面孔种族知觉经验对婴儿社会性加工发展的影响

Human faces are one of the most commonly seen visual objects in our everyday life. It conveys rich perceptual and social information. Moreover, the experience with human faces shapes the early development of visual perception. A great number of studies have examined the influences of facial race experience on the development of face perception in infancy. Converging evidences showed that 6- to 9-month-old infants develop a specialized perceptual system for own-race face perception. A recent development theory proposes that face experience shapes not only the development of perceptual systems, but also the development of social processing systems. However, to our knowledge, little study has directly addressed this important theoretical question. The applicant and colleagues recently has found that 8-month-old infants exhibited a clear learning preference towards own-race adults over other-race adults. This finding supports the hypothesis that face race experience affects the early social development in infants. To further examine this hypothesis, the current project uses social learning paradigm to investigate the ontology and early development of the race-based social bias in infancy. Specifically, the current project will focus on three scientific questions: 1) the emergence and development of the race-based social bias in the first year of life; 2) the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying this bias by comparing the developmental pattern between Asian and Caucasian infants; and 3) the causal relation between face race experience and the development of race-based bias in infants by using a perceptual experience training paradigm. We expect that the current project would shed insights on the early perceptual and cognitive development from a novel theoretical perspective. Furthermore, the outcomes of the current project would also provide an important theoretical basis and practical guidance for effective intervention to reduce social prejudice at an early stage of life.

面孔是日常生活中显著的视觉刺激物，它们提供了丰富的知觉和社会性视觉信息，并且塑造了人类知觉的发展。以往大量研究考察了面孔种族经验对婴儿知觉加工发展的影响，并一致发现婴儿在出生后6~9个月时就发展出本族面孔的特异性加工系统。然而，目前尚不清楚知觉经验是否也塑造了婴儿社会性的发展。申请人团队近期研究发现了面孔种族经验影响了8个月婴儿对本种族个体的社会学习偏好。基于这一发现，本项目拟采用选择性社会学习的研究范式作为社会性加工的测量任务，探查婴儿面孔种族社会性偏好的发生时间及发展规律；通过跨文化研究，对比亚洲和高加索婴儿的社会性偏好的发展规律来确定面孔种族经验对婴儿社会性加工的作用机制；通过种族经验训练的研究范式揭示经验与婴儿社会性偏好之间的因果关系。本项目期望揭示人类早期社会性发展规律，并能为早期有效干预社会性偏见提供重要的理论依据和科学化指导。

面孔具有丰富的知觉和社会性视觉信息，塑造了人类知觉的发展。以往大量研究考察了面孔种族经验对婴儿知觉加工发展的影响，并一致发现婴儿在出生后6~9个月时就发展出本族面孔的特异性加工系统。本项目探查了面孔种族知觉经验对婴儿社会性加工发展的影响，共完成了三个研究内容4个实验。研究一包括两个实验，采用选择性社会学习研究范式作为婴儿社会性加工的测量任务，考察了9~12个月中国婴儿面孔种族社会性偏好的发展规律，结果发现，在个体水平条件下，即婴儿熟悉一个个体的可靠性，随后测试婴儿对同种族新个体的信任，婴儿在可靠性确定情境下对本族和他族新个体的信任均不存在差异，在可靠性不确定情境下，婴儿依然会信任本族新个体，而不信任他族新个体。在类别水平条件下，婴儿熟悉一组个体的可靠性，随后测试婴儿对同种族新个体的信任，婴儿在可靠性不确定和不可靠条件下，均不信任他族的新个体，但婴儿依然信任本族个体。中国婴儿面孔种族社会性学习偏好没有表现出年龄差异。研究二包括一个实验，采用相同的研究范式和方法，比较了9~12个月中美婴儿选择性社会学习的种族偏好发展，得到了一致的结果。研究三包括2个实验，采用短期面孔种族知觉训练的研究范式，揭示面孔种族知觉经验与婴儿社会性偏好之间的因果关系。结果发现，相比较本族面孔训练组，他族面孔训练组8~13个月婴儿经过他族面孔个体化的4~6分钟接触后，婴儿对他族面孔的识别和分类能力得到了显著提升，对可靠性不确定的他族个体或群体学习后，不再泛化到他族新个体中。.此外，本项目组还进一步探究了婴儿面孔社会性加工对面孔知觉加工的影响，有3个发现：1）9个月婴儿能将快乐表情与熟悉面孔联结，7个月婴儿还不能；2）快乐表情影响3~9个月婴儿的面孔种族偏好发展；3）快乐表情影响6~9个月婴儿面孔种族识别发展。.研究结果揭示了婴儿期社会性发展的规律，为早期有效干预社会性偏见提供了理论依据。