School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia.
Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole House Talbot Campus, Poole, BH12 5BB, UK.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 6;13(1):16869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44164-w.
While it is generally accepted that holistic processing facilitates face recognition, recent studies suggest that poor recognition might also arise from imprecise perception of local features in the face. This study aimed to examine to what extent holistic and featural processing relates to individual differences in face recognition ability (FRA), during face learning (Experiment 1) and face recognition (Experiment 2). Participants performed two tasks: (1) The "Cambridge Face Memory Test-Chinese" which measured participants' FRAs, and (2) an "old/new recognition memory test" encompassing whole faces (preserving holistic and featural processing) and faces revealed through a dynamic aperture (impairing holistic processing but preserving featural processing). Our results showed that participants recognised faces more accurately in conditions when holistic information was preserved, than when it is impaired. We also show that the better use of holistic processing during face learning and face recognition was associated with better FRAs. However, enhanced featural processing during recognition, but not during learning, was related to better FRAs. Together, our findings demonstrate that good face recognition depends on distinct roles played by holistic and featural processing at different stages of face recognition.
虽然整体加工有助于面孔识别已被普遍接受，但最近的研究表明，局部特征感知不准确也可能导致面孔识别差。本研究旨在考察在面孔学习（实验 1）和面孔识别（实验 2）过程中，整体加工和特征加工与面孔识别能力（FRA）个体差异的关系。参与者执行了两项任务：（1）“剑桥面孔记忆测试-中文”，用于测量参与者的 FRA；（2）“新旧识别记忆测试”，包括整体面孔（保留整体和特征加工）和通过动态光圈揭示的面孔（损害整体加工但保留特征加工）。我们的结果表明，在保留整体信息的情况下，参与者对面孔的识别更为准确，而在损害整体信息的情况下则不然。我们还表明，在面孔学习和识别过程中更好地利用整体加工与更好的 FRA 相关。然而，识别过程中增强的特征加工，而不是学习过程中，与更好的 FRA 相关。总之，我们的研究结果表明，良好的面孔识别取决于整体加工和特征加工在面孔识别不同阶段的不同作用。
