Development of Face Perception and Recognition

描述（由申请人提供）：面部识别对社会互动和发展至关重要，并且经历了漫长的成熟，直到青少年。然而，对于支持儿童面部感知发展的正常心理或神经过程的成熟，人们知之甚少。本提案的目的是利用尖端的心理物理和神经科学方法来阐明涉及人脸识别的心理过程的发展，潜在的神经系统，以及它们之间的联系。在阐明正常发育的过程中，这种严谨和趋同的方法对于理解许多涉及视觉或面部处理缺陷的发育障碍（如威廉姆斯综合征、自闭症和先天性面孔失认症）至关重要。最近的心理物理学研究发现，成年人的面部识别涉及多个处理阶段，包括视觉分类（人脸与非人脸）和个体识别（例如，乔治与比尔）。成像研究显示，成人视觉皮层中特定的人脸选择区域，如梭状回“人脸区”（FFA）也参与了人脸的分类和识别。我们的初步数据表明，与成人相比，儿童（7-11岁）的FFA要小得多，这与他们较低的面部识别记忆水平有关。这些数据表明，面部处理及其神经基质的成熟是惊人的和长期的。然而，目前尚不清楚这种成熟与面部处理的特定阶段有何关系，以及这种成熟是FFA特有的，还是更普遍地涉及视觉皮层。我们假设面部加工的发展特别涉及FFA的成熟。因此，我们建议研究FFA成熟与面部感知之间的联系。我们将利用心理物理学来确定：(1)面部加工的哪些行为方面在7岁以后成熟；(2) FFA的成熟是否与早期和/或高阶视觉皮层的成熟同时发生（或滞后），使用标准功能磁共振成像；(3)儿童FFA是否参与面部（或物体）分类和识别，使用心理物理学和标准功能磁共振成像相结合；(4)FFA成熟是否涉及面部选择性和/或FFA内精细结构的增加，使用高分辨率功能磁共振成像。我们希望我们的研究结果能够解决我们对正常视觉发育的理解上的广泛差距，为面部感知和物体表征理论增加重要的知识，并为未来发展障碍和儿童成像的研究提供必要的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Face recognition is crucial for social interaction and development, and undergoes a prolonged maturation until the teens. However, little is known about the maturation of the normal psychological or neural processes that support the development of face perception in children. The goal of this proposal is to use cutting-edge psychophysical and neuroscience methods to elucidate the development of psychological processes involved in face recognition, the underlying neural systems, and their link. Such a rigorous and convergent approach in elucidating normal development is crucial for understanding the many developmental disorders that involve deficits in visual or face processing such as Williams Syndrome, autism and congenital prosopagnosia. Recent psychophysical studies found that face recognition in adults involves multiple stages of processing, including visual categorization (face versus non face) and individual identification (e.g., George versus Bill). Imaging studies revealed that in adults, specific face selective regions in the visual cortex, such as the fusiform "face area" (FFA) are also involved in the categorization and identification of faces. Our preliminary data indicate that the FFA is substantially smaller in children (7-11) compared to adults, correlating with their lower levels of face recognition memory. These data suggest a striking and prolonged maturation of face processing and its neural substrates. However, it is not known how this maturation relates to specific stages of face processing, and whether this maturation is specific to the FFA, or involves the visual cortex more generally. We hypothesize that development of face processing specifically involves maturation of the FFA. Therefore, we propose to examine the links between maturation of the FFA and face perception. We will determine: (1) which behavioral aspects of face processing mature after age 7, using psychophysics; (2) whether the maturation of the FFA occurs in tandem with (or lags) maturation of early and/or higher order visual cortex, using standard fMRI; (3) whether the (smaller) FFA in children is involved in face (or object) categorization and identification, using a combination of psychophysics and standard fMRI and (4) whether maturation of FFA involves increases in face selectivity and/or fine-scale structures within the FFA, using high resolution fMRI. We expect our results to address wide gaps in our understanding of normal visual development, add significant knowledge to theories of face perception and object representation, and provide an essential base for future research on developmental disorders and pediatric imaging in general.