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. 2014 Feb;56(2):249-61.
doi: 10.1002/dev.21183. Epub 2013 Nov 28.

I spy with my little eye: typical, daily exposure to faces documented from a first-person infant perspective

Nicole A Sugden  1 , Marwan I Mohamed-Ali, Margaret C Moulson
Affiliations

I spy with my little eye: typical, daily exposure to faces documented from a first-person infant perspective

Nicole A Sugden et al. Dev Psychobiol. 2014 Feb.

Abstract

Exposure to faces is known to shape and change the face processing system; however, no study has yet documented infants' natural daily first-hand exposure to faces. One- and three-month-old infants' visual experience was recorded through head-mounted cameras. The video recordings were coded for faces to determine: (1) How often are infants exposed to faces? (2) To what type of faces are they exposed? and (3) Do frequently encountered face types reflect infants' typical pattern of perceptual narrowing? As hypothesized, infants spent a large proportion of their time (25%) exposed to faces; these faces were primarily female (70%), own-race (96%), and adult-age (81%). Infants were exposed to more individual exemplars of female, own-race, and adult-age faces than to male, other-race, and child- or older-adult-age faces. Each exposure to own-race faces was longer than to other-race faces. There were no differences in exposure duration related to the gender or age of the face. Previous research has found that the face types frequently experienced by our participants are preferred over and more successfully recognized than other face types. The patterns of face exposure revealed in the current study coincide with the known trajectory of perceptual narrowing seen later in infancy.

Keywords: development; exposure to faces; face perception; head-mounted camera; infancy; other-age effect; other-race effect; perceptual narrowing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three‐month‐old infant wearing the happy‐face camera mounted on a headband. The lens of the camera is in the left eye of the happy‐face. The camera was worn upside‐down to ensure that the lens is nearer to the infant's eyes, in line with their eyebrows. Printed with permission of parent, Dr. M. C. Moulson.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Each participant's percent exposure to own‐race faces. Each point represents one participant. Circles represent 1‐month‐old infant participants and triangles represent 3‐month‐old infant participants. Infants are ordered by age, from youngest to oldest.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Each participant's percent exposure to female faces. Each point represents one participant. Circles represent 1‐month‐old infant participants and triangles represent 3‐month‐old infant participants. Infants are ordered by age, from youngest to oldest.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Each participant's percent exposure to adult‐age faces. Each point represents one participant. Circles represent 1‐month‐old infant participants and triangles represent 3‐month‐old infant participants. Infants are ordered by age, from youngest to oldest.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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