Face Preference and Recognition in Infants

Face Preference and Recognition

• Humans exhibit a strong preference for faces (human, animal, or face-like objects).
• This preference is present from infancy.
• Valenza et al (1996): Infants (n=36) showed a longer looking time and preference for face-like patterns compared to control stimuli.
• Mondloch et al (1999): Three age groups (newborns, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks) were tested with normal and distorted faces. Newborns and 6-week-olds showed no preference, but by 12 weeks, a strong preference for normal faces emerged.

Importance of Faces

• Faces are crucial for communication due to:
  • Expressions: convey emotions.
  • Eye contact: establishes connection.
  • Eye direction/following: communicative signal.
• Faces indicate personal identity.

Facial Expressions

• Field et al (1982): 74 babies exposed to a live model with various facial expressions, facial responses in babies were observed and correlated with those expressions. Observers could accurately interpret expressions on babies' faces. Newborns can discriminate and imitate expressions.

Eye Contact

• Eye contact is crucial in conversation (approximately 30% of the time).
• Timing (duration) is critical for effective communication.
• Turn-taking: eye contact patterns differ between listening and speaking stages.

Eye Direction

• Eye direction signals intentions and interests.
• Humans have a tendency to follow another's gaze, indicating social attention.

Facial Expertise

• Extensive exposure and the profound importance of faces contribute to excellent face-recognition abilities.
• This is taken for granted but it is remarkable.

Inversion Effect

• Difficulty recognizing inverted faces compared to upright faces ("inversion effect").
• Yin (1996): Subjects exhibited greater difficulty identifying inverted faces than inverted non-face objects, suggesting face processing is distinct from object processing. Consistent with a holistic face processing approach.

Thatcher Effect

• Thompson (1980): Difficulty of detecting local inversions (e.g., eyes, mouth) within inverted faces. Yet, the overall face is recognized.
• Explanation: Inverting a face disrupts the configural processing that is crucial for face recognition. This causes a focus to shift to feature-level processing, thus, the anomalies of the inverted features are not noticed.

Face Recognition Model (Bruce & Young, 1986)

• Structural encoding: Recognize a stimulus as a face.
• Face Recognition Units (FRUs): Recognize a face as familiar.
• Personal Identity Nodes (PINs): Associate the face with an individual.
• Name generation: Retrieve the individual's name.

Prosopagnosia

• Severe impairment in face recognition but less impairment in object recognition ("face blindness").
• Can arise from brain damage or develop without known cause.
• Symptoms and severity vary among patients.

Explore the fascinating preference humans, especially infants, have for faces and face-like objects. Discover studies that illustrate how this preference develops over time and its implications for communication and identity. Learn about the crucial role of facial expressions in conveying emotions and establishing connections.