1
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Capelli E, Riva V, D'Alfonso S, Panichi V, Riboldi EM, Borgatti R, Molteni M, Provenzi L. Exploring the impact of parents' face-mask wearing on dyadic interactions in infants at higher likelihood for autism compared with general population. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 247:106037. [PMID: 39137505 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Revised: 07/01/2024] [Accepted: 07/06/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024]
Abstract
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, both the public and researchers have raised questions regarding the potential impact of protective face-mask wearing on infants' development. Nevertheless, limited research has tested infants' response to protective face-mask wearing adults in real-life interactions and in neurodiverse populations. In addition, scarce attention was given to changes in interactive behavior of adults wearing a protective face-mask. The aims of the current study were (1) to examine differences in 12-month-old infants' behavioral response to an interactive parent wearing a protective face-mask during face-to-face interaction, (2) to investigate potential differences in infants at higher likelihood for autism (HL-ASD) as compared with general population (GP) counterparts, and (3) to explore significant differences in parents' behaviors while wearing or not wearing a protective face-mask. A total of 50 mother-infant dyads, consisting of 20 HL-ASD infants (siblings of individuals with autism) and 30 GP infants, participated in a 6-min face-to-face interaction. The interaction was videotaped through teleconferencing and comprised three 2-min episodes: (a) no mask, (b) mask, and (c) post-mask. Infants' emotionality and gaze direction, as well as mothers' vocal production and touching behaviors, were coded micro-analytically. Globally, GP infants exhibited more positive emotionality compared with their HL-ASD counterparts. Infants' negative emotionality and gaze avoidance did not differ statistically across episodes. Both groups of infants displayed a significant increase in looking time toward the caregiver during the mask episode. No statistically significant differences emerged in mothers' behaviors. These findings suggest that the use of protective face-masks might not negatively affect core dimensions of caregiver-infant interactions in GP and HL-ASD 12-month-old infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Capelli
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Valentina Riva
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy.
| | - Silvia D'Alfonso
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Virginia Panichi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Elena Maria Riboldi
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Renato Borgatti
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy; Centre for Pediatric Neurosciences, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Massimo Molteni
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Livio Provenzi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy; Developmental Psychobiology Lab, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, 27100 Pavia, Italy
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2
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Aran Ö, Garcia SE, Hankin BL, Hyde DC, Davis EP. Signatures of emotional face processing measured by event-related potentials in 7-month-old infants. Dev Psychobiol 2023; 65:e22361. [PMID: 36811377 PMCID: PMC9978929 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The ability to distinguish facial emotions emerges in infancy. Although this ability has been shown to emerge between 5 and 7 months of age, the literature is less clear regarding the extent to which neural correlates of perception and attention play a role in processing of specific emotions. This study's main goal was to examine this question among infants. To this end, we presented angry, fearful, and happy faces to 7-month-old infants (N = 107, 51% female) while recording event-related brain potentials. The perceptual N290 component showed a heightened response for fearful and happy relative to angry faces. Attentional processing, indexed by the P400, showed some evidence of a heightened response for fearful relative to happy and angry faces. We did not observe robust differences by emotion in the negative central (Nc) component, although trends were consistent with previous work suggesting a heightened response to negatively valenced expressions. Results suggest that perceptual (N290) and attentional (P400) processing is sensitive to emotions in faces, but these processes do not provide evidence for a fear-specific bias across components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Özlü Aran
- University of Denver, Department of Psychology
| | - Sarah E. Garcia
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
| | | | - Daniel C. Hyde
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Psychology
| | - Elysia Poggi Davis
- University of Denver, Department of Psychology
- University of California, Irvine, Department of Pediatrics
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3
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Galusca CI, Clerc O, Chevallier M, Bertrand C, Audeou F, Pascalis O, Fort M. The effect of masks on the visual preference for faces in the first year of life. INFANCY 2023; 28:92-105. [PMID: 36523138 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, face masks were mandatory in many public spaces around the world. Since faces are the gateway to early social cognition, this raised major concerns about the effect face masks may have on infants' attention to faces as well as on their language and social development. The goal of the present study was to assess how face masks modulate infants' attention to faces over the course of the first year of life. We measured 3, 6, 9, and 12-month-olds' looking behavior using a paired visual preference paradigm under two experimental conditions. First, we tested infants' preference for upright masked or unmasked faces of the same female individual. We found that regardless of age, infants looked equally long at the masked and unmasked faces. Second, we compared infants' attention to an upright masked versus an inverted masked face. Three- and 6-month-olds looked equally long to the masked faces when they were upright or inverted. However, 9- and 12-month-old infants showed a novelty preference for the inverted masked face. Our findings suggest that more experience with faces, including masked faces, leads to efficient adaptations of infants' visual system for processing impoverished social stimuli, such as partially occluded faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Ioana Galusca
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, LPNC, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.,Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Grenoble, France
| | - Olivier Clerc
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, LPNC, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.,Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Grenoble, France
| | - Marie Chevallier
- Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, CHU-GA, Grenoble, France.,TIMC-IMAG Research Department, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Caroline Bertrand
- Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, CHU-GA, Grenoble, France
| | - Frederique Audeou
- Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, CHU-GA, Grenoble, France
| | - Olivier Pascalis
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, LPNC, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.,Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Grenoble, France
| | - Mathilde Fort
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, LPNC, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.,Centre de Recherche en NeuroSciences de Lyon, CRNL, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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4
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Schmid I, Witkower Z, Götz FM, Stieger S. Registered report: Social face evaluation: ethnicity-specific differences in the judgement of trustworthiness of faces and facial parts. Sci Rep 2022; 12:18311. [PMID: 36316450 PMCID: PMC9622746 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22709-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Social face evaluation is a common and consequential element of everyday life based on the judgement of trustworthiness. However, the particular facial regions that guide such trustworthiness judgements are largely unknown. It is also unclear whether different facial regions are consistently utilized to guide judgments for different ethnic groups, and whether previous exposure to specific ethnicities in one's social environment has an influence on trustworthiness judgements made from faces or facial regions. This registered report addressed these questions through a global online survey study that recruited Asian, Black, Latino, and White raters (N = 4580). Raters were shown full faces and specific parts of the face for an ethnically diverse, sex-balanced set of 32 targets and rated targets' trustworthiness. Multilevel modelling showed that in forming trustworthiness judgements, raters relied most strongly on the eyes (with no substantial information loss vis-à-vis full faces). Corroborating ingroup-outgroup effects, raters rated faces and facial parts of targets with whom they shared their ethnicity, sex, or eye color as significantly more trustworthy. Exposure to ethnic groups in raters' social environment predicted trustworthiness ratings of other ethnic groups in nuanced ways. That is, raters from the ambient ethnic majority provided slightly higher trustworthiness ratings for stimuli of their own ethnicity compared to minority ethnicities. In contrast, raters from an ambient ethnic minority (e.g., immigrants) provided substantially lower trustworthiness ratings for stimuli of the ethnic majority. Taken together, the current study provides a new window into the psychological processes underlying social face evaluation and its cultural generalizability. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 7 January 2022. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.18319244 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Schmid
- grid.459693.4Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria
| | - Zachary Witkower
- grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Friedrich M. Götz
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.47840.3f0000 0001 2181 7878Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - Stefan Stieger
- grid.459693.4Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria
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5
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Peykarjou S, Langeloh M, Baccolo E, Rossion B, Pauen S. Superior neural individuation of mother's than stranger's faces by five months of age. Cortex 2022; 155:264-276. [PMID: 36044787 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2021] [Revised: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Human adults are better at recognizing different views of a given face as belonging to the same person when that person is familiar rather than unfamiliar. To clarify the developmental origin of this well-established phenomenon, one group of five-month-olds (N = 22) was presented with pictures of four different unfamiliar female faces at a fixed rate (6 Hz, 166 msec stimulus onset asynchrony), interrupted every 5th stimulus (1.2 Hz) by either their mother's face (mother oddball condition) or, in different stimulation sequences, a stranger's face (stranger oddball condition). In another group of five-month-olds (N = 17), stimulation sequences were reversed such that their mothers' or a given stranger's face were repeated at 6 Hz and interrupted every 5 stimuli by pictures of different female faces (mother standard, stranger standard conditions, respectively). Twelve variable images of each identity served as stimulus material. Besides clear frequency-tagged EEG responses at the 6 Hz stimulation rate over the medial occipital region in all conditions, significant activity at 1.2 Hz and harmonics (2.4 Hz, etc.) was observed in this region, reflecting selective responses to facial identity across changes of views. This effect was strongest when the mother's face was immediately repeated at every stimulation cycle (mother standard). Overall, these observations point to an early developmental advantage of identifying a familiar face presented from different views during immediate stimulus repetition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Miriam Langeloh
- Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elisa Baccolo
- Università Degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, Nancy, France; Université de Lorraine, CHRU-Nancy, Service de Neurologie, Nancy, France
| | - Sabina Pauen
- Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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6
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Conte S, Richards JE, Guy MW, Xie W, Roberts JE. Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of life. Neuroimage 2020; 211:116602. [PMID: 32044434 PMCID: PMC7085434 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 02/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Cortical areas in the ventral visual pathway become selectively tuned towards the processing of faces compared to non-face stimuli beginning around 3 months of age and continuing over the first year. Studies using event-related potentials in the EEG (ERPs) have found an ERP component, the N290, that displays specificity for human faces. Other components, such as the P1, P400, and Nc have been studied to a lesser degree in their responsiveness to human faces. However, little is known about the systematic changes in the neural responses to faces during the first year of life, and the localization of these responses in infants' brain. We examined ERP responses to pictures of faces and objects in infants from 4.5 months through 12 months in a cross-sectional study. We investigated the activity of all the components reported to be involved in infant face processing, with particular interest to their amplitude variation and cortical localization. We identified neural regions responsible for the component through the application of cortical source localization methods. We found larger P1 and N290 responses to faces than objects, and these components were localized in the lingual and middle/posterior fusiform gyri, respectively. The amplitude of the P400 was not differentially sensitive to faces over objects. The Nc component was different for faces and objects, was influenced by the infant's attentional state, and localized in medial-anterior brain areas. The implications of these results are discussed in the identification of developmental ERP precursors to face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefania Conte
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, United States.
| | - John E Richards
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, United States
| | - Maggie W Guy
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, United States
| | - Wanze Xie
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, United States; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, United States
| | - Jane E Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, United States
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7
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Sibling experience prevents neural tuning to adult faces in 10-month-old infants. Neuropsychologia 2019; 129:72-82. [PMID: 30922829 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Early facial experience provided by the infant's social environment is known to shape face processing abilities, which narrow during the first year of life towards adult human faces of the most frequently encountered ethnic groups. Here we explored the hypothesis that natural variability in facial input may delay neural commitment to face processing by testing the impact of early natural experience with siblings on infants' brain responses. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) evoked by upright and inverted adult and child faces were compared in two groups of 10-month-old infants with (N = 21) and without (N = 22) a child sibling. In first-born infants, P1 ERP component showed specificity to upright adult faces that carried over to the subsequent N290 and P400 components. In infants with siblings no inversion effects were observed. Results are discussed in the context of evidence from the language domain, showing that neural commitment to phonetic contrasts emerges later in bilinguals than in monolinguals, and that this delay facilitates subsequent learning of previously unencountered sounds of new languages.
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8
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Guy MW, Zieber N, Richards JE. The Cortical Development of Specialized Face Processing in Infancy. Child Dev 2016; 87:1581-600. [PMID: 27246260 PMCID: PMC5042801 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine specialized face processing in forty-eight 4.5- to 7.5-month-old infants by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to faces and toys, and to determine the cortical sources of these signals using realistic, age-appropriate head models. All ERP components (i.e., N290, P400, Nc) showed greater amplitude during periods of attention than inattention. Amplitude was greater to faces than toys during attention at the N290, and greater to toys at the P400. Cortical source analysis revealed activity in occipital-temporal brain areas as the source of the N290, particularly the middle fusiform gyrus. The Nc and P400 were the result of activation in midline frontal and parietal, anterior temporal, and posterior temporal and occipital brain areas.
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9
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Positive Affect Processing and Joint Attention in Infants at High Risk for Autism: An Exploratory Study. J Autism Dev Disord 2016; 45:4051-62. [PMID: 25056131 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2191-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Few behavioral indices of risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are present before 12 months, and potential biomarkers remain largely unexamined. This prospective study of infant siblings of children with ASD (n = 16) and low-risk comparison infants (n = 15) examined group differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) indexing processing of facial positive affect (N290/P400, Nc) at 9 months and their relation to joint attention at 15 months. Group differences were most pronounced for subtle facial expressions, in that the low-risk group exhibited relatively longer processing (P400 latency) and greater attention resource allocation (Nc amplitude). Exploratory analyses found associations between ERP responses and later joint attention, suggesting that attention to positive affect cues may support the development of other social competencies.
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10
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Galazka M, Bakker M, Gredebäck G, Nyström P. How social is the chaser? Neural correlates of chasing perception in 9-month-old infants. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 19:270-8. [PMID: 27258722 PMCID: PMC6988589 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2015] [Revised: 03/21/2016] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the neural correlates of chasing perception in infancy to determine whether animated interactions are processed as social events. By using EEG and an ERP design with animations of simple geometric shapes, we examined whether the positive posterior (P400) component, previously found in response to social stimuli, as well as the attention related negative fronto-central component (Nc), differs when infants observed a chaser versus a non-chaser. In Study 1, the chaser was compared to an inanimate object. In Study 2, the chaser was compared to an animate but not chasing agent (randomly moving agent). Results demonstrate no difference in the Nc component, but statistically higher P400 amplitude when the chasing agent was compared to either an inanimate object or a random object. We also find a difference in the N290 component in both studies and in the P200 component in Study 2, when the chasing agent is compared to the randomly moving agent. The present studies demonstrate for the first time that infants' process correlated motion such as chasing as a social interaction. The perception of the chasing agent elicits stronger time-locked responses, denoting a link between motion perception and social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martyna Galazka
- Uppsala Child and Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Marta Bakker
- Uppsala Child and Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Gustaf Gredebäck
- Uppsala Child and Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Pär Nyström
- Uppsala Child and Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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11
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D’Souza D, D’Souza H, Johnson MH, Karmiloff-Smith A. Concurrent Relations between Face Scanning and Language: A Cross-Syndrome Infant Study. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0139319. [PMID: 26426329 PMCID: PMC4591359 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2014] [Accepted: 09/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Typically developing (TD) infants enhance their learning of spoken language by observing speakers' mouth movements. Given the fact that word learning is seriously delayed in most children with neurodevelopmental disorders, we hypothesized that this delay partly results from differences in visual face scanning, e.g., focusing attention away from the mouth. To test this hypothesis, we used an eye tracker to measure visual attention in 95 infants and toddlers with Down syndrome (DS), fragile X syndrome (FXS), and Williams syndrome (WS), and compared their data to 25 chronological- and mental-age matched 16-month-old TD controls. We presented participants with two talking faces (one on each side of the screen) and a sound (/ga/). One face (the congruent face) mouthed the syllable that the participants could hear (i.e., /ga/), while the other face (the incongruent face) mouthed a different syllable (/ba/) from the one they could hear. As expected, we found that TD children with a relatively large vocabulary made more fixations to the mouth region of the incongruent face than elsewhere. However, toddlers with FXS or WS who had a relatively large receptive vocabulary made more fixations to the eyes (rather than the mouth) of the incongruent face. In DS, by contrast, fixations to the speaker's overall face (rather than to her eyes or mouth) predicted vocabulary size. These findings suggest that, at some point in development, different processes or strategies relating to visual attention are involved in language acquisition in DS, FXS, and WS. This knowledge may help further explain why language is delayed in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. It also raises the possibility that syndrome-specific interventions should include an early focus on efficient face-scanning behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dean D’Souza
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hana D’Souza
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Mark H. Johnson
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Annette Karmiloff-Smith
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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12
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Damon F, Bayet L, Quinn PC, Hillairet de Boisferon A, Méary D, Dupierrix E, Lee K, Pascalis O. Can human eyes prevent perceptual narrowing for monkey faces in human infants? Dev Psychobiol 2015; 57:637-42. [PMID: 25952509 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2014] [Accepted: 04/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual narrowing has been observed in human infants for monkey faces: 6-month-olds can discriminate between them, whereas older infants from 9 months of age display difficulty discriminating between them. The difficulty infants from 9 months have processing monkey faces has not been clearly identified. It could be due to the structural characteristics of monkey faces, particularly the key facial features that differ from human faces. The current study aimed to investigate whether the information conveyed by the eyes is of importance. We examined whether the presence of Caucasian human eyes in monkey faces allows recognition to be maintained in 6-month-olds and facilitates recognition in 9- and 12-month-olds. Our results revealed that the presence of human eyes in monkey faces maintains recognition for those faces at 6 months of age and partially facilitates recognition of those faces at 9 months of age, but not at 12 months of age. The findings are interpreted in the context of perceptual narrowing and suggest that the attenuation of processing of other-species faces is not reversed by the presence of human eyes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Damon
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, Grenoble, F-38000, France
| | - Laurie Bayet
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, Grenoble, F-38000, France
| | - Paul C Quinn
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, USA
| | | | - David Méary
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, Grenoble, F-38000, France
| | - Eve Dupierrix
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, Grenoble, F-38000, France
| | - Kang Lee
- Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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13
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Hoehl S. How do neural responses to eyes contribute to face-sensitive ERP components in young infants? A rapid repetition study. Brain Cogn 2015; 95:1-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2015.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2014] [Revised: 01/14/2015] [Accepted: 01/16/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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14
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Key AP, Corbett BA. ERP responses to face repetition during passive viewing: a nonverbal measure of social motivation in children with autism and typical development. Dev Neuropsychol 2014; 39:474-95. [PMID: 25144259 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2014.940620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether individual differences in social motivation affect the extent of processing of social versus nonsocial information. Event-related potentials were recorded in 13 children with autism spectrum disorder and 11 typically developing children during passive viewing of unfamiliar faces and houses. One image in each category was presented repeatedly, the rest were shown once. Analyses indicated no group differences in the early perceptual responses. Only typical children evidenced larger P600 for the repeated faces. These results were replicated during a retest session. Individual differences in memory for the repeated faces correlated with standardized behavioral assessments of social skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra P Key
- a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences , Vanderbilt University , Nashville , Tennessee
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15
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Vanderwert RE, Westerlund A, Montoya L, McCormick SA, Miguel HO, Nelson CA. Looking to the eyes influences the processing of emotion on face-sensitive event-related potentials in 7-month-old infants. Dev Neurobiol 2014; 75:1154-63. [PMID: 24962465 DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2014] [Revised: 06/19/2014] [Accepted: 06/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies in infants have shown that face-sensitive components of the ongoing electroencephalogram (the event-related potential, or ERP) are larger in amplitude to negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger) versus positive emotions (e.g., happy). However, it is still unclear whether the negative emotions linked with the face or the negative emotions alone contribute to these amplitude differences. We simultaneously recorded infant looking behaviors (via eye-tracking) and face-sensitive ERPs while 7-month-old infants viewed human faces or animals displaying happy, fear, or angry expressions. We observed that the amplitude of the N290 was greater (i.e., more negative) to angry animals compared to happy or fearful animals; no such differences were obtained for human faces. Eye-tracking data highlighted the importance of the eye region in processing emotional human faces. Infants that spent more time looking to the eye region of human faces showing fearful or angry expressions had greater N290 or P400 amplitudes, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross E Vanderwert
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Alissa Westerlund
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Lina Montoya
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Sarah A McCormick
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Helga O Miguel
- ClPsi Department of Basic Psychology, School of Psychology, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Charles A Nelson
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.,Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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16
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van Hoogmoed AH, van den Brink D, Janzen G. Infants' object location and identity processing in spatial scenes: an ERP study. Brain Behav 2013; 3:729-37. [PMID: 24363975 PMCID: PMC3868177 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2013] [Revised: 09/04/2013] [Accepted: 09/09/2013] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fast detection and identification of objects in an environment is important for using objects as landmarks during navigation. While adults rapidly process objects within an environment and use landmarks during navigation, infants do not routinely use distal landmarks below the age of 18 months. In the current event-related potential (ERP) study we adopted an oddball paradigm to examine whether infants are capable of processing objects in environments, which is a prerequisite for using objects as landmarks. METHODS We measured the electrophysiological correlates and time courses related to the processing of changes in object location, object identity, and a switch of two objects. RESULTS Twelve-month-old infants showed an Nc (negative central) effect reflecting increased attention likely caused by initial change detection within 300 msec for all three manipulations. In addition, they showed conscious processing of an object change and a location change as evidenced by a positive slow wave (PSW). CONCLUSION This study is the first to show that infants are capable of rapidly detecting changes in single objects when these are presented in an environment, but lack conscious detection of a switch. These results indicate that 12-month-old infants as yet lack the ability to rapidly bind the identity and location of multiple objects within an environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne H van Hoogmoed
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute PO Box 9104, Nijmegen, 6500 HE, The Netherlands ; Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour PO Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands
| | - Danielle van den Brink
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute PO Box 9104, Nijmegen, 6500 HE, The Netherlands ; Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour PO Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands
| | - Gabriele Janzen
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute PO Box 9104, Nijmegen, 6500 HE, The Netherlands ; Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour PO Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands
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Wagner JB, Luyster RJ, Yim JY, Tager-Flusberg H, Nelson CA. The role of early visual attention in social development. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2013; 37:118-124. [PMID: 26478642 PMCID: PMC4606456 DOI: 10.1177/0165025412468064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Faces convey important information about the social environment, and even very young infants are preferentially attentive to face-like over non-face stimuli. Eye-tracking studies have allowed researchers to examine which features of faces infants find most salient across development, and the present study examined scanning of familiar (i.e., mother) and unfamiliar (i.e., stranger) static faces at 6-, 9-, and 12-months-of-age. Infants showed a preference for scanning their mother's face as compared to a stranger's face, and displayed increased attention to the eye region as compared to the mouth region. Infants also showed patterns of decreased attention to eyes and increased attention to mouths between 6 and 12 months. Associations between visual attention at 6, 9, and 12 months and the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales DP (CSBS-DP) at 18 months were also examined, and a significant positive relation between attention to eyes at 6 months and the social subscale of the CSBS-DP at 18 months was found. This effect was driven by infants' attention to their mother's eyes. No relations between face scanning in 9- and 12-month-olds and social outcome at 18 months were found. The potential for using individual differences in early infant face processing to predict later social outcome is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer B. Wagner
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Division of
Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
| | - Rhiannon J. Luyster
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Division of
Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson
College
| | | | | | - Charles A. Nelson
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Division of
Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
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18
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Key APF, Stone WL. Same but different: 9-month-old infants at average and high risk for autism look at the same facial features but process them using different brain mechanisms. Autism Res 2012; 5:253-66. [PMID: 22674669 PMCID: PMC3422441 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2010] [Accepted: 03/22/2012] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The study examined whether 9-month-old infants at average vs. high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) process facial features (eyes, mouth) differently and whether such differences are related to infants' social and communicative skills. Eye tracking and visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 35 infants (20 average-risk typical infants, 15 high-risk siblings of children with ASD) while they viewed photographs of a smiling unfamiliar female face. On 30% of the trials, the eyes or the mouth of that face was replaced with corresponding features from a different female. There were no group differences in the number, duration, or distribution of fixations, and all infants looked at the eyes and mouth regions equally. However, increased attention to the mouth was associated with weaker receptive communication skills and increased attention to the eyes correlated with better interpersonal skills. ERP results revealed that all infants detected eye and mouth changes but did so using different brain mechanisms. Changes in facial features were associated with changes in activity of the face perception mechanisms (N290) for the average-risk group but not for the high-risk infants. For all infants, correlations between ERP and eye-tracking measures indicated that larger and faster ERPs to feature changes were associated with fewer fixations on the irrelevant regions of stimuli. The size and latency of the ERP responses also correlated with parental reports of receptive and expressive communication skills, suggesting that differences in brain processing of human faces are associated with individual differences in social-communicative behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra P F Key
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
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Key AP, Stone WL. Processing of novel and familiar faces in infants at average and high risk for autism. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2012; 2:244-55. [PMID: 22483074 PMCID: PMC6987681 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2011] [Revised: 12/05/2011] [Accepted: 12/06/2011] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The study investigated whether infant siblings of children with autism (sibs-ASD) process familiar and novel faces differently from typical infants and whether sensitivity to face familiarity is associated with infants' social and communicative behaviors. Visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 35 infants, age 9 months ± 15 days (20 typical infants, 15 sibs-ASD) using an oddball paradigm presenting photographs of infants' mothers (70% of trials) and an unfamiliar female (30% of trials). Eye tracking responses to a different unfamiliar face were recorded to determine whether differences in gaze patterns might account for any ERP differences found. There were no group differences in the distribution, number or duration of fixations. Both infant groups differentiated between mothers and strangers, as reflected in amplitude modulations of posterior N290/P400 and frontal/central Nc responses. Group differences were present in the latency of the P400 response, where a delayed response to the stranger face was observed only in typical infants. Across both groups, shorter Nc latency to mother's face was associated with parental reports of stronger interpersonal skills. Individual differences in the speed of processing for novel vs. familiar faces may be an informative early marker of risk for atypical social development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra P.F. Key
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
| | - Wendy L. Stone
- Department of Psychology and UW Autism Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Webb SJ, Jones EJH, Merkle K, Venema K, Greenson J, Murias M, Dawson G. Developmental change in the ERP responses to familiar faces in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders versus typical development. Child Dev 2011; 82:1868-86. [PMID: 22004249 PMCID: PMC4141561 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01656.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show differences in face processing abilities from early in development. To examine whether these differences reflect an atypical versus delayed developmental trajectory, neural responses to familiar and unfamiliar faces in twenty-four 18- to 47-month-old children with ASD were compared with responses of thirty-two 12- to 30-month-old typically developing children. Results of 2 experiments revealed that neural responses to faces in children with ASD resembled those observed in younger typically developing children, suggesting delayed development. Electrophysiological responses to faces were also related to parent report of adaptive social behaviors for both children with ASD and typical development. Slower development of the face processing system in ASD may be related to reduced self-directed "expected" experience with faces in early development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Jane Webb
- University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute, USA.
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