Effect Of Memory Load On Time Course Of Face Configural And Featural Processing

People always face a large number of faces,either from the real world or from the virtual world.It is worth noting that people have the ability to remember many faces.Researchers have done a lot of research on how humans complete efficient and accurate face visual processing.Among them,researchers have classified face processing: configural processing and featural processing.At present,the face research on configural processing and featural processing is a hot topic in psychological research,but there are some major controversies.For example,whether the configural processing and featural processing are of different importance?Is N170 sensitive to configural and featural processing?This study explores some important controversies in this field.In addition,in life,people don't always face one face,so the number of faces is also an issue to be explored in experiments.Whether increase face memory load on the face processing type will reach the same conclusion is worth exploring.Therefore,this study combines the two factors of face processing and face memory load.The purpose is to explore the relationship between face processing types and memory load,and to examine its time course in conjunction with ERP technology,such as N170,P1,P2.The study carried out three parallel experiments using different operational definitions of face configural and featural processing.Although the materials of the three experiments are different,they can all be used as materials to explore the face configural and featural processing:the upright face contains configural information and can be used to explore the configural processing;the invert face contains featural information and can be used to study featural processing;high-frequency face contain featural information,which can be used to study featural processing;low-frequency faces contain only configural information,which can be used to study configural processing.The uniqueness of experiment 1 lies in the use of configural face pictures and featural face pictures as experimental materials,combined with ERP technology to explore the effect of memory load on configural face processing and feature face processing.The study used a 2(face processing type: configural face processing,featural face processing)× 3(memory load: low load,medium load,high load)in-subject design.The uniqueness of experiment 2 lies in the use of upright face pictures and invert face pictures as experimental materials,combined with ERP technology to explore the effect of memory load on upright face processing and invert face processing.The study used a 2(face processing type: upright face processing,invert face processing)× 3(memory load: low load,medium load,high load)in-subject design.The uniqueness of experiment 3 lies in the use of BSF pictures and LSF pictures and HSF pictures as experimental materials,combined with ERP technology to explore the effect of memory load on BSF,LSF and HSF processing.The study used a 3(face processing type: BSF processing,LSF processing,HSF processing)× 3(memory load: low load,medium load,high load)in-subject design.The above three experiments are parallel experiments,the research purpose and method are similar.In three experiments,the correct rate and reaction time on probe stage are analyzed,based on the ERP results,the N170,P1,and P2 components of the face memory stage were analyzed using the amplitude and latency as indicators.This study can draw the following conclusions:1 There are differences in different face processing types on experimental results.in particular,the reaction time of the configural face processing is longer than the featural processing face;the correct rate of BSF processing is higher than LSF,the correct rate of LSF is higher than HSF processing.On correct rate and reaction time,the result of upright face processing is better than invert face processing under low and middle load,but not under high load.2 The memory load factor is significant on three experiments,as the memory load increases,the correct rate s decreases,and the reaction time increases.In ERP results,as the memory load increases,the N170 amplitude becomes larger and the N170 latency period becomes longer.3 Under higher memory load conditions,the featural processing of experiment 1is better than the configural processing,while the configural processing of experiments 2 and 3 is better than the featural processing;face processing types was impacted by memory load and this also reflected in N170,P1,P2 components.4 Configural processing enhance P2 component.