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The face behind the mask: a developmental study.

Nim Tottenham1, Andrew C Leon, B J Casey

  • 1Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, USA. nlt2002@med.cornell.edu

Developmental Science
|May 4, 2006
PubMed
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Children and adults process faces differently than objects. Face perception develops more rapidly than object recognition, especially with brief exposures, suggesting unique processing pathways.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Face perception is robust in adults, a phenomenon known as the face detection effect.
  • Faces provide crucial social information, making their perception vital for human interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the developmental trajectory of face perception robustness with that of non-face object perception.
  • To investigate how age influences the accuracy of identifying faces versus non-face objects under rapid presentation conditions.

Main Methods:

  • Participants aged 5-35 years were shown rapid (17 and 33 ms) presentations of faces and houses.
  • Participants identified the stimulus category as either 'face' or 'house'.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • An interaction between object type and age was observed.
  • The developmental slope for face identification was significantly steeper than for house identification at 17 ms presentation.
  • This indicates differential processing of faces compared to non-face objects during development.

Conclusions:

  • Faces are processed differently from non-face objects from childhood through adulthood.
  • This distinct processing may be influenced by extensive lifelong exposure to faces.
  • The findings highlight the unique developmental trajectory of face perception mechanisms.