Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2013 Oct;39(5):1212-7. doi: 10.1037/a0033469. Epub 2013 Aug 5.
Does face recognition ability mature early in childhood (early maturation hypothesis) or does it continue to develop well into adulthood (late maturation hypothesis)? This fundamental issue in face recognition is typically addressed by comparing child and adult participants. However, the interpretation of such studies is complicated by children's inferior test-taking abilities and general cognitive functions. Here we examined the developmental trajectory of face recognition ability in an individual differences study of 18-33 year-olds (n = 2,032), an age interval in which participants are competent test takers with comparable general cognitive functions. We found a positive association between age and face recognition, controlling for nonface visual recognition, verbal memory, sex, and own-race bias. Our study supports the late maturation hypothesis in face recognition, and illustrates how individual differences investigations of young adults can address theoretical issues concerning the development of perceptual and cognitive abilities.
人脸识别能力是在儿童期早期成熟（早期成熟假说），还是在成年后继续良好发展（晚期成熟假说）？ 通常通过比较儿童和成人参与者来解决人脸识别中的这个基本问题。 然而，由于儿童的应试能力和一般认知功能较差，此类研究的解释变得复杂。 在这里，我们在一项针对 18 至 33 岁个体的个体差异研究（n = 2032）中检查了人脸识别能力的发展轨迹，该年龄组的参与者具有相当的应试能力和一般认知功能。 我们发现，在控制了非面部视觉识别、言语记忆、性别和自身种族偏见之后，年龄与面部识别之间呈正相关。 我们的研究支持人脸识别的晚期成熟假说，并说明了对年轻成年人进行的个体差异研究如何解决有关感知和认知能力发展的理论问题。
