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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
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Preference for human eyes in human infants

Eve Dupierrix1, Anne Hillairet de Boisferon1, David Méary1

  • 1Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|March 4, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Newborns show no preference for human eyes, but infants from 3 months old develop a preference for nonhuman faces with human eyes. This suggests a developing attraction to human eyes in early infancy.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Infant perception

Background:

  • Early face recognition is crucial for social development.
  • The role of eye-specific features in infant face preference is not fully understood.
  • Previous studies highlight the importance of the eye region in face processing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the presence and development of an attraction to human eyes in infants.
  • To determine if newborns exhibit a preference for human eyes.
  • To track the emergence and stability of this preference during the first year of life.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a preferential looking time paradigm.
  • Presented newborns and infants (3, 6, 9, 12 months) with nonhuman primate faces.
  • Manipulated faces to display either original nonhuman primate eyes or human eyes.

Main Results:

  • Newborns did not show a significant preference between face conditions.
  • A preference for nonhuman primate faces with human eyes emerged by 3 months of age.
  • This preference remained consistent in older infants (3-12 months).

Conclusions:

  • The attraction to human eyes is not present at birth but develops within the first few months.
  • This finding sheds light on the developmental trajectory of face perception and social orienting in infants.
  • The human eye may play a significant role in guiding early social attention.

Keywords:
EyeFaceInfantMonkeyNewbornVisual preference

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