title: Newborns' preference for face-relevant stimuli: effects of contrast polarity.
abstract: There is currently no agreement as to how specific or general are the mechanisms underlying newborns' face preferences. We address this issue by manipulating the contrast polarity of schematic and naturalistic face-related images and assessing the preferences of newborns. We find that for both schematic and naturalistic face images, the contrast polarity is important. Newborns did not show a preference for an upright face-related image unless it was composed of darker areas around the eyes and mouth. This result is consistent with either sensitivity to the shadowed areas of a face with overhead (natural) illumination and/or to the detection of eye contact.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Farroni
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zulian
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Faraguna
authors.forename: Gergely
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Csibra
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual