Race-Based Perceptual Asymmetry in Face Processing Is Evident Early in Life

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
Angela HaydenJane E Joseph

Abstract

Adults' processing of own-race faces differs from that of other-race faces. The presence of an "other-race" feature (ORF) has been proposed as a mechanism underlying this specialization. We examined whether this mechanism, which was previously identified in adults and in 9-month-olds, is evident at 3.5 months. Caucasian 3.5-month-olds looked longer at a pattern containing a single Asian face among seven Caucasian faces than at a pattern containing a single Caucasian face among seven Asian faces. Homogenous and inverted face control conditions indicated that infants' preference was not driven by the majority of faces in arrays or by low-level features. Thus, 3.5-month-olds found the presence of an other-race face among own-race faces to be more salient than the reverse configuration. This asymmetry suggests sensitivity to an ORF at 3.5 months. Thus, a key mechanism of race-based processing in adults has an early onset, indicating rapid development of specialization early in life.

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Citations

Sep 26, 2014·Child Development Perspectives·Olivier PascalisKang Lee
Oct 22, 2015·Developmental Psychobiology·Julie MarkantDima Amso
Oct 19, 2016·Developmental Psychobiology·Ashley GalatiRamesh S Bhatt
Jul 16, 2016·Brain Topography·Wanze Xie, John E Richards

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