1
|
Kim KK, Fang W, Liu AY, Panesar D, Xiao NG. Altered development of face recognition among infants born amid the COVID-19 pandemic. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 244:105942. [PMID: 38703752 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
To effectively contain the spread of COVID-19, public health agencies mandated special regulations. Although they protected us from COVID-19, these restrictions have inevitably changed the environment around us. It remains unclear how these changes may have affected early cognitive development among infants born during the pandemic. Thus, this study examined how the COVID-19 restrictions have affected infants' face recognition ability, a hallmark of their cognitive capacities. Specifically, we used the familiarization and visual pair comparison paradigm to examine face recognition performance among infants aged 6 to 14 months amid the second wave of the pandemic (February to July 2021). Experiment 1 investigated the recognition of unmasked faces and found that only younger infants, but not older infants, recognized faces by showing a novelty preference. Experiment 2 examined the recognition of faces wearing masks and found that only older infants, but not younger ones, recognized faces by exhibiting a familiarity preference. These results suggest that with limited interactions during the pandemic, infants could have developed an overly specialized face processing ability that failed to recognize the faces of strangers. Moreover, infants could have obtained more information on masked faces during the pandemic and adapted to the current situation. In Expreiment 3, we further confirmed the restriction on infants' interpersonal experiences with a survey conducted both before and during the pandemic. Overall, these findings demonstrated how the pandemic altered early perceptual development and further confirmed that interpersonal experiences during infancy are critical in their cognitive development.
Collapse
|
2
|
Xiao NG, Ghersin H, Dombrowski ND, Boldin AM, Emberson LL. Infants' top-down perceptual modulation is specific to own-race faces. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 242:105889. [PMID: 38442685 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 01/27/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed the influence of higher-level cognitive systems in modulating perceptual processing (top-down perceptual modulation) in infancy. However, more research is needed to understand how top-down processes in infant perception contribute to early perceptual development. To this end, this study examined infants' top-down perception of own- and other-race faces to reveal whether top-down modulation is linked to the emergence of perceptual specialization. Infants first learned an association between a sound and faces, with the race of the faces manipulated between groups (own race vs. other race). We then tested infants' face perception across various levels of perceptual difficulty (manipulated by presentation duration) and indexed top-down perception by the change in perception when infants heard the sound previously associated with the face (predictive sound) versus an irrelevant sound. Infants exhibited top-down face perception for own-race faces (Experiment 1). However, we present new evidence that infants did not show evidence of top-down modulation for other-race faces (Experiment 2), suggesting an experience-based specificity of this capacity with more effective top-down modulation in familiar perceptual contexts. In addition, we ruled out the possibility that this face race effect was due to differences in infants' associative learning of the sound and faces between the two groups. This work has important implications for understanding the mechanisms supporting perceptual development and how they relate to top-down perception in infancy.
Collapse
|
3
|
Xiao NG, Emberson LL. Visual Perception Is Highly Flexible and Context Dependent in Young Infants: A Case of Top-Down-Modulated Motion Perception. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:875-886. [PMID: 37310866 PMCID: PMC10477967 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231177968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Top-down modulation is an essential cognitive component in human perception. Despite mounting evidence of top-down perceptual modulation in adults, it is largely unknown whether infants can engage in this cognitive function. Here, we examined top-down modulation of motion perception in 6- to 8-month-old infants (recruited in North America) via their smooth-pursuit eye movements. In four experiments, we demonstrated that infants' perception of motion direction can be flexibly shaped by briefly learned predictive cues when no coherent motion is available. The current findings present a novel insight into infant perception and its development: Infant perceptual systems respond to predictive signals engendered from higher-level learning systems, leading to a flexible and context-dependent modulation of perception. This work also suggests that the infant brain is sophisticated, interconnected, and active when placed in a context in which it can learn and predict.
Collapse
|
4
|
Zhou G, Xiao NG, Sun Y, Li H, Liu J. Face recognition ability can be predicted by microstructural properties of white matter: a study of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Cereb Cortex 2023:7160018. [PMID: 37170639 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a great individual difference in people's face recognition ability (FRA). This study aimed to reveal the neural mechanism underlying such individual differences. Elastic-net regression models were constructed to predict FRA based on the white matter (WM) microstructural properties. We found that FRA can be accurately predicted by the WM microstructural properties. For the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and bilateral arcuate fasciculus (AF), FRA was correlated negatively to fractional anisotropy (FA), but positively to radial diffusivity (RD). In contrast, for the corpus callosum forceps minor (CFM), FRA was correlated positively to FA, but negatively to RD. Such various patterns of the WM microstructural properties suggested a positive correlation between FRA and fiber diameter for the right ILF and bilateral AF, but a negative correlation between FRA and diameter of the CFM. These findings reflected that FRA was correlated positively to connectivities of the right ILF and bilateral AF, but negatively to those of the CFM. These findings not only confirmed the significant role of the right ILF in face recognition, but also revealed the involvement of the bilateral AF and CFM in face recognition, particularly implying the important role of hemisphere lateralization modulated by transcallosal connectivity in face recognition.
Collapse
|
5
|
Fang W, Galusca CI, Wang Z, Sun YHP, Pascalis O, Xiao NG. Facial dominance augments perceived proximity: Evidence from a visual illusion. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2023; 49:635-648. [PMID: 37261771 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Dominance is a major organizing principle of human societies that impacts a wide range of human behaviors, from gaze-following to voting choices. Here, we examined how dominance modulates a fundamental perceptual ability: the perception of proximity. We used the "Fat Face" illusion, a novel paradigm that measures perceived proximity implicitly. The illusion depicts a phenomenon that occurs when two identical faces are aligned vertically (one above the other) and the bottom face consistently appears larger. This illusion suggests that our visual system uses a vertical layout to infer the relative proximity of faces, so that the bottom face appears closer, and is thereby perceived as larger than the top one. We found that the illusion was larger for dominant than for submissive faces (Experiment 1). Moreover, when a dominant face was presented below a submissive one, participants reported a larger illusion than when a dominant face was above a submissive face (Experiments 2a and 2b). These findings suggest that dominant faces are perceived to be closer to observers than submissive faces. Furthermore, we found a stronger illusion for other-race faces as opposed to own-race faces, suggesting that we also misperceive other-race faces as closer than own-race faces. Together, these findings suggest that the visual system is highly sensitive to self-relevant, potentially threatening stimuli (e.g., dominant faces and other-race individuals) in the environment by misperceiving them as closer. In line with the recently proposed threat-signal hypothesis, this mechanism may allow for rapid and adaptive behaviors in our everyday social interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
|
6
|
Xiao NG, Angeli V, Fang W, Manera V, Liu S, Castiello U, Ge L, Lee K, Simion F. The discrimination of expressions in facial movements by infants: A study with point-light displays. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 232:105671. [PMID: 37003155 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105671] [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: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
Perceiving facial expressions is an essential ability for infants. Although previous studies indicated that infants could perceive emotion from expressive facial movements, the developmental change of this ability remains largely unknown. To exclusively examine infants' processing of facial movements, we used point-light displays (PLDs) to present emotionally expressive facial movements. Specifically, we used a habituation and visual paired comparison (VPC) paradigm to investigate whether 3-, 6-, and 9-month-olds could discriminate between happy and fear PLDs after being habituated with a happy PLD (happy-habituation condition) or a fear PLD (fear-habituation condition). The 3-month-olds discriminated between the happy and fear PLDs in both the happy- and fear-habituation conditions. The 6- and 9-month-olds showed discrimination only in the happy-habituation condition but not in the fear-habituation condition. These results indicated a developmental change in processing expressive facial movements. Younger infants tended to process low-level motion signals regardless of the depicted emotions, and older infants tended to process expressions, which emerged in familiar facial expressions (e.g., happy). Additional analyses of individual difference and eye movement patterns supported this conclusion. In Experiment 2, we concluded that the findings of Experiment 1 were not due to a spontaneous preference for fear PLDs. Using inverted PLDs, Experiment 3 further suggested that 3-month-olds have already perceived PLDs as face-like stimuli.
Collapse
|
7
|
Galusca CI, Fang W, Wang Z, Zhong M, Sun YHP, Pascalis O, Xiao NG. The "Fat Face" illusion: A robust adaptation for processing pairs of faces. Vision Res 2022; 195:108015. [PMID: 35149376 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2022.108015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Converging evidence has demonstrated our remarkable capacities to process individual faces. However, in real-life contexts, we rarely see faces in isolation. It is largely unknown how our visual system processes a multitude of faces. The current study explored this question by using the "Fat Face" illusion: when two identical faces are vertically aligned, the bottom face appears bigger. In Experiment 1, we tested the robustness of this illusion by using faces varied by gender and race, by recruiting participants from different countries (Canadian, Chinese, and French), and by implementing different task requirements. We found that the illusion was stable and immune to variations in face gender or face race, perceptual familiarity, and task requirements. Experiment 2 further indicated that binocular vision was essential for this visual illusion. When participants performed the task with one eye covered, the previously robust illusion completely disappeared. Together, these findings revealed a visual adaptation for processing multiple faces in the environment: the face at the top is perceived as more distant from the viewer and appears smaller in size than the face at the bottom. More broadly, overestimating the size of the bottom face may represent a fundamental mechanism for social interactions, ensuring the deployment of attention to those closest to self.
Collapse
|
8
|
Fang W, Galusca CI, Wang Z, Sun YH, Pascalis O, Xiao NG. Face dominance modulates the perceived face size: converging evidence from three countries. J Vis 2021. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.9.2263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
|
9
|
Yan L, Tang Y, Cherry S, Song S, Wang Z, Sun YHP, Lee K, Hsiao JH, Xiao NG. Racial ambiguity impairs holistic face processing. J Vis 2021. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.9.1934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
|
10
|
Galusca CI, Fang W, Wang Z, Sun YH, Xiao NG, Pascalis O. Face categories modulate the perceived proximity of faces. J Vis 2021. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.9.2545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
|
11
|
Quinn PC, Lee K, Pascalis O, Xiao NG. Emotional expressions reinstate recognition of other-race faces in infants following perceptual narrowing. Dev Psychol 2019; 56:15-27. [PMID: 31789529 DOI: 10.1037/dev0000858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual narrowing occurs in human infants for other-race faces. A paired-comparison task measuring infant looking time was used to investigate the hypothesis that adding emotional expressiveness to other-race faces would help infants break through narrowing and reinstate other-race face recognition. Experiment 1 demonstrated narrowing for White infants viewing neutral Asian faces: whereas 3-month-olds differentiated Asian faces, 6-month-olds did not. Experiment 2 showed that White 6-month-olds differentiated the same Asian faces depicted with angry or happy expressions. Experiments 3 and 4 yielded comparable results for 6- and 9-month-olds tested with Black faces (i.e., narrowing with neutral faces, reinstatement of sensitivity when the faces were presented with emotion). Experiment 5 showed that White 6-month-olds did not differentiate inverted angry or happy Asian faces, and that White 9-month-olds did not differentiate inverted angry or happy Black faces. Looking time during familiarization did not differ for upright neutral and emotional faces, indicating that the expressions did not yield more salient stimuli. Also, consistent with the inversion findings, analyses of the low-level image properties as well as equivalent pairwise similarity ratings obtained from White adults for the neutral and emotional faces indicated that the expressions did not simply create more discriminable stimuli. Without support for the lower-level accounts, we discuss the possibility that the infants processed the communicative intent of the expressions. Because angry faces pose threat and happy faces invite affiliation, expression may create motivation to individuate. Overall, the data suggest that early perceptual-social linkage in face representation can arise via a social-to-perceptual pathway. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
|
12
|
Xiao NG, Emberson LL. Top-down perception at 6 months of age: Evidence from motion perception. J Vis 2019. [DOI: 10.1167/19.10.56] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
|
13
|
Singh L, Quinn PC, Xiao NG, Lee K. Monolingual but not bilingual infants demonstrate racial bias in social cue use. Dev Sci 2019; 22:e12809. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
14
|
Xiao NG, Mukaida M, Quinn PC, Pascalis O, Lee K, Itakura S. Narrowing in face and speech perception in infancy: Developmental change in the relations between domains. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 176:113-127. [PMID: 30149243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2017] [Revised: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/28/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Although prior research has established that perceptual narrowing reflects the influence of experience on the development of face and speech processing, it is unclear whether narrowing in the two domains is related. A within-participant design (N = 72) was used to investigate discrimination of own- and other-race faces and native and non-native speech sounds in 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants. For face and speech discrimination, whereas 3-month-olds discriminated own-race faces and native speech sounds as well as other-race faces and non-native speech sounds, older infants discriminated only own-race faces and native speech sounds. Narrowing in face and narrowing in speech were not correlated at 6 months, negatively correlated at 9 months, and positively correlated at 12 months. The findings reveal dynamic developmental changes in the relation between modalities during the first year of life.
Collapse
|
15
|
Zhou G, Liu J, Xiao NG, Wu SJ, Li H, Lee K. The Fusiform Face Area Plays a Greater Role in Holistic Processing for Own-Race Faces Than Other-Race Faces. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:220. [PMID: 29910716 PMCID: PMC5992462 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2017] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Own-race faces are recognized more effectively than other-race faces. This phenomenon is referred to as other-race effect (ORE). Existing behavioral evidence suggests that one of the possible causes of ORE is that own-race faces are processed more holistically than other-race faces. However, little is known about whether such differences in processing also produce distinctive neural responses in the cortical face processing network. To bridge this gap, the present study used fMRI methodology and the composite face paradigm to examine the response patterns of the traditional face-preferential cortical areas (i.e., the bilateral fusiform face areas [FFA] and the bilateral occipital face areas [OFA]) elicited by own-race faces and other-race faces. We found that the right FFA exhibited a neural composite face effect only for own-race faces but not for other-race faces, even with the absence of the race-related difference in behavior composite face effect. These findings suggest that the right FFA plays a greater role in holistic processing of individual own-race faces than other-race faces. They also suggest that the neural composite effect observed in the right FFA is not the exact neural counterpart of the behavioral face composite effect. The findings of the present study revealed that, along the pathway of the bottom-up face processing, own-race faces and other-race faces presented the holistic processing difference as early as when they were processed in the right FFA.
Collapse
|
16
|
Liu S, Quinn PC, Xiao NG, Wu Z, Liu G, Lee K. Relations between scanning and recognition of own- and other-race faces in 6- and 9-month-old infants. Psych J 2018; 7:92-102. [PMID: 29719136 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2017] [Revised: 02/26/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Infants typically see more own-race faces than other-race faces. Existing evidence shows that this difference in face race experience has profound consequences for face processing: as early as 6 months of age, infants scan own- and other-race faces differently and display superior recognition for own- relative to other-race faces. However, it is unclear whether scanning of own-race faces is related to the own-race recognition advantage in infants. To bridge this gap in the literature, the current study used eye tracking to investigate the relation between own-race face scanning and recognition in 6- and 9-month-old Asian infants (N = 82). The infants were familiarized with dynamic own- and other-race faces, and then their face recognition was tested with static face images. Both age groups recognized own- but not other-race faces. Also, regardless of race, the more infants scanned the eyes of the novel versus familiar faces at test, the better their face-recognition performance. In addition, both 6- and 9-month-olds fixated significantly longer on the nose of own-race faces, and greater fixation on the nose during test trials correlated positively with individual novelty preference scores in the own- but not other-race condition. The results suggest that some aspects of the relation between recognition and scanning are independent of differential experience with face race, whereas other aspects are affected by such experience. More broadly, the findings imply that scanning and recognition may become linked during infancy at least in part through the influence of perceptual experience.
Collapse
|
17
|
Xiao NG, Wu R, Quinn PC, Liu S, Tummeltshammer KS, Kirkham NZ, Ge L, Pascalis O, Lee K. Infants Rely More on Gaze Cues From Own-Race Than Other-Race Adults for Learning Under Uncertainty. Child Dev 2018; 89:e229-e244. [PMID: 28397243 PMCID: PMC5634912 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Differential experience leads infants to have perceptual processing advantages for own- over other-race faces, but whether this experience has downstream consequences is unknown. Three experiments examined whether 7-month-olds (range = 5.9-8.5 months; N = 96) use gaze from own- versus other-race adults to anticipate events. When gaze predicted an event's occurrence with 100% reliability, 7-month-olds followed both adults equally; with 25% (chance) reliability, neither was followed. However, with 50% (uncertain) reliability, infants followed own- over other-race gaze. Differential face race experience may thus affect how infants use social cues from own- versus other-race adults for learning. Such findings suggest that infants integrate online statistical reliability information with prior knowledge of own versus other race to guide social interaction and learning.
Collapse
|
18
|
Yan L, Wang Z, Huang J, Sun YHP, Judges RA, Xiao NG, Lee K. Own-Group Face Recognition Bias: The Effects of Location and Reputation. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1734. [PMID: 29066989 PMCID: PMC5641343 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we examined whether social categorization based on university affiliation can induce an advantage in recognizing faces. Moreover, we investigated how the reputation or location of the university affected face recognition performance using an old/new paradigm. We assigned five different university labels to the faces: participants’ own university and four other universities. Among the four other university labels, we manipulated the academic reputation and geographical location of these universities relative to the participants’ own university. The results showed that an own-group face recognition bias emerged for faces with own-university labels comparing to those with other-university labels. Furthermore, we found a robust own-group face recognition bias only when the other university was located in a different city far away from participants’ own university. Interestingly, we failed to find the influence of university reputation on own-group face recognition bias. These results suggest that categorizing a face as a member of one’s own university is sufficient to enhance recognition accuracy and the location will play a more important role in the effect of social categorization on face recognition than reputation. The results provide insight into the role of motivational factors underlying the university membership in face perception.
Collapse
|
19
|
Singh L, Loh D, Xiao NG. Bilingual Infants Demonstrate Perceptual Flexibility in Phoneme Discrimination but Perceptual Constraint in Face Discrimination. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1563. [PMID: 28955278 PMCID: PMC5601050 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual narrowing is a highly significant development associated with the first year of life. It conventionally refers to an orientation toward nativeness whereby infant's perceptual sensitivities begin to align with the phonetic properties of their native environment. Nativeness effects, such as perceptual narrowing, have been observed in several domains, most notably, in face discrimination within other-race faces and speech discrimination of non-native phonemes. Thus, far, nativeness effects in the face and speech perception have been theoretically linked, but have mostly been investigated independently. An important caveat to nativeness effects is that diversifying experiences, such as bilingualism or multiracial exposure, can lead to a reduction or postponement in attunement to the native environment. The present study was designed to investigate whether bilingualism influences nativeness effects in phonetic and face perception. Eleven-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants were tested on their abilities to discriminate native and non-native speech contrasts as well as own-race and other-race face contrasts. While monolingual infants demonstrated nativeness effects in face and speech perception, bilingual infants demonstrated nativeness effects in the face perception but demonstrated flexibility in speech perception. Results support domain-specific effects of bilingual experience on nativeness effects.
Collapse
|
20
|
Xiao NG, Quinn PC, Ge L, Lee K. Facial movements facilitate part-based, not holistic, processing in children, adolescents, and adults. Dev Psychol 2017; 53:1765-1776. [DOI: 10.1037/dev0000360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
|
21
|
Ellis AE, Xiao NG, Lee K, Oakes LM. Scanning of own- versus other-race faces in infants from racially diverse or homogenous communities. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:613-627. [PMID: 28577346 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2016] [Revised: 02/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
We examined the role of community face experience on 6- and 8-month-old Caucasian infants' scanning of own- and other-race face scanning. We measured infants' proportional fixation time and scan path amplitudes as indices of face processing. Proportional fixation time to informationally rich face regions varied as a function of age and face race for infants living in a racially homogeneous community, whereas scan path amplitudes varied as a function of age and face race for infants living in a racially diverse community. In both communities 6-month-old infants did not show different responding to own- and other-race faces, whereas 8-month-old infants responded differently to own- and other-race faces. However, 8-month-old infants from the two communities showed different patterns of cross-race face scanning. Therefore, experience in the community beyond the home appears to contribute to the development of differential scanning of own- versus other-race faces between 6 and 8 months of age.
Collapse
|
22
|
Xiao NG, Quinn PC, Liu S, Ge L, Pascalis O, Lee K. Older but not younger infants associate own-race faces with happy music and other-race faces with sad music. Dev Sci 2017; 21. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
23
|
Heron-Delaney M, Damon F, Quinn PC, Méary D, Xiao NG, Lee K, Pascalis O. An adult face bias in infants that is modulated by face race. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2016; 41:581-587. [PMID: 28943687 DOI: 10.1177/0165025416651735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The visual preferences of infants for adult versus infant faces were investigated. Caucasian 3.5- and 6-month-olds were presented with Caucasian adult versus infant face pairs and Asian adult versus infant face pairs, in both upright and inverted orientations. Both age groups showed a visual preference for upright adult over infant faces when the faces were Caucasian, but not when they were Asian. The preference is unlikely to have arisen because of low-level perceptual features because: (1) no preference was observed for the inverted stimuli, (2) no differences were observed in adult similarity ratings of the upright infant-adult face pairs from the two races, and (3) no differences between the infant and adult faces were observed across races in an image-based analysis of salience. The findings are discussed in terms of the social attributes of faces that are learned from experience and what this implies for developmental accounts of a recognition advantage for adult faces in particular and models of face processing more generally.
Collapse
|
24
|
Xiao NG, Quinn PC, Liu S, Ge L, Pascalis O, Lee K. Eye tracking reveals a crucial role for facial motion in recognition of faces by infants. Dev Psychol 2015; 51:744-57. [PMID: 26010387 PMCID: PMC4445465 DOI: 10.1037/dev0000019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Current knowledge about face processing in infancy comes largely from studies using static face stimuli, but faces that infants see in the real world are mostly moving ones. To bridge this gap, 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Asian infants (N = 118) were familiarized with either moving or static Asian female faces, and then their face recognition was tested with static face images. Eye-tracking methodology was used to record eye movements during the familiarization and test phases. The results showed a developmental change in eye movement patterns, but only for the moving faces. In addition, the more infants shifted their fixations across facial regions, the better their face recognition was, but only for the moving faces. The results suggest that facial movement influences the way faces are encoded from early in development.
Collapse
|
25
|
Liu S, Xiao NG, Quinn PC, Zhu D, Ge L, Pascalis O, Lee K. Asian infants show preference for own-race but not other-race female faces: the role of infant caregiving arrangements. Front Psychol 2015; 6:593. [PMID: 25999902 PMCID: PMC4423339 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2015] [Accepted: 04/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have reported that 3- to 4-month-olds show a visual preference for faces of the same gender as their primary caregiver (e.g., Quinn et al., 2002). In addition, this gender preference has been observed for own-race faces, but not for other-race faces (Quinn et al., 2008). However, most of the studies of face gender preference have focused on infants at 3–4 months. Development of gender preference in later infancy is still unclear. Moreover, all of these studies were conducted with Caucasian infants from Western countries. It is thus unknown whether a gender preference that is limited to own-race faces can be generalized to infants from other racial groups and different cultures with distinct caregiving practices. The current study investigated the face gender preferences of Asian infants presented with male versus female face pairs from Asian and Caucasian races at 3, 6, and 9 months and the role of caregiving arrangements in eliciting those preferences. The results showed an own-race female face preference in 3- and 6-month-olds, but not in 9-month-olds. Moreover, the downturn in the female face preference correlated with the cumulative male face experience obtained in caregiving practices. In contrast, no gender preference or correlation between gender preference and face experience was found for other-race Caucasian faces at any age. The data indicate that the face gender preference is not specifically rooted in Western cultural caregiving practices. In addition, the race dependency of the effect previously observed for Caucasian infants reared by Caucasian caregivers looking at Caucasian but not Asian faces extends to Asian infants reared by Asian caregivers looking at Asian but not Caucasian faces. The findings also provide additional support for an experiential basis for the gender preference, and in particular suggest that cumulative male face experience plays a role in inducing a downturn in the preference in older infants.
Collapse
|