Plasticity of face processing in infancy

doi:10.1073/pnas.0406627102

Plasticity of face processing in infancy

^*LGF Group, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TP, United Kingdom; ^‡Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; ^§Institute of Child Development and ^∥Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0345; and ^¶Department of Human Communication Science, University College London, London WC1N 1PG, United Kingdom

Edited by Susan E. Carey, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved February 10, 2005 (received for review September 9, 2004)

Abstract

Experience plays a crucial role for the normal development of many perceptual and cognitive functions, such as speech perception. For example, between 6 and 10 months of age, the infant's ability to discriminate among native speech sounds improves, whereas the ability to discriminate among foreign speech sounds declines. However, a recent investigation suggests that some experience with nonnative languages from 9 months of age facilitates the maintenance of this ability at 12 months. Nelson has suggested that the systems underlying face processing may be similarly sculpted by experience with different kinds of faces. In the current investigation, we demonstrate that, in human infants between 6 and 9 months of age, exposure to nonnative faces, in this case, faces of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus), facilitates the discrimination of monkey faces, an ability that is otherwise lost around 9 months of age. These data support, and further elucidate, the role of early experience in the development of face processing.

Footnotes

↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: o.pascalis{at}sheffield.ac.uk.
Author contributions: O.P., M.C., and C.A.N. designed research; O.P., L.S.S., D.J.K., R.W.S., and E.N. performed research; O.P., L.S.S., R.W.S., E.N., M.C., and C.A.N. analyzed data; and O.P., D.J.K., and C.A.N. wrote the paper.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviations: ORE, other-race effect; VPC, visual paired comparison.