The Brain Mechanism Of Feature Direction Consistency Affecting Face Perception And Processing

In cognitive psychology and social cognitive neuroscience,face perception and processing has always been an important aspect of researchers’ attention.Existing research in the use of face images as stimulus material,is to the eyes and mouth features was made or the horse at the same time,but this method processed picture there are two aspects of change,on the one hand,the eyes and mouth the change of these two characteristics itself,on the other hand is the characteristics of consistency in the direction of change,basically,the influence of the characteristic direction consistency basically has not been discussed.This study by changing the usually overlooked the direction of the nose features,manipulation of the consistency of characteristic direction,to explore the characteristics of the direction of consistency on neutral and joy,fear,face recognition and processing,what impact,at the same time the high temporal resolution characteristics of event related potential technology,To further explore its potential cognitive and neural mechanisms.In experiment 1,we used the classical repetition inhibition paradigm to detect and record whether and what the effect was on neutral face perception and processing by behavioral experiment and event-related potential（ERPs）technique,and explored the underlying neural mechanism of this phenomenon.Two faces,S1 and S2,were presented before and after a short interval,and the subjects were required to complete the keystroke response unrelated to the experiment purpose.The behavioral results showed that the subjects maintained high concentration during the experiment.ERP results showed that the main effect of P1、N170component direction on S1 was significant,and the amplitude induced by inverted face was larger.The main effect of hemispheric was significant,and the right hemisphere was dominant.The main effect of feature direction consistency was significant,and the amplitude induced by feature direction inconsistency was larger.The main effect of the P1 、 N170 component of S2 was significant under the condition of upright faces,and significant under the condition of inverted faces.Experiment 2 and Experiment 1 used the same paradigm and added emotional factors to explore the potential neurophysiological mechanism of the effect of facial feature orientation consistency on emotional face perception and processing.ERP results showed that the main effect of P1 and N170 component direction on S1 was significant,and the amplitude induced by inverted face was larger.The dominant hemispherical effect was significant and the right hemisphere was dominant.The main effect of N170 emotion was significant,and the amplitude induced by happy and fearful faces was larger.Face direction and emotional interaction were significant,and the amplitudes induced by happy and fearful faces were larger in the positive condition.In P1,the consistent interaction between face direction and feature direction was significant.In the upright condition,the amplitude induced by inconsistent feature direction was larger than that of inverted face.The main effect of S2N170 on emotion was significant under the condition of upright and inverted faces.The main effect of P1 on emotion was significant under the condition of upright face,and the main effect of consistency was significant under the condition of inverted face.In conclusion,the following conclusions can be drawn: first,face perception is affected by the overall orientation of the face,and there is an inversion effect and a right hemisphere processing advantage;Second,neutral face perception tended to use global processing,while emotional face perception and processing tended to use feature processing,both of which were affected by the consistency of feature direction.Thirdly,emotional face recognition is sequential.Feature and configuration information are recognized first,then emotional information is recognized.Fourthly,P1 is more sensitive to feature information and configuration information,while N170 is more sensitive to emotion information.