An investigation of psychological functions related to "omokage"

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18697
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 10:Psychology and related fields
• Research Institution: Iryo Sosei University
• Principal Investigator: Ohara Takahiro 医療創生大学, 心理学部, 教授 (00347973)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 面影 / 顔認知 / 記憶 / 概念調査 / 逆相関法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we examined the psychological function of the concept of “omokage” as a psychological phenomenon. In Study 1, questionnaire surveys were conducted to investigate the typical meanings and characteristics of the concept of “omokage”. In Study 2, An attempt was made to visualize “infant faces with the omokage of celebrities” using the reverse correlation method, and conducted image analysis and a third-party evaluation survey about their images.
In Study 1, it was shown that the concept of “omokage” is often used for objects with the temporal continuity between the memory representation and the perceived representation. In Study 2, visualization of the “faces with the omokage” showed that the visual information defining the omokage was concentrated around the eyes, mouth, and contour. Furthermore, it was shown that it is possible to visualize faces that have even more omokage than the actual childhood faces of celebrities do.

Free Research Field

認知心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

面影は、日本では古くから用いられてきた概念だが、これまで心理学の観点から研究されることは皆無であった。しかし面影は、（顔や風景などの）知覚対象と記憶表象間での相補的照合や、今はもうない対象に対する「不在の認知」などに基づいた、心理学的にも興味深い主観的現象と捉えることができる。したがって、本研究において、心理学の観点からその概念構造や機能的特性の検討を試みたことは、今後、幅広い学際的研究に発展する可能性がある。
特に、本研究では既知人物の「面影」を可視化する手法を開発した。この手法により、たとえば「在りし日の故人の面影」を可視化するなど、グリーフケアのような臨床場面にも応用できる可能性がある。