title: Newborn preference for a new face vs. a previously seen communicative or motionless face.
abstract: Newborn infants prefer to look at a new face compared to a known face (still-face). This effect does not happen with the mother-face. The newborns could be attracted by the mother-face because, unlike the still-face, it confirms an expectation of communication. Fifty newborns were video-recorded. Sixteen of them were recruited in the final sample: nine were exposed to a communicative face and seven to a still-face. All the 16 newborns were successively exposed to two preference-tasks where a new face was compared with the known face. Only newborns previously exposed to a still-face preferred to look at a new face instead of the known face. The results suggest that the newborns are able to build a dynamic representation of faces.
authors.affiliation: University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cecchini
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baroni
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Vito
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piccolo
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology