Premium
Infants Rely More on Gaze Cues From Own‐Race Than Other‐Race Adults for Learning Under Uncertainty
Author(s) -
Xiao Naiqi G.,
Wu Rachel,
Quinn Paul C.,
Liu Shaoying,
Tummeltshammer Kristen S.,
Kirkham Natasha Z.,
Ge Liezhong,
Pascalis Olivier,
Lee Kang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12798
Subject(s) - gaze , psychology , race (biology) , perception , developmental psychology , reliability (semiconductor) , social perception , social psychology , cognitive psychology , power (physics) , botany , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , biology
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.