title: Three-month-olds, but not newborns, prefer own-race faces.
abstract: Adults are sensitive to the physical differences that define ethnic groups. However, the age at which we become sensitive to ethnic differences is currently unclear. Our study aimed to clarify this by testing newborns and young infants for sensitivity to ethnicity using a visual preference (VP) paradigm. While newborn infants demonstrated no spontaneous preference for faces from either their own- or other-ethnic groups, 3-month-old infants demonstrated a significant preference for faces from their own-ethnic group. These results suggest that preferential selectivity based on ethnic differences is not present in the first days of life, but is learned within the first 3 months of life. The findings imply that adults' perceptions of ethnic differences are learned and derived from differences in exposure to own- versus other-race faces during early development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK. david.kelly@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Slater
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Liezhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pascalis
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People