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Can a nonspecific bias toward top-heavy patterns explain newborns' face preference?
Viola Macchi Cassia1, Chiara Turati, Francesca Simion
1Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, piazza dell' Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy. viola.macchicassia@unimib.it
Psychological Science
|May 19, 2004
Summary
Newborns prefer looking at real faces over scrambled ones. This preference stems from a general bias for top-heavy patterns, not a special face recognition ability.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Infant Perception
Background:
- Infants exhibit an early preference for faces.
- Previous research suggested innate face recognition abilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the basis of newborn face preference.
- To determine if preference is for faces specifically or general patterns.
Main Methods:
- Newborns were shown images of natural and scrambled faces.
- Scrambled faces had distorted inner features to test pattern bias.
Main Results:
- Newborns showed preference for veridical (real) faces.
- Preference was linked to "top-heavy" patterns, not face-specific geometry.
- This suggests a domain-general bias for configurations with more elements in the upper half.
Conclusions:
- Newborn face preference may not require a pre-wired face-specific module.
- Faces may not have a unique status in the early visual environment.
- General pattern biases can explain early face-like stimuli preferences.