Roder B J, Bates C, Crowell S, Schilling T, Bushnell E W
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Fitchburg State College, MA 01420.
J Exp Child Psychol. 1992 Aug;54(1):57-73. doi: 10.1016/0022-0965(92)90017-z.
In Study 1, sixteen 6 1/2-month-olds were habituated to a Reversible stimulus (an upright face that could be perceived as an entirely different upright face when it was rotated 180 degrees) and to a Nonreversible stimulus (a face that could be perceived as upright in only one orientation). Following habituation for each type of stimulus, test trials paired the habituated face with a novel stimulus (an inversion of the same face). For both Reversible and Nonreversible stimuli, the physical difference between the old and new test stimuli was the same (a 180 degrees rotation); however, infants devoted more visual attention to the 180 degrees rotation only when it was a Reversible face, suggesting that the identity change was detected. Experiment 2 ruled out the explanation that infants might have failed to dishabituate to the inversion of the Nonreversible stimulus because they could not remember it. Results are interpreted as evidence that 6 1/2-month-old infants are not limited to face recognition based on similarity in pattern arrangement alone, but are capable of processing faces at a representational level.
在研究1中，16名6个半月大的婴儿分别对可逆刺激（一张正立的脸，当旋转180度时可被视为完全不同的另一张正立的脸）和不可逆刺激（一张只能在一个方向上被视为正立的脸）进行了习惯化训练。在对每种刺激进行习惯化训练后，测试试验将习惯化的脸与新刺激（同一张脸的倒置）配对。对于可逆和不可逆刺激，新旧测试刺激之间的物理差异是相同的（180度旋转）；然而，只有当180度旋转的是可逆脸时，婴儿才会对其投入更多的视觉注意力，这表明婴儿察觉到了身份变化。实验2排除了婴儿可能因为记不住不可逆刺激的倒置而未能对其去习惯化的解释。研究结果被解释为6个半月大的婴儿不仅限于仅基于图案排列的相似性进行人脸识别，而是能够在表征层面上处理面孔的证据。
