Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

9.0K

Infants rapidly detect human faces in complex naturalistic visual scenes

David J Kelly1, Sofia Duarte1, David Meary2

  • 1School of Psychology, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK.

Developmental Science
|March 22, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Infants can detect faces in complex scenes from an early age, even when not visually prominent. This study shows naturalistic scenes better reveal infants' face detection abilities than artificial ones.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Infants show a preference for faces from birth.
  • Previous studies often used simplified stimuli, potentially underestimating infant abilities.
  • The ecological validity of face perception research in infants is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate infant face detection in naturalistic complex scenes.
  • To compare infant face detection performance in naturalistic versus artificial settings.
  • To explore developmental changes in face detection from 3 to 12 months.

Main Methods:

  • Infants aged 3-12 months viewed complex visual scenes.
  • Half the scenes contained a person; the other half did not.
  • Infant eye movements were tracked to measure attention and detection.

Main Results:

  • Infants detected and oriented to faces in complex scenes, even non-salient ones.
  • A developmental improvement in face detection and interest was observed.
  • All infants showed differential eye movements when viewing scenes with or without people, indicating sensitivity.

Conclusions:

  • Infant face detection is more proficient in naturalistic settings than previously thought.
  • Artificial stimuli used in prior research may have underestimated infant face detection capabilities.
  • Infants possess innate abilities to detect social stimuli in complex environments.

Keywords:
eye movementsface detectioninfancyvisual search

More Related Videos

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior07:09

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior

Published on: November 14, 2018

11.5K
Combination of Adhesive-tape-based Sampling and Fluorescence in situ Hybridization for Rapid Detection of Salmonella on Fresh Produce09:10

Combination of Adhesive-tape-based Sampling and Fluorescence in situ Hybridization for Rapid Detection of Salmonella on Fresh Produce

Published on: October 18, 2010

13.5K

Related Concept Videos

Naturalistic Observations02:30

Naturalistic Observations

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
17.1K
Drug Dosing: Infants and Children01:29

Drug Dosing: Infants and Children

Pediatric patient dosages diverge from adults due to disparities in body surface area, total body water, and extracellular fluid per kilogram of body weight. The dosing regimen considers the variations in pharmacokinetics and pharmacology across distinct age groups, encompassing preterm newborns, infants, young children, older children, and adolescents. Calculation of pediatric patient doses is predicated on determining body surface area, which exhibits a superior correlation with the child's...
277
Protein Complex Assembly02:41

Protein Complex Assembly

Proteins can form homomeric complexes with another unit of the same protein or heteromeric complexes with different types.  Most protein complexes self-assemble spontaneously via ordered pathways, while some proteins need assembly factors that guide their proper assembly. Despite the crowded intracellular environment, proteins usually interact with their correct partners and form functional complexes.
Many viruses self-assemble into a fully functional unit using the infected host cell to...
16.7K
Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts01:57

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Groups of proteins may form a complex where each protein in this complex has a different role in the overall execution of the complex’s function. Often some of the proteins in the complex can be replaced by a closely related variant to give a complex that contains many of the same components yet is functionally distinct.
The SCF ubiquitin ligase is a protein complex of five individual proteins. This complex attaches ubiquitin to other target proteins to mark them for degradation. In order...
2.9K
Formation of Complex Ions03:45

Formation of Complex Ions

A type of Lewis acid-base chemistry involves the formation of a complex ion (or a coordination complex) comprising a central atom, typically a transition metal cation, surrounded by ions or molecules called ligands. These ligands can be neutral molecules like H2O or NH3, or ions such as CN− or OH−. Often, the ligands act as Lewis bases, donating a pair of electrons to the central atom. These types of Lewis acid-base reactions are examples of a broad subdiscipline called coordination...
26.0K
Complex Power01:14

Complex Power

Power engineers have introduced the concept of complex power to determine the cumulative effect of parallel loads. This idea plays a crucial role in power analysis because it encompasses all the details related to the power consumed by a specific load.
Complex power is defined as the multiplication of the voltage and the complex conjugate of the current. The magnitude of this power, known as apparent power, is measured in volt-amperes (VA). Notably, the angle of the complex power equates to the...
901