Ichikawa Hiroko, Yamaguchi Masami K
Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan.
Brain Nerve. 2012 Jul;64(7):761-9.
It has been shown that infants prefer looking at faces to looking at equally complex, non-facial visual stimuli. Many behavioral studies have illustrated that infants process faces differently from other objects. In agreement with these findings, recent neuropsychological studies provide evidence indicating face-specific brain activity in infants. The present paper reviews the psychological studies investigating the infant's brain activity for faces, using brain-imaging techniques, such as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a new and increasingly used brain imaging technique, which is particularly suitable for use with young infants. Studies using NIRS have reported face-specific brain activation in the temporal area. When 5- to 8-month-old infants view upright faces, a significant increase in oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) was observed in the right temporal area. Such face-specific brain activity in infants becomes view-invariant at the age of 8 months, but not at 5 months. More recently, an NIRS study employing the adaptation paradigm revealed that the identity of faces was processed in the bilateral temporal area. Additionally, face-specific brain activity was observed for not only static face images, but also for dynamic facial point-light displays. We found that concentrations of oxy-Hb increased in the right temporal area during the presentation of an upright facial point-light display compared to that during the baseline period. Finally, we discuss the possibility of developmental changes in brain activity from infancy to childhood and adolescence as well as in atypical development.
研究表明，相较于观看同样复杂的非面部视觉刺激物，婴儿更喜欢看脸。许多行为研究表明，婴儿对面部的处理方式与其他物体不同。与这些发现一致，最近的神经心理学研究提供了证据，表明婴儿存在面部特异性脑活动。本文综述了使用近红外光谱（NIRS）等脑成像技术研究婴儿面部脑活动的心理学研究。近红外光谱（NIRS）是一种新兴且越来越常用的脑成像技术，特别适用于年幼儿童。使用NIRS的研究报告了颞区的面部特异性脑激活。当5至8个月大的婴儿观看直立的面部时，右侧颞区的氧合血红蛋白（oxy-Hb）显著增加。婴儿的这种面部特异性脑活动在8个月大时变得与视角无关，但在5个月大时并非如此。最近，一项采用适应范式的NIRS研究表明，面部身份在双侧颞区得到处理。此外，不仅静态面部图像，而且动态面部点光源显示也观察到了面部特异性脑活动。我们发现，与基线期相比，在呈现直立面部点光源显示期间，右侧颞区的氧合血红蛋白浓度增加。最后，我们讨论了从婴儿期到儿童期和青少年期脑活动的发育变化以及非典型发育的可能性。
