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Shakil M, Rutherford MD. Religious labels and food preferences, but not country of origin, support opposing face aftereffects. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 247:104328. [PMID: 38838493 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104328] [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: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Face templates can be experimentally manipulated, and category-contingent aftereffects suggest discrete templates across social groups. We tested whether 1) explicit religious labels, 2) food preferences, and 3) country of origin would support religion-contingent aftereffects across Christians and Muslims face sets. While viewing face images, ninety-three participants heard audio that stated either 1) a character's religious identity, 2) preferred food, or 3) country of origin. Participants viewed contracted Christian faces and expanded Muslim faces during the training phase. To measure adaptation, before and after the training phases, participants selected the face out of a pair of expanded and contracted Christian or Muslim faces that they found more attractive. Contingent aftereffects were found in the religious explicit (t(30) = 2.49, p = 0.02, Cohen's d = 0.58) and food conditions (t(30) = -3.77, p < 0.01, Cohen's d = -0.82), but not the country condition (t(30) = 1.64, p = 0.11, Cohen's d = 0.31). This suggests that religious labels and food preferences create socially meaningful groups, but country of origin does not. This is evidence of an impact of social categorization on visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maheen Shakil
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - M D Rutherford
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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2
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Creel SC, Frye CI. Minimal gains for minimal pairs: Difficulty in learning similar-sounding words continues into preschool. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 240:105831. [PMID: 38134601 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105831] [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: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
A critical indicator of spoken language knowledge is the ability to discern the finest possible distinctions that exist between words in a language-minimal pairs, for example, the distinction between the novel words beesh and peesh. Infants differentiate similar-sounding novel labels like "bih" and "dih" by 17 months of age or earlier in the context of word learning. Adult word learners readily distinguish similar-sounding words. What is unclear is the shape of learning between infancy and adulthood: Is there a nonlinear increase early in development, or is there protracted improvement as experience with spoken language amasses? Three experiments tested monolingual English-speaking children aged 3 to 6 years and young adults. Children underperformed when learning minimal-pair words compared with adults (Experiment 1), compared with learning dissimilar words even when speech materials were optimized for young children (Experiment 2), and when the number of word instances during learning was quadrupled (Experiment 3). Nonetheless, the youngest group readily recognized familiar minimal pairs (Experiment 3). Results are consistent with a lengthy trajectory for detailed sound pattern learning in one's native language(s), although other interpretations are possible. Suggestions for research on developmental trajectories across various age ranges are made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah C Creel
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
| | - Conor I Frye
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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3
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Morina E, Harris DA, Hayes-Skelton SA, Ciaramitaro VM. Altered mechanisms of adaptation in social anxiety: differences in adapting to positive versus negative emotional faces. Cogn Emot 2024:1-21. [PMID: 38427396 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2314987] [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: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Social anxiety is characterised by fear of negative evaluation and negative perceptual biases; however, the cognitive mechanisms underlying these negative biases are not well understood. We investigated a possible mechanism which could maintain negative biases: altered adaptation to emotional faces. Heightened sensitivity to negative emotions could result from weakened adaptation to negative emotions, strengthened adaptation to positive emotions, or both mechanisms. We measured adaptation from repeated exposure to either positive or negative emotional faces, in individuals high versus low in social anxiety. We quantified adaptation strength by calculating the point of subjective equality (PSE) before and after adaptation for each participant. We hypothesised: (1) weaker adaptation to angry vs happy faces in individuals high in social anxiety, (2) no difference in adaptation to angry vs happy faces in individuals low in social anxiety, and (3) no difference in adaptation to sad vs happy faces in individuals high in social anxiety. Our results revealed a weaker adaptation to angry compared to happy faces in individuals high in social anxiety (Experiment 1), with no such difference in individuals low in social anxiety (Experiment 1), and no difference in adaptation strength to sad vs happy faces in individuals high in social anxiety (Experiment 2).
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Affiliation(s)
- Erinda Morina
- Developmental and Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel A Harris
- Developmental and Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sarah A Hayes-Skelton
- Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Vivian M Ciaramitaro
- Developmental and Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
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4
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Foglia V, Rutherford MD. A category contingent aftereffect for faces labelled with different religious affiliation is seen 7 days after adaptation. Perception 2023; 52:297-311. [PMID: 37128745 PMCID: PMC10164232 DOI: 10.1177/03010066231100880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Visual adaptation occurs after a prolonged exposure to a stimulus. The duration of aftereffects differs across stimuli type, and face aftereffects may be especially long lasting. The current study investigates adaptation decay of category contingent opposing aftereffects. Specifically, we tested whether naïve undergraduate participants' adaptation to photos of faces with explicit religious labels, differed from that of participants who had adapted to the same faces 7 days previously. We also tested whether 7-day old category-contingent opposing aftereffects interfere with the ability to re-adapt to a new condition. In Session 1, undergraduates made attractiveness preference selections before and after adapting to two groups of distorted faces. Participants then returned 7 days later to re-assess the attractiveness of the same faces. Participants were then adapted to the two groups of faces distorted in the opposite direction. Adaptation strength was stronger in Session 1 than in Session 2, although adaptation strength was not related to pre-adaptation selections. Week-old aftereffects interfered with the creation of aftereffects in the opposite direction 7 days later.
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5
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Boothroyd LG, Tovée MJ, Evans EH. Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls? Body Image 2021; 37:172-180. [PMID: 33713909 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Ultra-thin fashion dolls may represent a risk factor for thin-ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction amongst young girls. We asked thirty one 5- to 9-year-old girls to engage in interactive play with commercially available dolls which were either ultra-thin (Barbie and Monster High) or represented a putative realistic childlike shape (Lottie and Dora) and to indicate their perceived own-body size and ideal body size on an interactive computer task both before and after play. There was a significant interaction between testing phase and doll group such that playing with the ultra-thin dolls led to the girls' 'ideal self' becoming thinner. A further 46 girls played with the ultra-thin dolls and then played with either the same dolls again, the realistic childlike dolls, or with cars. Initial play with the ultra-thin dolls again produced a drop in perceived ideal own body size; however, no group showed any significant change in their body ideals during the additional play phase. These data indicate the potential benefit of dolls representing a realistic child body mass to young girls' body satisfaction and do not support the hypothesis that the negative impacts of ultra-thin dolls can be directly countered by other toys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynda G Boothroyd
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
| | - Martin J Tovée
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK
| | - Elizabeth H Evans
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, NE1 3RU, UK
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6
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Hudac CM, Santhosh M, Celerian C, Chung KM, Jung W, Webb SJ. The Role of Racial and Developmental Experience on Emotional Adaptive Coding in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dev Neuropsychol 2021; 46:93-108. [PMID: 33719788 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2021.1900192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Sensitivity to emotional face aids in rapid detection and evaluation of others, such that by school-age, children and youth exhibit adult-like patterns when the prolonged viewing of an emotional face distorts the perception of a subsequent face. However, the developmental considerations of this phenomenon (known as emotional adaptive coding) are unclear given ongoing maturational and experiential changes, including the influence of own-race experiences or the lack of face expertise, as is evident in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study addressed whether emotional adaptive coding is sensitive to factors of face perception expertise, specifically self-race and developmental experience, in adults (age 19-28 years) and youth (age 10-16 years). Emotional adaptive coding was not influenced by race expertise (i.e., other versus same race identity) in White and Asian adults. Emotional adaptation coding during childhood and adolescence is consistent with adults, though youth with ASD exhibited stronger adaptor after-effects in response to other-race faces, relative to TD youth and adults. By extending prior work to examine the integration of race and emotional adaptive coding in ASD, we discovered that the strength of response in ASD is atypical when viewing other-race faces, which clarifies the role of racial and facial experience on emotional face adaption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin M Hudac
- Center for Youth Development and Intervention and Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, United States
| | - Megha Santhosh
- Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, United States
| | - Casey Celerian
- Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, United States
| | | | - Woohyun Jung
- Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Sara Jane Webb
- Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, United States.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
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7
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Zeki S, Chén OY. The Bayesian‐Laplacian brain. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 51:1441-1462. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Semir Zeki
- Laboratory of Neurobiology University College London London UK
| | - Oliver Y. Chén
- Laboratory of Neurobiology University College London London UK
- Department of Psychology Yale University New Haven CT USA
- Department of Engineering Science University of Oxford Oxford UK
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8
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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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9
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Zhou X, Matthews CM, Baker KA, Mondloch CJ. Becoming Familiar With a Newly Encountered Face: Evidence of an Own-Race Advantage. Perception 2018; 47:807-820. [PMID: 30081772 DOI: 10.1177/0301006618783915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Adults' ability to match identity in images of unfamiliar faces is impaired for other- compared with own-race faces; their ability to match identity in images of familiar faces is independent of face race. Exposure to within-person variability in appearance plays a key role in face learning. Past research suggests that children need exposure to higher levels of variability than adults to learn a new face-a difference that has been attributed to experience. We predicted that adults' limited experience with other-race faces would result in their needing exposure to higher levels of variability when learning other- compared with own-race faces. We introduced adults to four new identities (two own-race; two other-race) in one of the three conditions: a single image, a low-variability video (filmed on 1 day), or a high-variability video (filmed across 3 days). Adults' ability to recognize new instances of learned identities improved in the low-variability condition for own-race faces but only in the high-variability condition for other-race faces. We discuss learning mechanisms that might drive this difference-a difference we attribute to experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomei Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada; Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Kristen A Baker
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada
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10
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Huang Y, Xue X, Spelke E, Huang L, Zheng W, Peng K. The aesthetic preference for symmetry dissociates from early-emerging attention to symmetry. Sci Rep 2018; 8:6263. [PMID: 29674652 PMCID: PMC5908848 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24558-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Symmetry is a basic geometry property that affects people's aesthetic experience in common ways across cultures and historical periods, but the origins of the universal preference for symmetrical patterns is not clear. We assessed four-year-old children's and adults' reported aesthetic preferences between symmetrical and asymmetrical visual patterns, as well as their spontaneous attentional preferences between the patterns. We found a striking dissociation between these two measures in the children: Children looked longer at the symmetrical patterns, relative to otherwise similar but asymmetrical patterns, but they showed no explicit preference for those patterns. These findings suggest that the human's aesthetic preferences have high postnatal plasticity, calling into question theories that symmetry is a "core feature" mediating people's aesthetic experience throughout life. The findings also call into question the assumption, common to many studies of human infants, that attentional choices reflect subjective preferences or values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Huang
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R. China.
| | - Xiaodi Xue
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R. China
| | - Elizabeth Spelke
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, USA
| | - Lijie Huang
- Research Center for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P.R. China
| | - Wenwen Zheng
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R. China
| | - Kaiping Peng
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R. China.
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11
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Abstract
It has been suggested that attenuated adaptation to visual stimuli in autism is the result of atypical perceptual priors (e.g., Pellicano and Burr in Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504-510, 2012. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.08.009 ). This study investigated adaptation to color in autistic adults, measuring both strength of afterimage and the influence of top-down knowledge. We found no difference in color afterimage strength between autistic and typical adults. Effects of top-down knowledge on afterimage intensity shown by Lupyan (Acta Psychol 161:117-130, 2015. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.08.006 ) were not replicated for either group. This study finds intact color adaptation in autistic adults. This is in contrast to findings of attenuated adaptation to faces and numerosity in autistic children. Future research should investigate the possibility of developmental differences in adaptation and further examine top-down effects on adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Maule
- The Sussex Colour Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Pevensey II 5B7, Brighton, BN1 9QH UK
| | - Kirstie Stanworth
- The Sussex Colour Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Pevensey II 5B7, Brighton, BN1 9QH UK
| | - Elizabeth Pellicano
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Anna Franklin
- The Sussex Colour Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Pevensey II 5B7, Brighton, BN1 9QH UK
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12
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Schulz K, Hayn-Leichsenring GU. Face Attractiveness versus Artistic Beauty in Art Portraits: A Behavioral Study. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2254. [PMID: 29312091 PMCID: PMC5743918 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
From art portraits, the observer may derive at least two different hedonic values: The attractiveness of the depicted person and the artistic beauty of the image that relates to the way of presentation. We argue that attractiveness is a property that is predominantly driven by perceptual processes, while the perception of artistic beauty is based predominantly on cognitive processing. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two behavioral experiments. In a gist study (Experiment 1), we showed that ratings on attractiveness were higher after short-term presentation (50 ms) than after long-term presentation (3000 ms), while the opposite pattern was found for artistic beauty. In an experiment on perceptual contrast (Experiment 2), we showed that the perceptual contrast effect was stronger for attractiveness than for artistic beauty. These results are compatible with our hypothesis that appreciation of artistic beauty is cognitively modulated at least in part, while processing of attractiveness is predominantly driven perceptually. This dichotomy between cognitive and perceptual processing of different kinds of beauty suggests the participation of different neuronal mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Schulz
- Psychology of Beauty Group, Institute of Anatomy I, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Gregor U Hayn-Leichsenring
- Psychology of Beauty Group, Institute of Anatomy I, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany.,DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.,Neurology Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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13
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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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14
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Baker KA, Laurence S, Mondloch CJ. How does a newly encountered face become familiar? The effect of within-person variability on adults' and children's perception of identity. Cognition 2017; 161:19-30. [PMID: 28092773 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2016] [Revised: 12/22/2016] [Accepted: 12/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Adults and children aged 6years and older easily recognize multiple images of a familiar face, but often perceive two images of an unfamiliar face as belonging to different identities. Here we examined the process by which a newly encountered face becomes familiar, defined as accurate recognition of multiple images that capture natural within-person variability in appearance. In Experiment 1 we examined whether exposure to within-person variability in appearance helps children learn a new face. Children aged 6-13years watched a 10-min video of a woman reading a story; she was filmed on a single day (low variability) or over three days, across which her appearance and filming conditions (e.g., camera, lighting) varied (high variability). After familiarization, participants sorted a set of images comprising novel images of the target identity intermixed with distractors. Compared to participants who received no familiarization, children showed evidence of learning only in the high-variability condition, in contrast to adults who showed evidence of learning in both the low- and high-variability conditions. Experiment 2 highlighted the efficiency with which adults learn a new face; their accuracy was comparable across training conditions despite variability in duration (1 vs. 10min) and type (video vs. static images) of training. Collectively, our findings show that exposure to variability leads to the formation of a robust representation of facial identity, consistent with perceptual learning in other domains (e.g., language), and that the development of face learning is protracted throughout childhood. We discuss possible underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen A Baker
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada
| | - Sarah Laurence
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada; School of Psychology, Keele University, UK
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15
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Sun W, Wang G, Jiang Y, Song Y, Dong S, Lin Q, Deng Y, Zhu Q, Jiang F. Six-month-old infant long sleepers prefer a human face. Sleep Med 2016; 27-28:28-31. [PMID: 27938915 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2016.08.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Revised: 08/09/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sleep is known to influence socio-emotional regulation among children and preschoolers, whereas little is known about the association between sleep and social preference during infancy. METHODS In the current study, habitual sleep of 49 infants aged around six months old were surveyed by questionnaire, and their social preference was revealed by their preferential gaze in three conditions: (1) a human face paired with an object (ie, a cup), (2) a human face paired with an animal face (ie, a dog), and (3) a dog face paired with a cup. RESULTS In general, images with richer social information (ie, a human face and dog) attracted infants' gaze significantly more than nonsocial images (ie, cup). Infants with shorter sleep duration (ie, <13 h a day) show a significant reduction in their preference toward a human face when paired with a dog than infants with longer sleep duration. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest an early positive link between sleep duration and preference towards socially rich stimuli (eg, a human face) during infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanqi Sun
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China; Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Guanghai Wang
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanrui Jiang
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuanjin Song
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Shumei Dong
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Qingmin Lin
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Yujiao Deng
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi Zhu
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China
| | - Fan Jiang
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, China.
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16
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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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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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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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Vukovic J, Boothroyd LG, Meins E, Burt DM. Concurrent parent–child relationship quality is associated with an imprinting-like effect in children's facial preferences. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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20
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Johnson KL, Lick DJ, Carpinella CM. Emergent Research in Social Vision: An Integrated Approach to the Determinants and Consequences of Social Categorization. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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21
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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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Jeffery L, Taylor L, Rhodes G. Transfer of figural face aftereffects suggests mature orientation selectivity in 8-year-olds’ face coding. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 126:229-44. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2013] [Revised: 03/05/2014] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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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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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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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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Vingilis-Jaremko L, Maurer D. The influence of symmetry on children's judgments of facial attractiveness. Perception 2013; 42:302-20. [PMID: 23837207 DOI: 10.1068/p7371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
In experiment 1, we examined developmental changes in the influence of symmetry on judgments of attractiveness by showing adults and children pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 75% toward perfect symmetry, while the other face was transformed by exaggerating its asymmetries by 75%. Adults and 9-year-olds, but not 5-year-olds, rated the more symmetric faces as more attractive than the less symmetric faces, although the effect was stronger in adults than 9-year-olds. The preference for symmetry was stronger for male than female faces, and stronger for adults' than children's faces. In experiment 2, comparisons of the symmetry of the original male and female faces revealed no measured differences but lower ratings by adults of symmetry in the male faces. Overall, the results suggest that the influence of symmetry on attractiveness judgments emerges after the age of 5 years, and matures after the age of 9 years. The stronger effects for adult viewers may reflect an increase in sensitivity to symmetry as experience with faces increases and/or as the visual system matures. As well, attractiveness may become more salient after puberty, so that honest signals of mate quality, such as symmetry, have a stronger effect for adult viewers, especially when judging adult faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main StreetWest, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada
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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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29
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Strobach T, Carbon CC. Face adaptation effects: reviewing the impact of adapting information, time, and transfer. Front Psychol 2013; 4:318. [PMID: 23760550 PMCID: PMC3669756 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2013] [Accepted: 05/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to adapt is essential to live and survive in an ever-changing environment such as the human ecosystem. Here we review the literature on adaptation effects of face stimuli to give an overview of existing findings in this area, highlight gaps in its research literature, initiate new directions in face adaptation research, and help to design future adaptation studies. Furthermore, this review should lead to better understanding of the processing characteristics as well as the mental representations of face-relevant information. The review systematizes studies at a behavioral level in respect of a framework which includes three dimensions representing the major characteristics of studies in this field of research. These dimensions comprise (1) the specificity of adapting face information, e.g., identity, gender, or age aspects of the material to be adapted to (2) aspects of timing (e.g., the sustainability of adaptation effects) and (3) transfer relations between face images presented during adaptation and adaptation tests (e.g., images of the same or different identities). The review concludes with options for how to combine findings across different dimensions to demonstrate the relevance of our framework for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tilo Strobach
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University , Berlin , Germany ; Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University , Munich , Germany
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30
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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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Danel DP, Fedurek P, Coetzee V, Stephen ID, Nowak N, Stirrat M, Perrett DI, Saxton TK. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Population-Specific Face Shape Preferences (Homo sapiens). Ethology 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dariusz P. Danel
- Polish Academy of Sciences; Institute of Anthropology; Wrocław; Poland
| | - Paweł Fedurek
- Department of Psychology; University of York; York; UK
| | - Vinet Coetzee
- Department of Genetics; University of Pretoria; Pretoria; South Africa
| | - Ian D. Stephen
- School of Psychology; University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus; Semenyih; Malaysia
| | - Natalia Nowak
- Polish Academy of Sciences; Institute of Anthropology; Wrocław; Poland
| | - Michael Stirrat
- School of Psychology; University of St Andrews; St Andrews; UK
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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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Principe CP, Langlois JH. SHIFTING THE PROTOTYPE: EXPERIENCE WITH FACES INFLUENCES AFFECTIVE AND ATTRACTIVENESS PREFERENCES. SOCIAL COGNITION 2012; 30:109-120. [PMID: 23226915 DOI: 10.1521/soco.2012.30.1.109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
While some researchers have suggested that preferences for attractive faces are the result of a domain-specific beauty detection module, others argue these preferences develop based on averages of stimuli through a domain-general learning mechanism. We tested whether cognitive and perceptual mechanisms sensitive to experience underlie facial preferences by familiarizing participants with human, chimpanzee, or morphed faces (60%-chimp/40%-human). Results indicated that participants familiarized with human-chimp morphs showed greater zygomaticus major activity, a physiological correlate of positive affect (Study 1), and higher explicit attractiveness ratings (Study 2) to faces morphed to some degree with chimpanzees. These results demonstrate that experience shifts attractiveness preferences away from the normative average, and suggest that a domain-general cognitive mechanism better accounts for facial preferences than a domain-specific innate beauty-detector.
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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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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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36
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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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37
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The development of norm-based coding and race-specific face prototypes: An examination of 5- and 8-year-olds’ face space. J Exp Child Psychol 2011; 108:338-57. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2010.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2010] [Revised: 07/13/2010] [Accepted: 07/14/2010] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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38
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Children’s representations of facial expression and identity: Identity-contingent expression aftereffects. J Exp Child Psychol 2009; 104:326-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2009.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2009] [Revised: 06/09/2009] [Accepted: 06/18/2009] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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