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Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
Published on: May 15, 2019
Newborns' preference for faces: what is crucial?
Chiara Turati1, Francesca Simion, Idanna Milani
1Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy.
Abstract:
Three experiments investigated whether the presence of more elements in the upper part of a configuration (i.e., up-down asymmetry) plays a role in determining newborns' preference for facelike patterns. Newborns preferred a nonfacelike stimulus with more elements in the upper part over a nonfacelike stimulus with more elements in the lower part (Experiment 1), did not show a preference for a facelike stimulus over a nonfacelike configuration equated for the number of elements in the upper part of the configuration (Experiment 2), and preferred a nonfacelike configuration located in the upper portion of the stimulus over a facelike configuration in the lower portion of the pattern (Experiment 3). Results demonstrated that up-down asymmetry is crucial in determining newborns' face preference.
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