Dynamic Face Processing in Infants, Children, and Adults

婴儿、儿童和成人的动态面部处理

• 批准号: 194529-2013
• 负责人: Lee, Kang
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=593712
• 关键词: Dynamic; Face; Processing; Infants; Children

Human faces are one of the most important stimuli in our visual environment. Our decision to fight, to flee, to mate, to cooperate, and to seek protection often depends on the outcome of successful processing of human faces. Inability to process faces can lead to debilitating adaptive problems (e.g., autism). Given the importance of faces, it is no wonder that extensive cognitive and neuroscience research has been devoted to investigating face processing abilities in adults, and how such abilities emerge and develop from early infancy to adulthood. However, although faces we encounter on a daily basis are mostly dynamically moving faces that turn, nod, smile, and talk, most of what we currently know about human face processing has come from studies using static faces. Our recent NSERC-funded research has revealed that adults and infants process static and dynamic faces in a dramatically differently manner. This new discovery leads us to ask a fundamental question: Can our current knowledge based on static faces be used to account for how humans actually process faces in real life that are dynamically moving? Building on our recent discoveries, the present proposed program of research continues and extends my current NSERC-funded research significantly. We aim to investigate the specific role that facial motion information plays in our processing of human faces. Specifically, we will use psychophysical and eye-tracking methodologies to examine similarities and differences between static and dynamic face processing in infants, children, and adults. Our project will bridge a major gap in the literature and provide much needed evidence regarding the role of motion in face processing and its development. We hope the findings from our research program will lead to a re-evaluation of current theories and assumptions and the development of new and more ecologically valid accounts of face processing in infants, children, and adults. Further, our normative data will help us assess and perhaps train individuals with face processing deficits (e.g., autism) using more naturalistic stimuli.

人脸是我们视觉环境中最重要的刺激物之一。我们决定战斗、逃跑、交配、合作和寻求保护，通常取决于成功处理人脸的结果。无法处理面孔可能会导致适应性问题（例如自闭症）。鉴于面部的重要性，难怪广泛的认知和神经科学研究一直致力于调查成年人的面部处理能力，以及这种能力如何从婴儿期早期到成年期出现和发展。然而，尽管我们每天遇到的面孔大多是动态移动的面孔，例如转动、点头、微笑和说话，但我们目前对人脸处理的了解大部分来自使用静态面孔的研究。我们最近由 NSERC 资助的研究表明，成人和婴儿处理静态和动态面孔的方式截然不同。这一新发现让我们提出一个基本问题：我们当前基于静态面孔的知识是否可以用来解释人类如何实际处理现实生活中动态移动的面孔？基于我们最近的发现，目前提出的研究计划继续并显着扩展了我目前由 NSERC 资助的研究。我们的目的是研究面部运动信息在人脸处理中所起的具体作用。具体来说，我们将使用心理物理学和眼球追踪方法来检查婴儿、儿童和成人静态和动态面部处理之间的异同。我们的项目将弥补文献中的一个重大空白，并提供关于运动在面部处理及其发展中的作用的急需证据。我们希望我们的研究项目的结果能够重新评估当前的理论和假设，并开发出新的、更生态有效的婴儿、儿童和成人面部处理的解释。此外，我们的规范数据将帮助我们使用更自然的刺激来评估并可能训练有面部处理缺陷（例如自闭症）的个体。