title: Tolerance of geometric distortions in infant's face recognition.
abstract: The aim of the current study is to reveal the effect of global linear transformations (shearing, horizontal stretching, and vertical stretching) on the recognition of familiar faces (e.g., a mother's face) in 6- to 7-month-old infants. In this experiment, we applied the global linear transformations to both the infants' own mother's face and to a stranger's face, and we tested infants' preference between these faces. We found that only 7-month-old infants maintained preference for their own mother's face during the presentation of vertical stretching, while the preference for the mother's face disappeared during the presentation of shearing or horizontal stretching. These findings suggest that 7-month-old infants might not recognize faces based on calculating the absolute distance between facial features, and that the vertical dimension of facial features might be more related to infants' face recognition rather than the horizontal dimension.
authors: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Kagoshima University, 1-21-40 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan. Electronic address: wyamashita@ibe.kagoshima-u.ac.jp.
authors: Wakayo
authors: W
authors: Yamashita
authors: Department of Psychology, Japan Women's University, 1-1-1 Nishi-Ikuta, Tama-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 214-8565, Japan.
authors: So
authors: S
authors: Kanazawa
authors: Department of Psychology, Chuo University, 742-1, Higashinakano, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0393, Japan.
authors: Masami K
authors: MK
authors: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Distortion; Face recognition; Infant