學齡期兒童特徵式與組態式臉孔處理的發展與同理心之關聯性初探

Exploring the Development of Featural and Configural Face Processing in School-age Children and Its Association with Empathy

人類臉孔辨認有特徵式和組態式兩個主要處理途徑；然而，組態式處理在兒童期的發展時程有相當的爭議。此外，近期研究指出成人臉孔辨認能力與個體同理心程度有正相關，但少有研究探討兒童臉孔辨認的發展與個體同理心間的關聯性。有鑑於此，本研究旨在探討台灣地區學齡期兒童的臉孔組態辨認與特徵臉孔辨認的發展；同時也初探臉孔辨認能力與參與者同理心程度和性別間的關聯性。我們招收了33位台灣成年人與72位學齡期兒童，兒童再依年齡分為7－8歲、9－10歲、11－12歲等三組。每位參與者接受中文版同理心問卷施測（EQ），及電腦化的臉孔區辨作業。臉孔區辨作業的刺激臉孔藉由改變特徵或組態訊息有「不同身分」、「替換眼睛」、「增加眼距」、「嘴巴上移」等四種操弄。結果顯示：（1）臉孔區辨正確率以「不同身分」最高，接著是「替換眼睛」、「增加眼距」、而「嘴巴上移」的正確率最低。（2）就性別來看，兒童組女生的整體正確率較男生高，成人男性和女性的正確率相當。（3）就年齡來看，成人的表現最佳，11－12歲女生則在「替換眼睛」和「增加眼距」的操弄接近成人，其他兒童組在各操弄正確率上則多未達成人水準。（4）同理心問卷結果顯示，學齡期兒童女生的同理心程度較年齡期的男生高，成人的同理心得分則無性別差異；兒童和成人的同理心分數與白人臉孔區辨表現的關聯性較高。整體而言，學齡期兒童的同理心有性別差異，其臉孔辨認能力亦有性別差異；其中11－12歲女童表現格外成熟，男生和其他年齡組女生在各種操弄上則多未達成人水準；這也表示台灣學齡期兒童的特徵式與組態式臉孔處理的發展將持續至青少年期。

Face perception involves both configural and featural processing. The developmental progression of configural versus featural processing in childhood remains debated. To date, most studies focused on western children; furthermore, the link between face processing and empathy in children is less well-understood. The present study investigated the development of featural and configural processing in Taiwanese children; we also explored the association between individuals’ empathy, gender, and their face recognition performance. We tested 33 Taiwanese adults and 72 7- to 12-year-old children. Each participant received an Empathy Quotient (EQ)questionnaire and a computerized face discrimination task, which included four conditions (by altering a featural or a configural information): change identity, change eyes, widen eye spacing, and move up mouth. The results showed that (1)the accuracy of the “change identity” was the highest, followed by the “change eyes,” the “widen eye spacing,” and the “move up mouth” conditions. (2)Girls performed better than boys, but female and male adults were about equal. (3)Adults performed better than children in almost all conditions, except that the 11-12-year-old girls’ accuracies on the “change eyes” and the “widen eye spacing” conditions were no different from the adults’. (4)Girls had a higher EQ score than boys, but women and men had similar EQ scores, and the correlations were higher with the Caucasian faces. In sum, our study suggests that in school-age children, girls had higher empathy and better face recognition accuracy than boys; 11-12-year-old girls were particularly mature. Meanwhile, the majority of children still performed significantly worse than the adults, meaning that children’s configural and featural face processing continues to improve in adolescence.