Haworth Rebecca, Sobey Stephanie, Chorney Jill M, Bezuhly Michael, Hong Paul
Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2015 Dec;68(12):1662-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2015.08.009. Epub 2015 Aug 19.
When observing new faces, most people focus their attention on the central triangle of the face containing the eyes, nose and mouth. When viewing faces with prominent ears, observers may divert their attention from the central triangle. The objective of this study was to determine whether there was an objective attentional bias to prominent ears in comparison to non-prominent ears.
A total of 24 naïve participants (13 female; mean age 22.88 years) viewed 15 photographs of children with bilateral prominent ears, unilateral prominent ears and non-prominent ears. Both pre- and post-otoplasty photographs of two patients were included. The eye movements of participants were recorded using the EyeLink 1000, a table-mounted eye-tracking device.
Overall, the participants spent more time looking at the ear regions for faces with prominent ears in comparison to faces without prominent ears (p = 0.007, Z = -2.688). The attentional bias to the ear region of the patient who underwent bilateral otoplasty was significantly reduced in the post-operative photograph (p = 0.011, Z = -2.534). The patient who underwent unilateral otoplasty had no significant change in fixation times towards the ear region (p = 0.594, Z = -0.533).
This study presents objective data to support the notion that observers show attentional bias to the ear region when viewing faces of children with prominent ears. The scope of this finding requires further research in both extent and impact.
在观察新面孔时，大多数人会将注意力集中在包含眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴的面部中央三角区。当观察耳朵突出的面孔时，观察者可能会将注意力从中央三角区转移。本研究的目的是确定与不突出的耳朵相比，对突出的耳朵是否存在客观的注意力偏差。
共有24名未接触过相关内容的参与者（13名女性；平均年龄22.88岁）观看了15张患有双侧突出耳朵、单侧突出耳朵和不突出耳朵的儿童照片。其中包括两名患者的耳整形术前和术后照片。使用安装在桌子上的EyeLink 1000眼动追踪设备记录参与者的眼动情况。
总体而言，与没有突出耳朵的面孔相比，参与者观看有突出耳朵的面孔时在耳部区域花费的时间更多（p = 0.007，Z = -2.688）。在术后照片中，接受双侧耳整形术患者耳部区域的注意力偏差明显降低（p = 0.011，Z = -2.534）。接受单侧耳整形术的患者对耳部区域的注视时间没有显著变化（p = 0.594，Z = -0.533）。
本研究提供了客观数据，支持观察者在观看有突出耳朵的儿童面孔时对耳部区域存在注意力偏差这一观点。这一发现的范围在程度和影响方面都需要进一步研究。
