Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy; IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
Neurobiol Dis. 2021 Jun;153:105319. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2021.105319. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
Visual recognition of facial expression modulates our social interactions. Compelling experimental evidence indicates that face conveys plenty of information that are fundamental for humans to interact. These are encoded at neural level in specific cortical and subcortical brain regions through activity- and experience-dependent synaptic plasticity processes. The current pandemic, due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, is causing relevant social and psychological detrimental effects. The institutional recommendations on physical distancing, namely social distancing and wearing of facemasks are effective in reducing the rate of viral spread. However, by impacting social interaction, facemasks might impair the neural responses to recognition of facial cues that are overall critical to our behaviors. In this survey, we briefly review the current knowledge on the neurobiological substrate of facial recognition and discuss how the lack of salient stimuli might impact the ability to retain and consolidate learning and memory phenomena underlying face recognition. Such an "abnormal" visual experience raises the intriguing possibility of a "reset" mechanism, a renewed ability of adult brain to undergo synaptic plasticity adaptations.
面部表情的视觉识别调节着我们的社会互动。令人信服的实验证据表明，面部传达了大量对人类互动至关重要的信息。这些信息通过特定的皮质和皮质下脑区的活动和经验依赖性突触可塑性过程在神经水平上进行编码。当前的 SARS-CoV-2 感染大流行正在造成相关的社会和心理不良影响。机构建议保持身体距离，即社交距离和戴口罩，这在降低病毒传播率方面非常有效。然而，通过影响社会互动，口罩可能会损害对识别面部线索的神经反应，而这些线索对我们的行为至关重要。在本次综述中，我们简要回顾了面部识别的神经生物学基础的现有知识，并讨论了缺乏明显刺激如何影响保留和巩固学习以及记忆现象的能力，而这些现象是面部识别的基础。这种“异常”的视觉体验提出了一个有趣的可能性，即成年人大脑具有重新获得突触可塑性适应的能力，即“重置”机制。
