title: Perceptual learning and face processing in infancy.
abstract: Configural information (spacing between features) contributes to face-processing expertise in adulthood. We examined whether infants can be "trained" to process this information. In Experiment 1, 3.5-month-olds failed to discriminate changes in the spacing between facial features. However, in Experiments 2 and 3, infants processed the same information after being primed with faces in which the spacing was repeatedly altered. Experiment 4 found that priming was not effective with inverted faces or with faces depicting changes in features but not relations among features, indicating that the priming exhibited in Experiments 2 and 3 was specific to upright faces depicting spacing changes. Thus, even young infants who do not readily process facial configural information can be induced to do so through priming. These findings suggest that learning to encode critical structural information contributes to the development of face processing expertise.
authors.affiliation: Kent State University at Tuscarawas, New Philadelphia, Ohio.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Alyson
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. rbhatt@email.uky.edu.
authors.forename: Ramesh S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bhatt
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: configural face processing; infancy; perceptual learning; priming; social cognition