School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2013 Jul;115(3):598-606. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.01.006. Epub 2013 Mar 15.
Just as faces share the same basic arrangement of features, with two eyes above a nose above a mouth, human eyes all share the same basic contrast polarity relations, with a sclera lighter than an iris and a pupil, and this is unique among primates. The current study examined whether this bright-dark relationship of sclera to iris plays a critical role in face recognition from early in development. Specifically, we tested face discrimination in 7- and 8-month-old infants while independently manipulating the contrast polarity of the eye region and of the rest of the face. This gave four face contrast polarity conditions: fully positive condition, fully negative condition, positive face with negated eyes ("negative eyes") condition, and negated face with positive eyes ("positive eyes") condition. In a familiarization and novelty preference procedure, we found that 7- and 8-month-olds could discriminate between faces only when the contrast polarity of the eyes was preserved (positive) and that this did not depend on the contrast polarity of the rest of the face. This demonstrates the critical role of eye contrast polarity for face recognition in 7- and 8-month-olds and is consistent with previous findings for adults.
就像人脸具有相同的基本特征排列一样，两只眼睛在鼻子上方，嘴巴在鼻子下方，人类的眼睛都具有相同的基本对比极性关系，巩膜比虹膜和瞳孔更亮，而这在灵长类动物中是独一无二的。本研究考察了巩膜与虹膜的这种亮暗关系是否在从早期开始的面部识别中起着关键作用。具体来说，我们在 7 至 8 个月大的婴儿中测试了面孔辨别能力，同时独立地操纵眼睛区域和面部其余部分的对比极性。这产生了四种面孔对比极性条件：完全正向条件、完全负向条件、正向面孔带有负向眼睛（“负向眼睛”）条件和负向面孔带有正向眼睛（“正向眼睛”）条件。在熟悉和新颖偏好程序中，我们发现 7 至 8 个月大的婴儿只能辨别眼睛对比极性保持（正向）的面孔，而这并不取决于面部其余部分的对比极性。这表明眼睛对比极性对 7 至 8 个月大婴儿的面部识别起着关键作用，与成人的先前发现一致。
