Data Analysis_Children_corrected SDT [phone].xlsx

We investigated perceptual discriminability for Asian-like versus Caucasian-like morph faces in school-age Taiwanese children and adults. One-hundred-and-two 5- to 12-year-old children and twenty-three adults performed a sequential same/different face matching task, where they viewed an Asian- or a Caucasian-parent face followed by either the same parent face or a different morphed face (containing 15%, 30%, 45%, or 60% contribution from the other parent face) and judged if the two faces looked the same. We computed the <i>d’</i> as the sensitivity index for each age groups. We also analyzed the group mean rejection rates as a function of the morph level and fitted with a cumulative normal distribution function. Results showed that the adults and the oldest 11-12-year-old children exhibited a greater sensitivity (<i>d</i>’) and a smaller discrimination threshold (<i>m</i>) in the Asian-parent condition than those in the Caucasian-parent condition, indicating the presence of an own-race advantage. On the contrary, 5- to 10-year-old children showed an equal sensitivity and similar discrimination thresholds for both conditions, indicating an absence of the own-race advantage. Moreover, a gradual development in enhancing the discriminability for the Asian-parent condition was observed from age 5 to 12; however, the progression in the Caucasian-parent condition was less apparent. In sum, our findings suggest that expertise in face processing may take the entire childhood to develop, and supports the <i>perceptual learning view</i> of the other-race effect--the own-race advantage seen in adulthood likely reflects a result of prolonged learning specific to faces most commonly seen in one’s visual environment such as own-race faces.本研究针对台湾学龄儿童与成人，考察了类亚洲人与类高加索人变形面孔的知觉辨别力。共招募102名5至12岁儿童与23名成人参与序列式同异面孔匹配任务：实验流程为先呈现亚洲亲本面孔或高加索亲本面孔，随后呈现同一亲本面孔，或是另一张由另一亲本贡献15%、30%、45%或60%特征的变形面孔，要求被试判断两张面孔是否一致。我们以<i>d’</i>作为各年龄组的敏感性指数，并分析了以变形程度为自变量的组平均拒答率，随后使用累积正态分布函数对其进行拟合。结果显示，成人组与11-12岁的大龄儿童在亚洲亲本面孔条件下的敏感性（<i>d’</i>）与辨别阈值（<i>m</i>）均优于高加索亲本面孔条件，表明存在本族面孔加工优势。与之相反，5至10岁的儿童在两种条件下的敏感性与辨别阈值均无显著差异，表明尚未形成本族加工优势。此外，从5岁至12岁，儿童对亚洲亲本面孔的知觉辨别力呈现逐步提升的发展趋势；而高加索亲本面孔条件下的辨别能力进步则相对不明显。综上，本研究结果表明，面孔加工的专业技能或许需要整个童年时期方能发展完善，同时支持异族效应的知觉学习观——成年后观察到的本族面孔加工优势，实则源于个体对视觉环境中常见面孔（如本族面孔）的长期特异性学习。