Department of Psychology, Chuo University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0393, Japan; Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 102-8471, Japan.
Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan; Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan.
Neuroimage. 2019 Feb 1;186:817-824. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.031. Epub 2018 Dec 5.
View-invariant face processing emerges early in life. A previous study (Nakato et al., 2009) measured infant hemodynamic responses to faces from the frontal and profile views in the bilateral temporal areas, which have been reported to be involved in face processing using near-infrared spectroscopy. It was reported that 5-month-old infants showed increased oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) responses to frontal faces, but not to profile faces. In contrast, 8-month-old infants displayed increased oxy-Hb responses to profile faces as well as to frontal faces. In this study, we used the experimental method developed in the previous study to investigate the development of view-invariant face processing, every month for 5 months (from the first 3-8 months of life). We longitudinally measured hemodynamic responses to faces from the frontal and profile views in 14 infants. The longitudinal measurements allowed us to investigate individual differences in each participant. We modeled each infant's hemodynamic oxy-Hb responses to frontal and profile faces using linear regression analysis. Processing of profile faces emerged later and underwent larger improvements than that of frontal faces. We also found an anticorrelation between the speed of improvement in face processing and the hemodynamic response to faces at the age of 3- months. Group analysis of the averaged hemodynamic data from the 14 infants using linear regression revealed that the processing of profile faces emerged between 5 and 6 months of age. Infant view-invariant face processing developed first for frontal faces. This was followed by the emergence of processing of profile faces.
视图不变的面部处理在生命早期出现。先前的一项研究（Nakato 等人，2009 年）使用近红外光谱测量了双侧颞区来自正面和侧面的面孔的婴儿血液动力学反应。据报道，5 个月大的婴儿对正面面孔的氧合血红蛋白（oxy-Hb）反应增加，但对侧面面孔没有反应。相比之下，8 个月大的婴儿对侧面面孔和正面面孔的 oxy-Hb 反应都增加了。在这项研究中，我们使用了先前研究中开发的实验方法来研究视图不变的面部处理的发展，每个月进行一次，共进行 5 个月（从生命的前 3 到 8 个月）。我们纵向测量了 14 名婴儿对正面和侧面面孔的血液动力学 oxy-Hb 反应。纵向测量使我们能够研究每个参与者的个体差异。我们使用线性回归分析对每个婴儿的正面和侧面面孔的血液动力学 oxy-Hb 反应进行建模。侧面面孔的处理出现得更晚，并且比正面面孔的处理有更大的改善。我们还发现，在 3 个月大时，面部处理改善速度与对面孔的血液动力学反应之间存在反相关。对 14 名婴儿的平均血液动力学数据进行的组分析使用线性回归表明，侧面面孔的处理出现在 5 到 6 个月之间。婴儿的视图不变的面部处理首先是正面的面孔。随后出现了侧面面孔的处理。
