed to underlie the process by which adults become familiar with newly encountered faces. We provide the first examination of the development of these mechanisms during childhood (6-11 years). In Experiment 1, we examined children's (6- to 10-year-olds') and adults' ability to engage in ensemble coding-the ability to rapidly extract an average representation of an identity from several instances. In Experiment 2, we examined children's ability to use within-person variability in appearance to recognize novel instances of a newly encountered identity. We created a child-friendly perceptual matching task, and the number of images to which participants were exposed varied across targets. Although children were less accurate than adults overall in Experiment 2, we found no age-related improvement in either ensemble coding or the ability to benefit from exposure to within-person variability in appearance when learning a new face, suggesting that both abilities are developed by 6 years of age. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the nature of mechanisms underlying face learning and other developmental processes such as language and music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire M Matthews
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Emily E Davis
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
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8
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Short LA, Balas B, Wilson C. The effect of educational environment on identity recognition and perceptions of within-person variability. VISUAL COGNITION 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2017.1360974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey A. Short
- Department of Psychology, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Canada
| | - Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA
| | - Cassandra Wilson
- Department of Psychology, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Canada
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9
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Piechowski-Jozwiak B, Boller F, Bogousslavsky J. Universal Connection through Art: Role of Mirror Neurons in Art Production and Reception. Behav Sci (Basel) 2017; 7:bs7020029. [PMID: 28475130 PMCID: PMC5485459 DOI: 10.3390/bs7020029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2017] [Revised: 04/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Art is defined as expression or application of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their aesthetic value or emotional power. This definition encompasses two very important elements-the creation and reception of art-and by doing so it establishes a link, a dialogue between the artist and spectator. From the evolutionary biological perspective, activities need to have an immediate or remote effect on the population through improving survival, gene selection, and environmental adjustment, and this includes art. It may serve as a universal means of communication bypassing time, cultural, ethnic, and social differences. The neurological mechanisms of both art production and appreciation are researched by neuroscientists and discussed both in terms of healthy brain biology and complex neuronal networking perspectives. In this paper, we describe folk art and the issue of symbolic archetypes in psychoanalytic thought as well as offer neuronal mechanisms for art by emphasizing mirror/neurons and the role they play in it.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - François Boller
- Department of Neurology, George Washington University Medical School, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
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10
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Short LA, Wagler MC. Social Categories Alone Are Insufficient to Elicit an In-Group Advantage in Perceptions of Within-Person Variability. Perception 2017; 46:929-940. [DOI: 10.1177/0301006617699226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Within-person variability affects identity perception of other-race faces more than own-race faces; when participants sort images into piles representing different identities, they sort photographs of two other-race identities into more piles than two own-race identities. These results have been interpreted in terms of perceptual expertise, such that lack of experience with other-race faces leads to reduced ability to extract identity-relevant information across images. However, an alternative explanation is that sociocognitive factors (e.g., cognitive disregard for out-group faces) lead to differences in the number of perceived identities. Here, we examined whether social factors alone elicit an in-group advantage in perceptions of within-person variability. Caucasian participants sorted 40 photographs of two unfamiliar Caucasian identities (20 photographs/model) into piles based on the number of identities they believed were present. Half of the participants were told that the images were of students attending their university (in-group), whereas half were told that the images were of students attending a rival university (out-group). Participants sorted the photographs into a comparable number of identities for in- and out-group faces. This lack of an in-group advantage suggests that sociocognitive factors alone cannot account for differences in the number of perceived identities across faces from two categories.
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11
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Abstract
AbstractPredominant experience with females early in development results in infants developing an attractive, female-like facial representation that guides children's attention toward and affective preferences for attractive females. When combined with increased interest in the other sex at puberty, these early emerging biases might help explain the robust prosocial and financial biases men exhibit toward attractive women during adulthood.
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12
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Valentine T, Lewis MB, Hills PJ. Face-Space: A Unifying Concept in Face Recognition Research. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2016; 69:1996-2019. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2014.990392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The concept of a multidimensional psychological space, in which faces can be represented according to their perceived properties, is fundamental to the modern theorist in face processing. Yet the idea was not clearly expressed until 1991. The background that led to the development of face-space is explained, and its continuing influence on theories of face processing is discussed. Research that has explored the properties of the face-space and sought to understand caricature, including facial adaptation paradigms, is reviewed. Face-space as a theoretical framework for understanding the effect of ethnicity and the development of face recognition is evaluated. Finally, two applications of face-space in the forensic setting are discussed. From initially being presented as a model to explain distinctiveness, inversion, and the effect of ethnicity, face-space has become a central pillar in many aspects of face processing. It is currently being developed to help us understand adaptation effects with faces. While being in principle a simple concept, face-space has shaped, and continues to shape, our understanding of face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Valentine
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
| | | | - Peter J. Hills
- Psychology Research Group, University of Bournemouth, Poole, UK
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13
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Zhou X, Short LA, Chan HSJ, Mondloch CJ. Judging Normality and Attractiveness in Faces: Direct Evidence of a More Refined Representation for Own-Race, Young Adult Faces. Perception 2016; 45:973-90. [DOI: 10.1177/0301006616652044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Young and older adults are more sensitive to deviations from normality in young than older adult faces, suggesting that the dimensions of face space are optimized for young adult faces. Here, we extend these findings to own-race faces and provide converging evidence using an attractiveness rating task. In Experiment 1, Caucasian and Chinese adults were shown own- and other-race face pairs; one member was undistorted and the other had compressed or expanded features. Participants indicated which member of each pair was more normal (a task that requires referencing a norm) and which was more expanded (a task that simply requires discrimination). Participants showed an own-race advantage in the normality task but not the discrimination task. In Experiment 2, participants rated the facial attractiveness of own- and other-race faces (Experiment 2a) or young and older adult faces (Experiment 2b). Between-rater variability in ratings of individual faces was higher for other-race and older adult faces; reduced consensus in attractiveness judgments reflects a less refined face space. Collectively, these results provide direct evidence that the dimensions of face space are optimized for own-race and young adult faces, which may underlie face race- and age-based deficits in recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomei Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada
| | - Lindsey A. Short
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada; Department of Psychology, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Canada
| | | | - Catherine J. Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
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14
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That’s my teacher! Children’s ability to recognize personally familiar and unfamiliar faces improves with age. J Exp Child Psychol 2016; 143:123-38. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2015] [Revised: 09/18/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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15
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Short LA, Proietti V, Mondloch CJ. Representing young and older adult faces: Shared or age-specific prototypes? VISUAL COGNITION 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2015.1115794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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16
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Walsh JA, Vida MD, Morrisey MN, Rutherford MD. Adults with autism spectrum disorder show evidence of figural aftereffects with male and female faces. Vision Res 2015; 115:104-12. [PMID: 26322382 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2015.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2014] [Revised: 08/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The norm-based coding model of face perception posits that face perception involves an implicit comparison of observed faces to a representation of an average face (prototype) that is shaped by experience. Using some methods, observers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have shown atypical face perception, but other methods suggest preserved face perception. Here, we used a figural aftereffects paradigm to test whether adults with ASD showed evidence of norm-based coding of faces, and whether they encode separate prototypes for male and female faces, as typical observers do. Following prolonged exposure to distorted faces that differ from their stored prototype, neurotypical adults show aftereffects: their prototype shifts in the direction of the adapting face. We measured aftereffects following adaptation to one distorted gender. There were no significant group differences in the size or direction of the aftereffects; both groups showed sex-selective aftereffects after adapting to expanded female faces but showed aftereffects for both sexes after adapting to contracted face of either sex, demonstrating that adults with and without ASD show evidence of partially dissociable male and female face prototypes. This is the first study to examine sex-selective prototypes using figural aftereffects in adults with ASD and replicates the findings of previous studies examining aftereffects in adults with ASD. The results contrast with studies reporting diminished adaptation in children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Walsh
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton L8S 4L8, Canada.
| | - Mark D Vida
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Marcus Neil Morrisey
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - M D Rutherford
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton L8S 4L8, Canada
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17
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Zaidel DW. Neuroesthetics is Not Just about Art. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:80. [PMID: 25741273 PMCID: PMC4330786 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2014] [Accepted: 02/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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18
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Balas B, Peissig J, Moulson M. Children (but not adults) judge similarity in own- and other-race faces by the color of their skin. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 130:56-66. [PMID: 25462031 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2014] [Revised: 09/16/2014] [Accepted: 09/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Both face shape and pigmentation are diagnostic cues for face identification and categorization. In particular, both shape and pigmentation contribute to observers' categorization of faces by race. Although many theoretical accounts of the behavioral other-race effect either explicitly or implicitly depend on differential use of visual information as a function of category expertise, there is little evidence that observers do in fact differentially rely on distinct visual cues for own- and other-race faces. In the current study, we examined how Asian and Caucasian children (4-6 years of age) and adults use three-dimensional shape and two-dimensional pigmentation to make similarity judgments of White, Black, and Asian faces. Children in this age range are capable of making category judgments about race but also are sufficiently plastic with regard to the behavioral other-race effect that it seems as though their representations of facial appearance across different categories are still emerging. Using a simple match-to-sample similarity task, we found that children tend to use pigmentation to judge facial similarity more than adults and also that own-group versus other-group category membership appears to influence how quickly children learn to use shape information more readily. Therefore, we suggest that children continue to adjust how different visual information is weighted during early and middle childhood and that experience with faces affects the speed at which adult-like weightings are established.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108, USA.
| | - Jessie Peissig
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA
| | - Margaret Moulson
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
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19
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Short LA, Mondloch CJ, Hackland AT. Attractiveness judgments and discrimination of mommies and grandmas: perceptual tuning for young adult faces. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 129:1-11. [PMID: 25222629 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2014] [Revised: 08/14/2014] [Accepted: 08/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Adults are more accurate in detecting deviations from normality in young adult faces than in older adult faces despite exhibiting comparable accuracy in discriminating both face ages. This deficit in judging the normality of older faces may be due to reliance on a face space optimized for the dimensions of young adult faces, perhaps because of early and continuous experience with young adult faces. Here we examined the emergence of this young adult face bias by testing 3- and 7-year-old children on a child-friendly version of the task used to test adults. In an attractiveness judgment task, children viewed young and older adult face pairs; each pair consisted of an unaltered face and a distorted face of the same identity. Children pointed to the prettiest face, which served as a measure of their sensitivity to the dimensions on which faces vary relative to a norm. To examine whether biases in the attractiveness task were specific to deficits in referencing a norm or extended to impaired discrimination, we tested children on a simultaneous match-to-sample task with the same stimuli. Both age groups were more accurate in judging the attractiveness of young faces relative to older faces; however, unlike adults, the young adult face bias extended to the match-to-sample task. These results suggest that by 3 years of age, children's perceptual system is more finely tuned for young adult faces than for older adult faces, which may support past findings of superior recognition for young adult faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey A Short
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada; Department of Psychology, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario L9K 1J4, Canada.
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Anne T Hackland
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
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20
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Moulson MC, Shutts K, Fox NA, Zeanah CH, Spelke ES, Nelson CA. Effects of early institutionalization on the development of emotion processing: a case for relative sparing? Dev Sci 2014; 18:298-313. [PMID: 25039290 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2013] [Accepted: 03/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We tested the capacity to perceive visual expressions of emotion, and to use those expressions as guides to social decisions, in three groups of 8- to 10-year-old Romanian children: children abandoned to institutions then randomly assigned to remain in 'care as usual' (institutional care); children abandoned to institutions then randomly assigned to a foster care intervention; and community children who had never been institutionalized. Experiment 1 examined children's recognition of happy, sad, fearful, and angry facial expressions that varied in intensity. Children assigned to institutional care had higher thresholds for identifying happy expressions than foster care or community children, but did not differ in their thresholds for identifying the other facial expressions. Moreover, the error rates of the three groups of children were the same for all of the facial expressions. Experiment 2 examined children's ability to use facial expressions of emotion to guide social decisions about whom to befriend and whom to help. Children assigned to institutional care were less accurate than foster care or community children at deciding whom to befriend; however, the groups did not differ in their ability to decide whom to help. Overall, although there were group differences in some abilities, all three groups of children performed well across tasks. The results are discussed in the context of theoretical accounts of the development of emotion processing.
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21
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Short LA, Lee K, Fu G, Mondloch CJ. Category-specific face prototypes are emerging, but not yet mature, in 5-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 126:161-77. [PMID: 24937629 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2014] [Revised: 04/21/2014] [Accepted: 04/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Adults' expertise in face recognition has been attributed to norm-based coding. Moreover, adults possess separable norms for a variety of face categories (e.g., race, sex, age) that appear to enhance recognition by reducing redundancy in the information shared by faces and ensuring that only relevant dimensions are used to encode faces from a given category. Although 5-year-old children process own-race faces using norm-based coding, little is known about the organization and refinement of their face space. The current study investigated whether 5-year-olds rely on category-specific norms and whether experience facilitates the development of dissociable face prototypes. In Experiment 1, we examined whether Chinese 5-year-olds show race-contingent opposing aftereffects and the extent to which aftereffects transfer across face race among Caucasian and Chinese 5-year-olds. Both participant races showed partial transfer of aftereffects across face race; however, there was no evidence for race-contingent opposing aftereffects. To examine whether experience facilitates the development of category-specific prototypes, we investigated whether race-contingent aftereffects are present among Caucasian 5-year-olds with abundant exposure to Chinese faces (Experiment 2) and then tested separate groups of 5-year-olds with two other categories with which they have considerable experience: sex (male/female faces) and age (adult/child faces) (Experiment 3). Across all three categories, 5-year-olds showed no category-contingent opposing aftereffects. These results demonstrate that 5 years of age is a stage characterized by minimal separation in the norms and associated coding dimensions used for faces from different categories and suggest that refinement of the mechanisms that underlie expert face processing occurs throughout childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey A Short
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada
| | - Genyue Fu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321004, China
| | - Catherine J Mondloch
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
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Macchi Cassia V, Luo L, Pisacane A, Li H, Lee K. How race and age experiences shape young children’s face processing abilities. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 120:87-101. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2013] [Revised: 11/27/2013] [Accepted: 11/27/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Rennels JL, Langlois JH. Children's attractiveness, gender, and race biases: a comparison of their strength and generality. Child Dev 2014; 85:1401-18. [PMID: 24673180 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although research suggests that facial attractiveness biases significantly affect social development and interactions, these biases are understudied in the developmental literature and are overlooked when designing interventions relative to gender and race. The authors, therefore, compared how much bias 3- to 11-year-olds (N = 102) displayed in the three domains. They also examined whether bias and flexibility (understanding that different social groups can possess similar attributes) were related across domains. Children's attractiveness biases, particularly for girl targets, were as strong as or stronger than gender or race biases. Flexibility, but not bias, was related across domains. Developmental scientists and policy makers should increase efforts toward understanding development of attractiveness biases and determine which methods of teaching flexibility are most successful at reducing bias across domains.
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Ross DA, Deroche M, Palmeri TJ. Not just the norm: exemplar-based models also predict face aftereffects. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 21:47-70. [PMID: 23690282 PMCID: PMC4151123 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-013-0449-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The face recognition literature has considered two competing accounts of how faces are represented within the visual system: Exemplar-based models assume that faces are represented via their similarity to exemplars of previously experienced faces, while norm-based models assume that faces are represented with respect to their deviation from an average face, or norm. Face identity aftereffects have been taken as compelling evidence in favor of a norm-based account over an exemplar-based account. After a relatively brief period of adaptation to an adaptor face, the perceived identity of a test face is shifted toward a face with attributes opposite to those of the adaptor, suggesting an explicit psychological representation of the norm. Surprisingly, despite near universal recognition that face identity aftereffects imply norm-based coding, there have been no published attempts to simulate the predictions of norm- and exemplar-based models in face adaptation paradigms. Here, we implemented and tested variations of norm and exemplar models. Contrary to common claims, our simulations revealed that both an exemplar-based model and a version of a two-pool norm-based model, but not a traditional norm-based model, predict face identity aftereffects following face adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Ross
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, 301 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA,
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Vingilis-Jaremko L, Maurer D, Gao X. The influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness: no own-age or own-sex advantage among children attending single-sex schools. J Exp Child Psychol 2013; 120:1-16. [PMID: 24326246 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Revised: 10/11/2013] [Accepted: 10/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
We examined how recent biased face experience affects the influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness among 8- and 9-year-old children attending a girls' school, a boys' school, and a mixed-sex school. We presented pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 50% toward its group average, whereas the other face was transformed 50% away from that average. Across blocks, the faces varied in age (adult, 9-year-old, or 5-year-old) and sex (male or female). We expected that averageness might influence attractiveness judgments more strongly for same-age faces and, for children attending single-sex schools, same-sex faces of that age because their prototype(s) should be best tuned to the faces they see most frequently. Averageness influenced children's judgments of attractiveness, but the strength of the influence was not modulated by the age of the face, nor did the effects of sex of face differ across schools. Recent biased experience might not have affected the results because of similarities between the average faces of different ages and sexes and/or because a minimum level of experience with a particular group of faces may be adequate for the formation of a veridical prototype and its influence on judgments of attractiveness. The results suggest that averageness affects children's judgments of the attractiveness of the faces they encounter in everyday life regardless of age or sex of face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Daphne Maurer
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Xiaoqing Gao
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
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27
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Abstract
The other-race effect emerges during infancy following the perceptual narrowing of face recognition. Other-race faces that were previously discriminable in early infancy cannot be distinguished by older infants. Presently, I discuss a Bayesian model of this process that posits that the other-race effect may be a consequence of learning to distinguish between intra-personal variation (changes to face appearance that preserve identity) and extra-personal variation (changes that do not preserve identity) in a visual environment in which a subset of race categories dominate. I demonstrate that race categories, which I have previously argued are a critical pre-cursor to the emergence of the other-race effect in infancy, are a natural by-product of this model. Perceptual narrowing for race may thus be a natural consequence of visual experience and the estimation of face variability based on a growing number of exemplars. I describe the basic architecture of the model, its applicability to a range of visual learning scenarios, and identify critical choices one faces in applying the model to a specific perceptual task. Despite the success of the model in accounting for these behavioral results, I conclude by identifying important shortcomings of the model and describe important challenges for future efforts to characterize the development of the other-race effect computationally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
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28
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Development of face discrimination abilities, and relationship to magnocellular pathway development, between childhood and adulthood. Vis Neurosci 2013; 30:251-62. [DOI: 10.1017/s0952523813000217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
AbstractThe current study tested the development of face and object processing in young children (mean age = 5.24 years), adolescents (mean age = 15.8 years), and adults (mean age = 21.1 years) using stimuli that were equated for low-level visual characteristics (luminance, contrast, and spatial frequency make-up) and methods that equate for difficulty across ages. We also tested sensitivity to luminance and chromatic contrast (i.e., thought to be mediated primarily by the subcortical Magnocellular (M) and Parvocellular (P) pathways, respectively) to determine whether age-related improvements in face or object discrimination were driven by age-related changes in the M and/or P pathways. Results showed a selective age-related improvement in face sensitivity and a relationship between age-related increases in face sensitivity and luminance contrast sensitivity. These results add to the mounting evidence that the M pathway may influence face processing.
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Vingilis-Jaremko L, Maurer D. The influence of averageness on children’s judgments of facial attractiveness. J Exp Child Psychol 2013; 115:624-39. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2012] [Revised: 03/27/2013] [Accepted: 03/30/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Fu G, Mondloch CJ, Ding XP, A Short L, Sun L, Lee K. The neural correlates of the face attractiveness aftereffect: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study. Neuroimage 2013; 85 Pt 1:363-71. [PMID: 23648964 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2012] [Revised: 04/16/2013] [Accepted: 04/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Extensive behavioral evidence shows that our internal representation of faces, or face prototype, can be dynamically updated by immediate experience. This is illustrated by the robust attractiveness aftereffect phenomenon whereby originally unattractive faces become attractive after we are exposed to a set of unattractive faces. Although behavioral evidence suggests this effect to have a strong neural basis, limited neuroimaging evidence exists. Here we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy methodology (fNIRS) to bridge this gap. During the pre-adaptation trials, participants judged the attractiveness of three sets of faces: normal/undistorted faces, compressed faces (the internal features and distances between them were compressed), and expanded faces (the internal features and distances between them were stretched). Then, participants were shown extremely compressed faces for 5 min as adaptation stimuli, after which participants judged the same three sets of faces in post-adaptation trials. Behaviorally, after the adaptation trials, participants rated the compressed faces more attractive whereas they judged the other two sets of faces as less attractive, replicating the robust adaptation effect. fNIRS results showed that short-term exposure to compressed faces led to significant decreases in neural activity to all face types, but in a more extended network of cortical regions in the frontal and occipital cortexes for undistorted faces. Taken together, these findings suggest that the face attractiveness aftereffect mainly reflects changes in the neural representation of the face prototype in response to recent exposures to new face exemplars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genyue Fu
- Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
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31
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Implicit face prototype learning from geometric information. Vision Res 2013; 82:1-12. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2011] [Revised: 01/30/2013] [Accepted: 02/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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32
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Macchi Cassia V, Pisacane A, Gava L. No own-age bias in 3-year-old children: More evidence for the role of early experience in building face-processing biases. J Exp Child Psychol 2012; 113:372-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2011] [Revised: 06/24/2012] [Accepted: 06/29/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Abstract
During the first year of life, infants' face recognition abilities are subject to 'perceptual narrowing', the end result of which is that observers lose the ability to distinguish previously discriminable faces (e.g. other-race faces) from one another. Perceptual narrowing has been reported for faces of different species and different races, in developing humans and primates. Though the phenomenon is highly robust and replicable, there have been few efforts to model the emergence of perceptual narrowing as a function of the accumulation of experience with faces during infancy. The goal of the current study is to examine how perceptual narrowing might manifest as statistical estimation in 'face-space', a geometric framework for describing face recognition that has been successfully applied to adult face perception. Here, I use a computer vision algorithm for Bayesian face recognition to study how the acquisition of experience in face-space and the presence of race categories affect performance for own and other-race faces. Perceptual narrowing follows from the establishment of distinct race categories, suggesting that the acquisition of category boundaries for race is a key computational mechanism in developing face expertise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Balas
- Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.
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Kościński K. Mere visual experience impacts preference for body shape: evidence from male competitive swimmers. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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35
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McKone E, Crookes K, Jeffery L, Dilks DD. A critical review of the development of face recognition: experience is less important than previously believed. Cogn Neuropsychol 2012; 29:174-212. [PMID: 22360676 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2012.660138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Historically, it has been argued that face individuation develops very slowly, not reaching adult levels until adolescence, with experience being the driving force behind this protracted improvement. Here, we challenge this view based on extensive review of behavioural and neural findings. Results demonstrate qualitative presence of all key phenomena related to face individuation (encoding of novel faces, holistic processing effects, face-space effects, face-selective responses in neuroimaging) at the earliest ages tested, typically 3-5 years of age and in many cases even infancy. Results further argue for quantitative maturity by early childhood, based on an increasing number of behavioural studies that have avoided the common methodological problem of restriction of range, as well as event-related potential (ERP), but not functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. We raise a new possibility that could account for the discrepant fMRI findings-namely, the use of adult-sized head coils on child-sized heads. We review genetic and innate contributions to face individuation (twin studies, neonates, visually deprived monkeys, critical periods, perceptual narrowing). We conclude that the role of experience in the development of the mechanisms of face identification has been overestimated. The emerging picture is that the mechanisms supporting face individuation are mature early, consistent with the social needs of children for reliable person identification in everyday life, and are also driven to an important extent by our evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elinor McKone
- Department of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
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36
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Robbins RA, Maurer D, Hatry A, Anzures G, Mondloch CJ. Effects of normal and abnormal visual experience on the development of opposing aftereffects for upright and inverted faces. Dev Sci 2011; 15:194-203. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01116.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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37
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Jeffery L, Rhodes G. Insights into the development of face recognition mechanisms revealed by face aftereffects. Br J Psychol 2011; 102:799-815. [DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02066.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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38
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Macchi Cassia V. Age biases in face processing: The effects of experience across development. Br J Psychol 2011; 102:816-29. [DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02046.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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39
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Nishimura M, Robertson C, Maurer D. Effect of adaptor duration on 8-year-olds’ facial identity aftereffects suggests adult-like plasticity of the face norm. Vision Res 2011; 51:1216-22. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2011.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2010] [Revised: 03/22/2011] [Accepted: 03/22/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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