Fractionating Facial Memory Processes

人类在快速感知面部特征、提取面部情感表情和记住个人面貌方面都出奇地熟练。这些技能对于有效的人际互动至关重要。这一重要的认知专业领域位于记忆和感知的交汇点。然而，当我们看到熟悉的图像时，许多记忆过程同时发生的事实给他们的研究带来了严重的限制。记忆研究的下一阶段进展需要解开过多的过程，这些过程共同影响着记忆性能。本研究强调从认知神经科学的角度来研究这一问题，将面部记忆的研究作为阐明知觉专业知识和一般记忆的关键。脑电测量的精细时间精度与复杂的记忆行为测量相结合，允许独立地表征多个记忆过程和相应的神经生理信号。研究中的特定记忆现象包括：(1)记住一个人的面孔以及关于这个人的传记信息和相关的个人经历；(2)在没有任何额外的记忆提取的情况下，将一张面孔识别为熟悉的面孔；(3)由于先前与同一张面孔的视觉经验，在没有有意识记忆的情况下，促进了对面孔图像的加工(启动)；(4)基于概念性而不是感知性知识的类似的无意识记忆；以及(5)由于情绪面部表情的无意识影响。当这5种现象相互分离时，所获得的行为和电生理结果将有助于通过提供对这些认知差异的神经验证，来强化对这些复杂记忆现象的理论概念。这项研究中描述的独立神经信号旨在显示当人们看到一张脸时，这些过程是如何及时展开的。这些措施为进一步研究各种记忆现象的基本特征打开了大门，包括更普遍的有意识和无意识记忆。一旦识别了存储器的电信号，就可以用来确定哪些存储器功能在不同情况下可操作，以及各种组件如何交互操作。卓有成效的跨学科扩展包括在老年人和患者群体中调查这些记忆现象，他们在相关存储和提取过程的子集中表现出认知障碍。脑电分析将被用来产生关于神经过程和结构的更详细的假设，然后可以使用其他神经成像方法进行测试，包括准确和不准确的记忆。对面部记忆的全面科学理解将产生广泛的影响。通过细分面部记忆的多个方面，研究结果将为人们提供关于记忆对行为的各种影响的概念的见解，包括但不限于课堂、法庭、各种认知技能的获得和日常人际互动中的学习和记忆。该项目将向公众宣传研究，将代表性不足的群体纳入科学研究，培养博士后、研究生和本科生，并对治疗与疾病相关的记忆障碍和老年性正常记忆衰退产生影响。更好地利用目击者证词、计算机化的面部识别以及人们的一般记忆，将来自于对研究中检查和表征的面部记忆的多个方面的更好理解。

Humans are amazingly proficient at rapidly perceiving facial identity, extracting facial expressions of emotion, and remembering individual physiognomies. These skills are critical for effective human interaction. This vital realm of cognitive expertise is situated at the intersection of memory and perception. However, the fact that many memory processes occur concurrently when we see a familiar image places serious constraints on their investigation. The next stage of advancement in memory research requires disentangling the plethora of processes that in combination influence memory performance. A cognitive neuroscience perspective on this problem is emphasized in this research project, which takes the investigation of facial memory as key for elucidating perceptual expertise and memory in general. The exquisite temporal precision of EEG measures is combined with sophisticated behavioral measures of memory to allow multiple memory processes and corresponding neurophysiological signals to be characterized independently. The specific memory phenomena under investigation include: (1) Remembering a person's face together with biographical information about that person and relevant personal experiences; (2) Recognizing a face as familiar in the absence of any additional memory retrieval; (3) Facilitated processing of a facial image ("priming") due to prior visual experience with the same face and in the absence of conscious remembering; (4) Similar unconscious memory based on conceptual rather than perceptual knowledge; and (5) Unconscious influences due to emotional facial expressions. Behavioral and electrophysiological results obtained as these 5 phenomena are dissociated from each other will help to sharpen theoretical conceptions of these complex memory phenomena by providing neural validation of these cognitive distinctions. Independent neural signals being characterized in this research are intended to show how these processes unfold in time when a face is viewed. These measures are opening the door for further inquiry into the fundamental characteristics of various memory phenomena, including conscious and nonconscious memory more generally. Electrical signals of memory, once identified, can then be used to determine which memory functions are operative in different situations, and how the various components operate interactively. Fruitful cross-disciplinary extensions include investigations of these memory phenomena in elderly and patient populations who show cognitive impairments in a subset of relevant storage and retrieval processes. EEG analyses will be used to generate more detailed hypotheses about neural processes and structures, which can then be tested using other neuroimaging methods, both with respect to accurate and inaccurate memory.A comprehensive scientific understanding of facial memory will have wide-ranging impact. By fractionating multiple aspects of facial memory, the research findings will provide insights into conceptions of various memorial influences on behavior, including but not limited to learning and memory in the classroom, in a court of law, in the acquisition of various cognitive skills, and in everyday interpersonal interactions. This project will publicize research to the general public, bring underrepresented groups into scientific research, train post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students, and develop implications for treating disease-related memory disorders and normal memory decline in aging. Better use of eyewitness testimony, of computerized facial identification, and of memory for people generally, will come from improved comprehension of the multiple facets of facial memory examined and characterized in the research.