Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, United States.
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, United States.
Vision Res. 2021 Feb;179:34-41. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.11.006. Epub 2020 Dec 7.
Prior research has reported developmental change in how infants represent categories of other-race faces (Developmental Science 19 (2016) 362-371). In particular, Caucasian 6-month-olds were shown to represent African versus Asian face categories, whereas Caucasian 9 month-olds represented different classes of other-race faces in one category, inclusive of African and Asian faces but exclusive of Caucasian faces. The current investigation sought to provide stronger evidence that is convergent with these findings by asking whether infants will generalize looking-time responsiveness from one to another other-race category. In Experiment 1, an experimental group of Caucasian 6-month-olds was familiarized with African (or Asian) faces and then given a novel category preference test with an Asian (or African) face versus a Caucasian face, while a control group of Caucasian 6-month-olds viewed the test faces without prior familiarization. Infants in the experimental group divided attention between the test faces and infants in the control group did not manifest a spontaneous preference. Experiment 2 used the same procedure, but was conducted with Caucasian 9-month-olds. Infants in the experimental group displayed a robust preference for Caucasian faces when considered against the finding that infants in the control group displayed a spontaneous preference for other-race faces. The results offer confirmation that between 6 and 9 months, infants transition to representing own-race versus other-race face categories, with the latter inclusive of multiple other-race face classes with clear perceptual differences. Computational modeling of infant responding suggests that the developmental change is rooted in the statistics of experience with majority versus minority group faces.
先前的研究报告表明，婴儿对其他种族面孔的类别表示方式发生了发展变化（《发展科学》19 卷（2016 年）第 362-371 页）。特别是，白人 6 个月大的婴儿被证明可以代表非洲与亚洲的面孔类别，而白人 9 个月大的婴儿则可以代表一个类别中的不同其他种族面孔类别，其中包括非洲和亚洲面孔，但不包括白种人面孔。目前的研究试图通过询问婴儿是否会将注视时间的反应从一个其他种族类别推广到另一个其他种族类别，来提供与这些发现更一致的有力证据。在实验 1 中，一组实验性的白人 6 个月大的婴儿对非洲（或亚洲）面孔进行了熟悉化处理，然后用一个亚洲（或非洲）面孔与一个白种人面孔进行了一个新的类别偏好测试，而一组对照的白人 6 个月大的婴儿则在没有先前熟悉化的情况下观看了测试面孔。实验组的婴儿在测试面孔之间分配了注意力，而对照组的婴儿则没有表现出自发的偏好。实验 2 采用了相同的程序，但在白人 9 个月大的婴儿中进行。实验组的婴儿在考虑到对照组的婴儿对其他种族面孔表现出自发偏好的情况下，显示出对白人面孔的强烈偏好。结果证实，在 6 至 9 个月之间，婴儿从代表自己种族的面孔类别过渡到代表其他种族的面孔类别，后者包括具有明显感知差异的多个其他种族的面孔类别。对婴儿反应的计算模型表明，这种发展变化的根源在于与多数群体和少数群体面孔的经验统计数据。
