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Preference for attractive faces in human infants extends beyond conspecifics
Author(s) -
Quinn Paul C.,
Kelly David J.,
Lee Kang,
Pascalis Olivier,
Slater Alan M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00647.x
Subject(s) - preference , psychology , tiger , cognitive psychology , adaptation (eye) , task (project management) , developmental psychology , communication , neuroscience , computer science , computer security , management , economics , microeconomics
Human infants, just a few days of age, are known to prefer attractive human faces. We examined whether this preference is human‐specific. Three‐ to 4‐month‐olds preferred attractive over unattractive domestic and wild cat (tiger) faces (Experiments 1 and 3). The preference was not observed when the faces were inverted, suggesting that it did not arise from low‐level image differences (Experiments 2 and 3). In addition, the spontaneous preference for attractive tiger faces influenced performance in a recognition memory task involving attractive versus unattractive tiger face pairings (Experiment 4). The findings suggest that infant preference for attractive faces reflects the activity of general processing mechanisms rather than a specific adaptation to mate choice.