Chien Sarina Hui-Lin
Graduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
J Vis. 2011 May 20;11(6):13. doi: 10.1167/11.6.13.
A non-specific "top-heavy" configuration bias has been proposed to explain neonatal face preference (F. Simion, E. Valenza, V. Macchi Cassia, C. Turati, & C. Umiltà, 2002). Using an eye tracker (Tobii T60), we investigated whether the top-heavy bias is still present in 3- to 5.5-month-old infants and in adults as a comparison group. Each infant and adult viewed three classes of stimuli: simple geometric patterns, face-like figures, and photographs of faces. Using area of interest analyses on fixation duration, we computed a top-heavy bias index (a number between -1 and 1) for each individual. Our results showed that the indices for the geometric and face-like patterns were about zero in infants, indicating no consistent bias for the "top-heavy" configuration. In adults, the indices for the geometric and face-like patterns were also close to zero except for the T-shaped figure and the ones that had higher rating on facedness. Moreover, the indices for photographs of faces were positive in both infants and adults, indicating significant preferences for upright natural faces over inverted ones. Taken together, we found no evidence for the top-heavy configuration bias in both infants and adults. The absence of top-heavy bias plus a clear preference for photographed upright faces in infants seem to suggest an early cognitive specialization process toward face representation.
一种非特异性的“上重下轻”构型偏差被提出来解释新生儿的面部偏好（F. 西米昂、E. 瓦伦扎、V. 马基·卡西亚、C. 图拉蒂和C. 乌米尔塔，2002年）。我们使用眼动仪（托比T60），研究了3至5.5个月大的婴儿以及作为对照组的成年人中是否仍然存在上重下轻偏差。每个婴儿和成年人观看三类刺激物：简单几何图案、类脸图形和面部照片。通过对注视持续时间进行感兴趣区域分析，我们为每个个体计算了一个上重下轻偏差指数（一个介于-1和1之间的数字）。我们的结果表明，婴儿对于几何图案和类脸图案的指数约为零，这表明对于“上重下轻”构型没有一致的偏差。在成年人中，除了T形图形和面部评分较高的图形外，几何图案和类脸图案的指数也接近零。此外，婴儿和成年人对面部照片的指数均为正值，这表明相比于倒置的自然面部，他们对正立的自然面部有显著偏好。综合来看，我们没有发现婴儿和成年人存在上重下轻构型偏差的证据。婴儿不存在上重下轻偏差，再加上对正立面部照片有明显偏好，这似乎表明存在一个针对面部表征的早期认知专门化过程。
