Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom; School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Australia.
Neuroimage. 2020 May 1;211:116660. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116660. Epub 2020 Feb 18.
Rapidly and accurately processing information from faces is a critical human function that is known to improve with developmental age. Understanding the underlying drivers of this improvement remains a contentious question, with debate continuing as to the presence of early vs. late maturation of face-processing mechanisms. Recent behavioural evidence suggests an important 'hallmark' of expert face processing - the face inversion effect - is present in very young children, yet neural support for this remains unclear. To address this, we conducted a detailed investigation of the neural dynamics of face processing in children spanning a range of ages (6-11 years) and adults. Uniquely, we applied multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to the electroencephalogram signal (EEG) to test for the presence of a distinct neural profile associated with canonical upright faces when compared both to other objects (houses) and to inverted faces. Results revealed robust discrimination profiles, at the individual level, of differentiated neural activity associated with broad face categorization and further with its expert processing, as indexed by the face inversion effect, from the youngest ages tested. This result is consistent with an early functional maturation of broad face processing mechanisms. Yet, clear quantitative differences between the response profile of children and adults is suggestive of age-related refinement of this system with developing face and general expertise. Standard ERP analysis also provides some support for qualitative differences in the neural response to inverted faces in children in contrast to adults. This neural profile is in line with recent behavioural studies that have reported impressively expert early face abilities during childhood, while also providing novel evidence of the ongoing neural specialisation between child and adulthood.
快速准确地处理面部信息是人类的一项关键功能，且该功能随着发育年龄的增长而提高。尽管人们一直在争论面部处理机制是早期成熟还是晚期成熟，但对于这种提高的潜在驱动因素仍存在争议。最近的行为证据表明，专家面部处理的一个重要“特征”——面部反转效应——在非常年幼的儿童中就已经存在，但对于这种效应的神经支持仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题，我们对跨越多个年龄段（6-11 岁）的儿童和成年人的面部处理的神经动力学进行了详细的研究。我们应用独特的多元模式分析（MVPA）对脑电图信号（EEG）进行了分析，以测试当与其他物体（房屋）和倒置的面孔进行比较时，是否存在与典型直立面孔相关的独特神经图谱。结果在个体水平上揭示了稳健的区分模式，表明与广泛的面部分类相关的神经活动存在差异，并且进一步与专家处理相关，其指标是面部反转效应，从测试的最小年龄开始就可以体现出来。这一结果与广泛的面部处理机制的早期功能成熟一致。然而，儿童和成人的反应模式之间的明显定量差异表明，随着面部和一般专业知识的发展，该系统会不断得到完善。标准的 ERP 分析也为儿童与成人相比，对倒置面孔的神经反应存在定性差异提供了一些支持。这种神经图谱与最近的行为研究一致，这些研究报告了儿童在童年时期就具有令人印象深刻的专家级早期面部能力，同时也为儿童和成年之间持续的神经专业化提供了新的证据。
