Impact Of Familiarity And Attachment On Visual Processin

参与处理人脸视觉刺激的神经回路受到了相当多的研究关注，有证据表明，某些大脑区域可能优先对这种刺激做出反应。然而，我们对神经处理如何受到受试者对所描绘的人脸的熟悉或情感依恋的影响知之甚少。该领域的研究可以通过指出连接边缘和感觉回路的途径，在认知神经科学和新兴的情感神经科学领域之间架起一座桥梁。此外，使用情感上重要的面孔作为激活刺激可能有助于阐明人际依恋和对损失的心理反应背后的神经回路。因此，这种功能性磁共振成像协议使用人脸识别激活任务来检查神经处理如何根据所描绘的人脸对观看者是否具有情感意义而变化。在一系列研究中，受试者看到不熟悉的和熟悉的（包括个人熟悉的和著名的）面孔；母亲们观看自己孩子的照片，以及熟悉的和不熟悉的孩子的照片；失去亲人的配偶和没有失去亲人的配偶会看他们的配偶、其他家庭成员和不熟悉的人的照片。到目前为止，已有10名受试者完成了以个人熟悉面孔、著名熟悉面孔和不熟悉面孔作为刺激的研究，10名母亲完成了第二项研究。名人的初步调查结果和母亲?研究表明，几个领域的活动受到熟悉个体的情感/社会价的调节。熟悉度调节了梭状回的活动，在梭状回中，不熟悉的面孔比熟悉的面孔引起了更高的反应。然而，在熟悉的面孔中，个人情感依恋更强的面孔在这一区域引起了更强的反应。例如，亲戚和朋友引起的反应比著名的熟悉面孔更强烈，看到一个？与看到一个熟悉但不相关的孩子的脸相比，她自己的孩子引起的反应更强烈。在杏仁核中也发现了对不同类型刺激的不同反应，与熟悉的名人面孔和陌生人的面孔相比，个人熟悉的面孔的活动减少。相比之下，当母亲看自己孩子的照片时，左杏仁核的活动要比看一个熟悉的、不相关的孩子时活跃得多。

The neural circuitry involved in processing the visual stimulus of a human face has received considerable research attention, with evidence indicating that some brain regions may respond preferentially to such stimuli. However, we know little about how neural processing is affected by the subject's familiarity with, or emotional attachment to, the person whose face is depicted. Research in this area could form a bridge between cognitive neuroscience and the newly emerging field of affective neuroscience by indicating pathway(s) linking limbic and sensory circuits. In addition, the use of emotionally significant faces as activation stimuli may help to elucidate the neural circuitry underlying interpersonal attachment and psychological responses to loss. Thus, this functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol uses a face recognition activation task to examine how neural processing varies depending on whether the face depicted is emotionally significant to the viewer. In a series of studies, subjects view unfamiliar and familiar (including personally familiar and famous) faces; mothers view pictures of their own child and those of familiar and unfamiliar children; and bereaved and non-bereaved spouses view pictures of their spouse, other family members, and unfamiliar people. To date, ten subjects have completed the study that uses personally familiar, famous familiar, and unfamiliar faces as stimuli, and ten mothers have completed the second study. Preliminary results from the ?celebrities? and ?mothers? studies indicate that the activity in several areas is modulated by the emotional/social valence of familiar individuals. Familiarity modulated activity in the fusiform gyrus, where unfamiliar faces evoked a higher response than did familiar faces. Within the pool of familiar faces, however, faces of individuals with stronger personal emotional attachment evoked stronger responses in this area. For example, relatives and friends evoked a stronger response than did famous familiar faces, and seeing one?s own child evoked a stronger response than did seeing the face of a familiar but unrelated child. A differential response to different categories of stimuli also was detected in the amygdala, with a decrease in the activity for personally familiar faces compared to familiar famous faces and the faces of strangers. By contrast, higher activity was detected in the left amygdala when mothers looked at the pictures of their own child as compared to looking at a familiar, unrelated child.