Face processing in 8-month-old infants: evidence for configural and analytical processing.
Two experiments examined whether 8-month-old infants process faces (photos in Experiment 1, schematic faces in Experiment 2) analytically by processing facial features independently of the facial context or configurally by processing the features in conjunction with the facial context. Infants were habituated to two faces and looking time was measured. After habituation they were tested with a habituation face, a switch face, or a novel face. In the switch faces, single features of the habituation faces were switched. The results showed that the infants processed facial features of photographs of faces configurally whereas they processed features of schematic faces (eyes, nose, facial contour) analytically. Thus, although infants have access to both processing modes, for real looking faces they use the configural mode.
Friedrich-Miescher-Laboratory of the Max-Planck-Society, Spemannstrasse 34, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. gudrun.schwartzer@tuebingen.mpg.de
Gudrun
G
Schwarzer
Nicola
N
Zauner
D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology