Preference for attractive faces in human infants extends beyond conspecifics.
Human infants, just a few days of age, are known to prefer attractive human faces. We examined whether this preference is human-specific. Three- to 4-month-olds preferred attractive over unattractive domestic and wild cat (tiger) faces (Experiments 1 and 3). The preference was not observed when the faces were inverted, suggesting that it did not arise from low-level image differences (Experiments 2 and 3). In addition, the spontaneous preference for attractive tiger faces influenced performance in a recognition memory task involving attractive versus unattractive tiger face pairings (Experiment 4). The findings suggest that infant preference for attractive faces reflects the activity of general processing mechanisms rather than a specific adaptation to mate choice.
Quinn
Paul C
PC
Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, USA.
Kelly
David J
DJ
Lee
Kang
K
Pascalis
Olivier
O
Slater
Alan M
AM
D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011897:Random Allocation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*