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Kommunikation ist allgegenwärtig in unserem Alltag. Personen mit einer Autismus-Spektrum-Störung (ASS) zeigen soziale Schwierigkeiten und beim Erkennen von Kommunikationssignalen von Gesicht und Stimme. Da derartige Schwierigkeiten die Lebensqualität beeinträchtigen können, ist ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis der zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen von großer Bedeutung. In der vorliegenden Dissertation befasste ich mich mit sensorischen Gehirnmechanismen, die der Verarbeitung von Kommunikationssignalen zugrunde liegen und, die in der Forschung zu ASS bisher wenig Beachtung fanden. Erstens untersuchte ich, ob eine intranasale Gabe von Oxytocin die Erkennung der Stimmenidentität beeinflussen, und ihre Auffälligkeiten bei Personen mit ASS mildern kann. Zweitens erforschte ich, welche neuronalen Prozesse den Schwierigkeiten in der Wahrnehmung visueller Sprache in ASS zugrunde liegen, da bisherige Evidenz nur auf Verhaltensdaten basierte. Diese Fragestellungen beantwortete ich mit Hilfe von funktioneller Magnetresonanztomographie, Eyetracking und Verhaltenstestungen. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation liefern neuartige Erkenntnisse, die für Personen mit ASS und typisch entwickelte Personen von hoher Relevanz sind. Erstens bestätigen sie die Annahmen, dass atypische sensorische Mechanismen für unser Verständnis der sozialen Schwierigkeiten in ASS grundlegend sind. Sie zeigen, dass atypische Funktionen sensorischer Gehirnregionen den Kommunikationseinschränkungen in ASS zugrunde liegen und die Effektivität von Interventionen beeinflussen, die jene Schwierigkeiten vermindern sollen. Zweitens liefern die Ergebnisse empirische Evidenz für theoretische Annahmen darüber, wie das typisch entwickelte Gehirn visuelle Kommunikationssignale verarbeitet. Diese Erkenntnisse erweitern maßgeblich unser aktuelles Wissen und zukünftige Forschungsansätze zur zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation. Außerdem können sie neue Interventionsansätze zur Förderung von Kommunikationsfähigkeiten hervorbringen. / Communication is ubiquitous in our everyday life. Yet, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties in social interactions and to recognize socially relevant signals from the face and the voice. Such impairments can vastly affect the quality of life - a profound understanding of the mechanisms behind these difficulties is thus strongly required. In the current dissertation, I focused on sensory brain mechanisms that underlie the perception of emotionally neutral communication signals that so far have gained little attention in ASD research. I studied the malleability of voice-identity processing using intranasal administration of oxytocin, and thus the potential to alleviate voice-identity recognition impairments in ASD. Furthermore, I investigated brain mechanisms that underlie recognition difficulties for visual speech in ASD, as until now evidence on visual-speech recognition in ASD was limited to behavioral findings. I applied methods of functional magnetic resonance imaging, eye tracking, and behavioral testing. The contribution of the present dissertation is twofold. First, the findings corroborate the view that atypical sensory perception is a critical cornerstone for understanding of social difficulties in ASD. Dysfunction of visual and auditory sensory brain regions might contribute to difficulties in processing aspects of communication signals in ASD and modulate the efficacy of interventions for improving the behavioral deficits. Second, the findings deliver empirical support for a recent theoretical model of how the typically developing brain perceives dynamic faces. This improved our current knowledge about brain processing of visual communication signals in the typically developing population. Advanced scientific knowledge about human communication, as provided in the current dissertation, propels further empirical research and development of clinical interventions that aim to promote communication abilities in affected individuals.

The bias against attractiveness is fairly implicit and furthermore, powerfully impacts people’s subsequent impressions of and behaviors toward others (Cash, Gillen, & Burns, 1977; Dion et al., 1972). Pallet, Link and Lee (2010) examined the effect of various facial spatial configurations on attractiveness and found that raters rated faces as most attractive when the eyeto-mouth ratio approximated 36% of the face length (the "golden ratio"), which coincides with the measurements of an average and thus more attractive face. The present study examined the extent to which the distance of these objectively measured facial features affected mentors’ perceptions of their protégés, the subsequent mentoring given to them, and the protégés’ own behavior (e.g. seek feedback, request specific information).The gender composition of the mentor-protégé dyad was expected to moderate these relationships. I also examined whether, given the expected effects of facial measurements, withholding access to visual cues would affect mentor perceptions and behavior. Participants were 118 mentor/protégé dyads from a large Southeastern university who volunteered to participate in a formal online peer mentoring program. After seeing their protégés’ profiles (and for those in the experimental condition, a picture), mentors chatted with their protégés once a week for 30 minutes for a total of 4 weeks. Results indicated that protégés with facial features moderately distant from the golden ratio were perceived as more similar by mentors in same-gender dyads and received greater mentoring than did protégés closest and farthest from the golden ratio. In opposite-gender dyads, however, mentors reported greater similarity toward those that were farthest from the golden ratio but provided the greatest mentoring to those closest to the golden ratio. The relationship iv between facial measurements and protégé proactivity was moderated by whether or not their mentor had access to their picture. While protégés closest to the ratio were more proactive in the picture condition, those that were farthest from it were more proactive in the non-picture condition. Proactivity was as expected associated with greater levels of mentoring, which was ultimately related to a more fulfilled and beneficial relationship for protégés (i.e. less stress, greater self-efficacy and satisfaction). The results of this study indicate that facial measurements are associated with both differences in mentor and in protégé behavior and that the specific nature of these relationships differs as a function of gender composition. Implications for practice and theory will be discussed

The Wechsler Memory Scale –iii is the newest version of a six-decade old neuropsychological inventory. Since its conception, the Wechsler Memory Scale has been highly utilized by practitioners to accurately assess various memory functions in adult subjects. Revisions made within this inventory include the Faces I subtest, a facial recognition scale, which was added in order to strengthen the instrument’s accuracy at measuring episodic memory. Facial recognition, both cross-race and within-race, has been researched extensively and consistent biases have been found between race of test taker and cross-racial identification. Theories of exposure/contextual interaction (environment) and biological foundations have been the subject of study in the past in order to determine from where these racial identification deficits stem. The current study focuses on revealing bias in the Faces I subtest, regarding to an unequal distribution of racially representative faces in the testing materials. Eighty-eight college students were recruited to view forty-eight pictured faces from the Faces I subtest and determine the racial category to which the pictured face belonged. The subjects’ categorical responses were the basis for calculating a percent agreement score for racial category of each face. It was determined, using the results of subjects’ responses, that the Faces I subtest contained an unequal distribution of racially representative faces in both the Target and Interference testing material. This confirmed the presence of an inherent bias within the subscale. The implications of memory accuracy for the WMS-iii are discussed as it relates to different fields of study, but none more directly than the criminal justice system. Eyewitness testimony is a pivotal evidentiary tool in the criminal justice system, and ramifications of cross-racial identification deficits and biases in the tools to accurately assess memory are increasingly bringing this once heavily relied upon tool into question.

Informelle Berichte zeigten größere Amplituden der durch Gesichter ausgelösten N170 Komponente im Ereigniskorrelierten Potenzial (EKP) bei asiatischen als bei kaukasischen Probanden. Als mögliche Ursache vermutete ich unterschiedliche Erfahrungen mit logographischen bzw. alphabetischen Schriftsystemen (Schriftsystem-Hypothese) oder die verstärkte Exposition mit unbekannten Gesichtern während der Immersion in eine neue soziale oder ethnische Umgebung (soziale Immersions-Hypothese). Zur Überprüfung dieser Hypothesen führte ich zwei kulturvergleichende Studien mit Erwachsenen bzw. Kindern durch. In Studie 1 untersuchte ich einheimische Chinesen und nicht-chinesische Auswärtige in Hongkong und deutsche Einheimische und chinesische Auswärtige in Berlin. Die Auswärtigen an beiden Orten zeigten größere N170 Amplituden auf Gesichter als die Einheimischen. Außerdem zeigten Deutsche, die erst kurze Zeit in Berlin lebten ähnliche Amplituden wie langjährige Einheimische. Insgesamt unterstützt Studie 1 die soziale Immersions-Hypothese, dass die Immersion in eine neue ethnische Umgebung zu einer Vergrößerung der N170 führt. Studie 2 untersuchte die Schriftsystem-Hypothese bei chinesischen und deutschen Erstlesern am Ende der ersten oder zu Beginn des zweiten Schuljahres an ihrem jeweiligen Heimatort. Die Ergebnisse unterstützen die Schriftsystem-Hypothese, dass chinesische Kinder eine größere N170 auf Gesichter zeigen als deutsche. Insgesamt konnte die vorliegende Dissertation zwei neue Einfluss-Faktoren auf das Gesichterverarbeitungs-System nachweisen, das erworbene Schriftsystem (logographische versus alphabetisch) und die Erfahrung sozialer Immersion in eine neue ethnische Umgebung. Diese Effekte zu ganz unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten der Entwicklung (Kindheit vs. junges Erwachsenen-Alter) zeigen, dass das Gesichterverarbeitungs-System über lange Zeit seine Plastizität behält. / Informal reports have shown larger face-elicited N170 component of event-related potential (ERP) in Asians than Caucasians participants. I proposed that different experience with logographic versus alphabetic scripts (script system hypothesis) or by exposure to abundant novel faces during the immersion into a new social and/or ethnic environment (social immersion hypothesis) as a possible cause. To test these hypotheses, I conducted two cross-cultural ERP studies with adults and Children. In Study 1, I examined Chinese locals and non-Chinese foreigners in Hongkong, and German locals and Chinese foreigners in Berlin. It turned out that the foreigners in both locations showed larger N170 amplitudes to faces than the locals. In addition, Germans who had only lived in Berlin for a short time showed similar face N170 amplitudes as long-term Berlin residents. In sum, Study 1 supports the social immersion hypothesis that immersing into a new ethnic environment drives an increase of face N170. Study 2 investigated the scripts system hypothesis in Chinese and German early readers assessed at the end of the first-grade or at the beginning of the second grade in their respective home towns. The findings support the script system hypothesis that Chinese children showed larger face N170 amplitudes than German children. Overall, the present thesis demonstrated two new influencing factors on the face processing system, the acquired script system (logographic vs. alphabetic) and the social immersion experience in a new ethnic environment. More specifically, learning to read a visually complex logographic Chinese script or immersing into an other-ethnic social environment facilitates early perceptual processing of faces. These effects acquired at different stages of development (early childhood versus young adulthood) show that the face processing system retains its plasticity over a long period of time.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Madeline Heilman’s (1983) Lack of Fit Model, which postulates why discrimination occurs in the selection of sex-typed jobs, has been applied to the interaction of applicant attractiveness. Yet recent research suggests that other appearance variables, namely sex-typed facial features, may be associated with perceptions of fit. Building upon Heilman’s 1983 model, the current study evaluated how sex-typed facial features relate to applicant selection for sex-typed fields. Undergraduate students were recruited for participation during the spring academic semester (n = 413) and data were analyzed using a 2x2x2 ANOVA. Results indicated that selection is significantly impacted by the three-way interaction of applicant sex, facial feature-type, and sex type of the applying field. Further, masculine-featured females and feminine-featured males were significantly less favored for selection within the feminine sex-typed field. Implications of these findings and the differential evaluation of male and female applicants in a feminine field are discussed.