Becoming a face expert

我的研究目标是了解人类发展的机制。为了做到这一点，我研究了视觉感知的发展及其在视觉体验中的变化。该提案侧重于人脸处理。成年人是识别个人面孔身份的专家，这主要是因为他们对面孔之间面部特征间距的微小差异非常敏感。这种敏感性使他们能够从不同的角度识别人脸，在光线不足的情况下，以及经过多年的岁月和面部老化。这一技能的成熟是缓慢的：14岁的孩子并不像成年人，4岁的孩子甚至不能识别自己的脸，当它与一张只有特征间距不同的陪衬脸配对时。我将通过两个研究项目探讨经验在专业知识发展中的作用。第一个重点是在学龄前的几年，一个时间段，还没有被系统地研究的脸知觉。我将测试的假设，多个面孔处理机制是敏感的面部特征的间距，这些机制的发展速度不同。例如，我将比较儿童对不熟悉与熟悉的特征间隔的敏感性（例如，一个玩伴）的脸。第二个重点是经验的自然变化对专业知识发展的作用。成年人对本族面孔的识别能力强于对其他种族面孔的识别能力，因此他们的专业知识仅限于他们有丰富经验的面孔。我将使用三种互补的方法来研究经验的作用：a）我将对外国交换学生中新面孔的专业知识发展进行纵向研究（例如，B）我将比较主要接触本族面孔的儿童与从中国收养的儿童，他们广泛接触高加索人和中国人的面孔; c）我将测试具有非人类（猴子）面孔专业知识的成年人，因为他们是动物园的馆长。总之，这些结果将增加我们对人类视觉感知和发展机制的理解。

The objective of my research is to understand the mechanisms of human development. To do so, I study the development of visual perception and its alteration by variations in visual experience. This proposal focuses on face processing. Adults are experts at recognizing the identity of individual faces, largely because they are exquisitely sensitive to small differences among faces in the spacing of facial features. This sensitivity allows them to recognize faces from different points of view, under poor lighting conditions, and after many years have passed and the face has aged. This expertise is slow to mature: 14-year-olds are not adultlike and 4-year-olds cannot recognize even their own face when it is paired with a foil face that differs only in the spacing of features. I will investigate the role of experience in the development of expertise through two research programs. The first focuses on face perception during the pre-school years, a time period that has not been studied systematically. I will test the hypothesis that multiple face-processing mechanisms are sensitive to the spacing of facial features and that these mechanisms develop at different rates. For example, I will compare children's sensitivity to the spacing of features in unfamiliar versus familiar (e.g., a playmate) faces. The second focuses on the role of natural variations in experience on the development of expertise. Adults are better at recognizing own-race faces than other-race faces, thus their expertise is limited to faces with which they have abundant experience. I will investigate the role of experience using three complementary approaches: a) I will conduct a longitudinal study of the development of expertise for a new race of faces in foreign exchange students (e.g., Chinese students arriving in Canada); b) I will compare children who are exposed primarily to own-race faces with children adopted from China who receive extensive exposure to Caucasian and Chinese faces; and c) I will test adults with expertise with nonhuman (monkey) faces because they are curators at a zoo. Together, the results will add to our understanding of human visual perception and of developmental mechanisms.