An eye-tracking investigation of developmental changes in infants' exploration of upright and inverted human faces

We used eye-tracking to examine 4.5- to 12.5-month-old infants' (N = 92) eye-movements during 3-s presentations of upright and inverted faces. Scanning of inverted faces was statistically indistinguishable at 4.5, 6.5, 8, and 12.5 months of age; at each of these ages infants disproportionately scanned the region containing the eyes. Scanning of upright faces changed over this age range. When viewing upright faces, 4.5-month-old and 6.5-month-old infants focused disproportionately on the region containing the eyes, whereas 12.5-month-old and 8-month-old infants distributed looking more broadly, scanning more of the internal area of the faces. These results are consistent with other observed developmental differences in face processing, and provide insight into how moment-to-moment face processing changes during infancy.