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Neonatal recognition of the mother's face
Author(s) -
Bushneil I. W. R.,
Sai F.,
Mullin J. T.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1989.tb00784.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , preference , face (sociological concept) , face perception , cognitive psychology , olfactory cues , communication , social psychology , olfaction , neuroscience , perception , economics , microeconomics , social science , sociology
Three experiments are described which investigated the ability of neonates to discriminate between the face of their mother and that of a strange adult female and to show face recognition. The first experiment indicated a reliable preference for the mother's face even where a control for olfactory information was used. No evidence for any effect of sex or breast vs. bottle feeding was found. A second experiment used the same procedure but substituted a visual mask for the olfactory one previously adopted. Under these conditions no evidence of preference was found. Finally, a third experiment considered the possibility that mothers were actively recruiting their own infant's attention and found that adult observers were unable reliably to distinguish mothers from strangers on the basis of any differential behaviour by mother and stranger. The conclusion is drawn that neonates can recognize their mother on the basis of visual clues alone and that these cues relate to memory for featural attributes of the mother's face rather than to attention‐recruiting behaviour on her part.