School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, St Lucia, 4072 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Psychology and Social Sciences, The University of Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia.
Biol Lett. 2023 Sep;19(9):20230126. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0126. Epub 2023 Sep 13.
As primates, we are hypersensitive to faces and face-like patterns in the visual environment, hence we often perceive illusory faces in otherwise inanimate objects, such as burnt pieces of toast and the surface of the moon. Although this phenomenon, known as face pareidolia, is a common experience, it is unknown whether our susceptibility to face pareidolia is static across our lifespan or what factors would cause it to change. Given the evidence that behaviour towards face stimuli is modulated by the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), we reasoned that participants in stages of life associated with high levels of endogenous OT might be more susceptible to face pareidolia than participants in other stages of life. We tested this hypothesis by assessing pareidolia susceptibility in two groups of women; pregnant women (low endogenous OT) and postpartum women (high endogenous OT). We found evidence that postpartum women report seeing face pareidolia more easily than women who are currently pregnant. These data, collected online, suggest that our sensitivity to face-like patterns is not fixed and may change throughout adulthood, providing a crucial proof of concept that requires further research.
作为灵长类动物，我们对视觉环境中的面孔和类面孔模式非常敏感，因此我们经常在原本无生命的物体中感知到幻象面孔，例如烤焦的面包片和月球表面。尽管这种现象被称为面孔错觉，但我们不知道我们对面孔错觉的敏感性是否在整个生命周期中是静态的，或者是什么因素会导致它发生变化。鉴于神经肽催产素 (OT) 会调节对面部刺激的行为的证据，我们推测与高水平内源性 OT 相关的生命阶段的参与者可能比处于其他生命阶段的参与者更容易出现面孔错觉。我们通过评估两组女性的错觉易感性来检验这一假设；孕妇（低内源性 OT）和产后女性（高内源性 OT）。我们发现有证据表明，产后女性比当前怀孕的女性更容易报告看到面孔错觉。这些在线收集的数据表明，我们对面孔模式的敏感性不是固定的，它可能会在整个成年期发生变化，这为需要进一步研究的概念提供了关键的证明。
