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Sibling experience modulates perceptual narrowing toward adult faces in the first year of life
Author(s) -
Proietti Valentina,
Rigoldi Marta,
Croci Emanuela,
Macchi Cassia Viola
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21616
Subject(s) - habituation , sibling , psychology , developmental psychology , perception , face perception , neuroscience
Abstract During the first year of life face discrimination abilities narrow toward adult human faces of the most frequently encountered ethnic group/s. Earlier studies showed that perceptual learning under laboratory‐training protocols can modulate this narrowing process. Here we investigated whether natural experience acquired in everyday settings with an older sibling's face can shape the trajectory of perceptual narrowing towards adult faces. Using an infant‐controlled habituation procedure we measured discrimination of adult (Experiment 1) and child faces (Experiment 2) in 3‐ and 9‐ month‐old infants with and without a child sibling. Discrimination of adult faces was observed for infants at both ages, although accompanied by posthabituation preferences in opposite directions, whereas at both ages the discrimination of child faces critically depended on sibling experience. These results provide the first evidence that natural experience acquired with siblings affects the tuning properties of infant face representation.