The Influence Of Egocentric Reference Frames And Environmental Reference Frames To Face Holistic Processing

Visual processing is highly sensitive to stimulus orientation.According to previous studies,the role of orientation is particularly apparent in face processing,such as,face inversion effect.However,stimulus orientation can be defined in relation to various different reference frames,the orientation of a face may be described with respect to an observer's eyes,head,or body orientation(egocentric reference frames);At the same time,it may also be described by the location of the room or the directional of gravity(environmental reference frames).Which reference frame(s)do we perceive faces on earth? In order to explore this issue,this study adopts the method of letting the subjects lie horizontally to separate egocentric and environmental reference frames,and we take the composite effect as the measure of the face holistic processing,and adds the inverted condition.The purpose is to explore the relationship between the reference frames and the face holistic processing,and to investigate the nature and characteristics of the face holistic processing in this two reference frames and the corresponding neurophysiological mechanisms.Study 1 mainly focused on the nature and characteristics of the face holistic processing.In Experiment 1,we asked the subjects sit to complete composite task for the upright and inverted face.The results showed that the composite effect occurred for upright faces while not in inverted faces,indicating that upright faces are process holistically and the inversion destroy this holistic processing.Study 2 examines the nature and characteristics of the face holistic processing in the egocentric reference frames and environmental reference frames.Experiment 2 examines whether exist face holistic processing in the two reference frames.Experiment 3 examines whether the inversion destroys the holistic processing in two reference frames.The result manifested that it existed a composite effect for upright faces but not inverted faces in the egocentric reference frame,while in the environmental reference frame had a face composite effect.Study 2 suggesting that we process face holistically in two reference frames,and this holistic processing damaged by inversion only involved with egocentric reference frames.To clarify the neural mechanisms about this effect.We additionally analyzed event related potentials(ERPs).Behavioral results consistent with experiment 3.Results showed that,compare to the inverted faces,the N170 alignment effect of the upright faces is larger in the egocentric reference frames;the misaligned faces have more negative amplitude than the aligned faces.It indicates that the holistic processing of the upright face is more intensive than that of the inverted face in the egocentric reference frames,and the faces in the environmental reference frames are process holistically as well.In summary,present study suggesting that people process face holistically in both reference frames,and mainly rely on the egocentric reference frame.