Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： People recognize familiar faces more quickly and accurately than unfamiliar faces. Previous studies found that both holistic processing and part-based processing play a role in recognizing familiar faces efficiently. However, familiarization with faces may not happen and be accomplished in a short period of time for both types of processing. Few research has focused on the progress of familiarization with individuals' faces in real life: Did it reach a ceiling-level of recognition in a short period of time (sudden change) or over a long period of time (gradual change)? And what role did part-based processing and holistic processing play in the recognition improvement during face familiarization? In the current study, we recruited 57 undergraduate students, 30 from one class (Group 1: 20 females, Mage = 18.4, SD = 0.8) and the remaining 27 from another class (Group 2: 18 females, Mage = 19.2, SD = 0.8). They got along with their classmates for 1 month (Group 1) and 13 months (Group 2) of daily interactions, respectively. Three delayed-matching tasks (Whole-face Learning, Regional-part Learning, and Regional-periphery Learning) were used to test the participants' face recognition performance in part-based processing and holistic processing. The “Regional-part” was an eye or the mouth, respectively. The “Regional-periphery” was a face with an eye masked or the mouth masked. In each trial, a fixation point (800 ms) was presented at the center of the screen, then the learning stimulus (500 ms) was presented with the specific part (eye or mouth) at the fixation point location. After that, four whole faces (5000 ms) were displayed on the screen after a blank (1000 ms). The participants were asked to choose the face with the same identity as the learning stimuli. Results showed: (1) The recognition performance of familiar faces improved with the increase in daily-interaction time. The familiarity effect (the difference between recognizing the classmates and strangers) of participants with 13 months of daily interaction was higher than that of participants with 1 month. (2) The recognition performance of familiar faces was higher than that of unfamiliar faces in the Part Learning task and in the Part-masking Learning task, which indicated that both the part-based processing and holistic processing were enhanced by familiarity. (3) With the increase in face familiarity, the performance of the eye region and mouth region showed regional asynchronization. Participants with 1 month of daily-interaction time showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye, but a significant familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye; and they showed significant familiarity effects both in recognizing the region of the mouth and the peripheral region of the mouth. Participants with 13 months showed a familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye, and a stronger familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye; and they showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the mouth but a familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the mouth. (4) For unfamiliar faces (r = 0.412, p = 0.024; r = 0.439, p = 0.022) and familiar faces with 1 month (r = 0.428, p = 0.018) and 13 months daily interaction (r = 0.609, p = 0.001), the performance of recognizing the peripheral region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole faces. For familiar faces with 13 months of daily interaction, the performance of recognizing the region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole face (r = 0.562, p = 0.002). The results implied that familiarization of face identity was gradual. Familiarization promoted part-based processing and holistic processing. The improvement of the holistic processing preceded that of the part-based processing. In addition, the improvement in recognizing the eye region and the mouth region showed regional asynchrony during familiarization. Familiar face recognition has eye region specificity. Holistic processing in the eye region plays a key role in the establishment of memory representations of familiar faces. These results suggest that Regional Asynchrony and Eye Region-specificity emerged during the familiarization. New knowledge for understanding the mechanism of face memory representation formation was provided.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2022-12-08
Abstract：
People recognize familiar faces more quickly and accurately than unfamiliar faces. Previous studies found that both holistic processing and part-based processing play a role in recognizing familiar faces efficiently. However, familiarization with faces may not happen and be accomplished in a short period of time. Little research has focused on the progress of familiarization with individuals' faces in real life: Did it reach a ceiling-level of recognition in a short period of time (sudden change) or over a long period of time (gradual change)? And what role did part-based processing and holistic processing play in the recognition improvement during face familiarization? In the current study, we recruited 57 undergraduate students, 30 from one class (Group 1: 20 females, age M = 18.4, SD = 0.8) and the remaining 27 from another class (Group 2: 18 females, age M = 19.2, SD = 0.8). They got along with their classmates for 1 month (Group 1) and 13 months (Group 2) of daily interactions, respectively. Three delayed-matching tasks (Whole-face Learning, Part Learning, and Part-masking Learning) were used to test the participants' face recognition performance, part-based processing level, and holistic processing level. The parts included eye and mouth, respectively. In each trial, a fixation point (800ms) was presented at the center of the screen, then the learning stimulus (500ms) was presented with the specific part (eye or mouth) at the fixation point location, and four whole faces (5000ms) were displayed on the screen after a blank (1000ms). The participants were asked to choose the face with the same identity as the learning stimuli. Results showed: (1) The recognition performance of familiar faces improved with the increase in daily-interaction time. The familiarity effect (the difference between recognizing the classmates and strangers) of participants with 13 months of daily interaction was higher than that of participants with 1 month. (2) The recognition performance of familiar faces was higher than that of unfamiliar faces in the Part Learning task and in the Part-masking Learning task, which indicated that both the part-based processing and holistic processing were enhanced by familiarity. (3) With the increase in face familiarity, the performance of the eye region and mouth region showed regional asynchronization. Participants with 1 month of daily-interaction time showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye, but a significant familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye; and they showed significant familiarity effects both in recognizing the region of the mouth and the peripheral region of the mouth. Participants with 13 months showed a familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the eye, and a stronger familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the eye; and they showed no familiarity effect in recognizing the region of the mouth but a familiarity effect in recognizing the peripheral region of the mouth. (4) For unfamiliar faces (r= 0.412，p= 0.024; r= 0.439，p= 0.022) and familiar faces with 1 month (r= 0.428，p= 0.018) and 13 months daily interaction (r= 0.609，p= 0.001), the performance of recognizing the peripheral region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole faces. For familiar faces with 13 months of daily interaction, the performance of recognizing the region of the eye was positively correlated with the performance of recognizing the whole face (r= 0.562，p= 0.002). The results implied that the familiarization of face identity was a gradual process that lasts over one month. Familiarization promoted part-based processing and holistic processing, but the improvement of the holistic processing preceded that of the part-based processing. In addition, the improvement in recognizing the eye region and the mouth region showed regional asynchrony during the familiarization. Familiar face recognition has eye region specificity, and holistic processing in the eye region plays a key role in the establishment of memory representations of familiar faces. Results provide new knowledge for understanding the mechanism of face memory representation formation. These results suggest that Regional Asynchrony and Eye Region specificity emerged during the familiarization and provide new knowledge for the underlying mechanism of face representation.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-03-22 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： During social communication, eyes gaze indicates the focus of people's attention. There are two types of gaze cue: direct gaze (straight) and averted gaze (left or right), which have different social functions. Previous researchers assume that gaze perception involves two different processing stages. The first stage refers to earlier visual feature analysis of eyes such as luminance contrast and geometry of white sclera and iris. The second stage involves the perceptual integration of eyes’ features and the extraction of gaze direction. However, this assumption ignores the differences in processing mechanism between direct gaze and averted gaze. Other researchers hypothesize that perception of direct gaze is mediated by a fast-track pathway via subcortical face processing route. Direct gaze perception has characteristics of automatic process, such as capturing attention and being processed unconsciously. Its automaticity shows that direct gaze has a processing advantage over averted gaze. We inferred that direct gaze perception was independent of attentional resources, while averted gaze perception required more attentional resources. The present study aimed at investigating how attentional resources affect perception of averted and direct gaze.
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