Impact of the visual and sociocultural environment on the processing of low-level visual information during face perception

视觉和社会文化环境对面部感知过程中低级视觉信息处理的影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06201
• 负责人: Blais, Caroline
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: Québec en Outaouais
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=738771
• 关键词: Impact; visual; sociocultural; environment; processing

Face perception has long been assumed to rely on universal visual processes. In the past few years, I have shown that, on the contrary, high-level forces, such as culture, may influence mechanisms as deep as those involved in the processing of the most basic kind of visual information processed in the primary visual cortex. Differences in visual strategies may also be observed within-culture, supporting thus further the idea that in order to understand the processes involved in face perception, and visual perception more generally, studies need to investigate the diversity of strategies developed across individuals and groups of individuals. In this sense, the long-term goal of the proposed research is to contribute to the development of a comprehensive understanding of face perception by taking into account the ways in which it may be influenced by environmental (e.g. physical, cultural) and individual (e.g. ability) differences. Objectives 1 and 2 of this research program aim at extensively comparing the utilization of low-level (spatial frequencies, orientations) visual information during face processing across two cultures (Westerners and Easterners), and at studying the time course of this information utilization in the brain. Furthermore, recent work has shown that the ability to recognize faces is related to the efficiency at processing horizontal information as well as the information conveyed by the eye area. Since previous work has demonstrated that the visual strategies underlying face processing vary from one culture to another, the "optimal" visual strategy may also differ across groups. Thus, the third objective of the present research program is to verify if within-culture individual differences in face processing interact with culture. Finally, the fourth objective of the present research program is to explore potential explanations for the differences observed across cultural groups. In fact, many argue for the existence of specialized mechanisms for face processing, raising the possibility that the forces that engender different visual strategies between cultures may not be the same for face and non-face objects. So far, however, the two main theories that have been proposed to explain cultural variations in visual perception have not been assessed in the context of face perception. This research program is highly interdisciplinary, encompassing the fields of vision, face perception, cultural psychology, and neuroscience. A combination of novel psychophysical methods and electroencephalography will be used. The new knowledge provided by the proposed research program may potentially shape the way we study visual and face perception. Moreover, understanding the driving forces of the differences observed will further our knowledge of the universality vs. cultural specificity of the visual processes underlying face perception, a central question in the field of vision.

长期以来，面孔感知一直被认为依赖于普遍的视觉过程。在过去的几年里，我已经证明，相反，高水平的力量，如文化，可能会深刻地影响那些参与初级视觉皮层处理的最基本类型的视觉信息处理的机制。在文化内部也可以观察到视觉策略的差异，从而进一步支持这样一种观点，即为了更广泛地了解面孔感知和视觉感知的过程，研究需要调查跨个人和个体群体发展的策略的多样性。从这个意义上说，拟议研究的长期目标是通过考虑环境(例如身体、文化)和个人(例如能力)差异可能影响面孔感知的方式，促进对面孔感知的全面理解。这项研究的目标1和目标2旨在广泛比较两种文化(西方人和东方人)在面孔加工过程中对低水平(空间频率、方位)视觉信息的利用，并研究这种信息在大脑中的利用的时间进程。此外，最近的研究表明，识别人脸的能力与处理水平信息的效率以及眼睛区域传达的信息有关。由于先前的研究已经表明，不同文化背景下的面部加工的视觉策略是不同的，因此，不同群体之间的“最佳”视觉策略也可能有所不同。因此，本研究计划的第三个目标是验证在面孔加工方面的文化内个体差异是否与文化相互作用。最后，本研究计划的第四个目标是探索对不同文化群体观察到的差异的潜在解释。事实上，许多人认为存在专门的人脸处理机制，这提出了一种可能性，即在不同文化之间产生不同视觉策略的力量可能对人脸和非人脸物体不同。然而，到目前为止，已经提出的两种解释视觉知觉文化差异的主要理论还没有在面孔知觉的背景下进行评估。这项研究计划是高度跨学科的，涵盖了视觉、面孔感知、文化心理学和神经科学等领域。将使用新的心理物理方法和脑电图法相结合。拟议的研究计划提供的新知识可能会潜在地塑造我们研究视觉和面部感知的方式。此外，了解观察到的差异的驱动力将进一步加深我们对面部知觉背后的视觉过程的普遍性和文化特殊性的了解，这是视觉领域的一个中心问题。