The inversion effect in infancy: the role of internal and external features.
The present work examined the changing role of inner and outer facial features in the recognition of upright and inverted faces in 5-, 7-, and 9-month-olds. Study 1 established that the "inversion effect" (impaired recognition of an inverted face) was present in infants as young as 5 months. In Study 2, internal and external features were inverted separately. Disrupting the internal configuration by inversion impaired recognition at all ages; disrupting the external configuration impaired recognition only at 5-months. In Study 3, an upright familiar face was paired with one having either novel internal or novel external features. The results confirmed that the 5-month-olds used only the external features to recognize faces, whereas older infants were as adept at using internal features as external ones. These findings suggest a shift, after 5 months, away from dependence on external features for face recognition and toward greater reliance on internal ones.
Rose
Susan A
SA
Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Department of Pediatrics, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, United States. srose@aecom.yu.edu
Jankowski
Jeffery J
JJ
Feldman
Judith F
JF
D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010469:Perceptual Distortion / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology