Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2024-04-27
Abstract： In our daily lives, we are often confronted with a plethora of diverse and intricate adaptive stimuli. Prior research has predominantly focused on investigating the processing mechanisms of individual faces from the perspective of adaptation effects, yielding relatively consistent findings. However, controversies persist regarding the formation process of average representations in ensemble face adaptation effects, accompanied by a dearth of comprehensive explorations into ensemble face processing mechanisms. Attractiveness, as a crucial and distinct dimension in face perception, exhibits a phenomenon known as the averageness attractiveness effect, wherein faces perceived as more average tend to be rated as more attractive. This effect serves as a tool to examine the generation process of ensemble face adaptation effects and to further elucidate the processing of ensemble faces. This study employed a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm to investigate ensemble face adaptation effects from the perspective of cognitive load, aiming to advance our understanding of ensemble face processing mechanisms. Experiment 1 employed a within-subject design featuring three adaptation conditions (high attractiveness faces, low attractiveness faces, mixed faces). Results indicated that after adapting to low (high) attractiveness faces, individuals exhibited increased (decreased) judgments towards new faces, thus demonstrating adaptation effects. This outcome substantiates the notion that individuals process ensemble faces via holistic averaging. In Experiment 2, cognitive load manipulation was introduced with a mixed design of 2 (adaptation type: high attractiveness faces, low attractiveness faces) × 2 (load level: high load, low load). Results revealed that under both high and low cognitive load conditions, individuals exhibited adaptation effects after adapting to low (high) attractiveness faces, thus indicating that individuals employ an automated processing mechanism for ensemble faces. This study, by utilizing rapid presentation of single faces to form face ensembles, demonstrated that under conditions of rapid serial presentation, adaptation effects are based on the holistic averaging of ensemble faces, unveiling the processing of ensemble faces. Furthermore, by manipulating cognitive load, this study for the first time investigated the processing mode of ensemble faces and the role of cognitive resources in ensemble face processing. The findings corroborate the existence of ensemble face adaptation effects even under conditions of limited cognitive resources, suggesting that individuals process ensemble faces in an automated manner, thereby contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of face processing research.
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Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2024-01-15
Abstract： Prior research on facial attractiveness judgments has predominantly focused on visual information, overlooking the role of non-visual cues. Current studies have confirmed the existence of cross-modal interaction in facial attractiveness judgments, emphasizing cross-modal integration. Building on this foundation, this study integrates Face-space model and Bayesian causal inference models to propose that during the cross-modal integration process of facial attractiveness judgments, individuals naturally amalgamate various sensory inputs in the brain, forming a unified representation of the target face when inferring that different sensory information emanates from the same facial source. Future research may extend facial investigations into broader environmental contexts, examining cross-modal integration of diverse sensory information and further exploring the boundary conditions of cross-modal integration, particularly in the context of social interactions, to construct a more systematic model for cross-modal integration in facial attractiveness judgments.
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