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The Shaping of the Face Space in Early Infancy: Becoming a Native Face Processor
Author(s) -
Slater Alan,
Quinn Paul C.,
Kelly David J.,
Lee Kang,
Longmore Christopher A.,
McDonald Paula R.,
Pascalis Olivier
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
child development perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1750-8606
pISSN - 1750-8592
DOI - 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00147.x
Subject(s) - psychology , categorization , face perception , perception , face (sociological concept) , cognitive psychology , space (punctuation) , developmental psychology , sociology , neuroscience , computer science , artificial intelligence , social science , operating system
— Face perception remains one of the most intensively researched areas in psychology and allied disciplines, and there has been much debate regarding the early origins and experiential determinants of face processing. This article reviews studies, the majority of which have appeared in the past decade, that discuss possible mechanisms underlying face perception at birth and document the prominent role of experience in shaping infants’ face‐processing abilities. In the first months of life, infants develop a preference for female and own‐race faces and become better able to recognize and categorize own‐race and own‐species faces. This perceptual narrowing and shaping of the “face space” forms a foundation for later face expertise in childhood and adulthood and testifies to the remarkable plasticity of the developing visual system.