title: The special status of sad infant faces: age and valence differences in adults' cortical face processing.
abstract: Understanding the relative and joint prioritization of age- and valence-related face characteristics in adults' cortical face processing remains elusive because these two characteristics have not been manipulated in a single study of neural face processing. We used electroencephalography to investigate adults' P1, N170, P2 and LPP responses to infant and adult faces with happy and sad facial expressions. Viewing infant vs adult faces was associated with significantly larger P1, N170, P2 and LPP responses, with hemisphere and/or participant gender moderating this effect in select cases. Sad faces were associated with significantly larger N170 responses than happy faces. Sad infant faces were associated with significantly larger N170 responses in the right hemisphere than all other combinations of face age and face valence characteristics. We discuss the relative and joint neural prioritization of infant face characteristics and negative facial affect, and their biological value as distinct caregiving and social cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga ON L5L 1C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Colasante
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Circle, Toronto ON M5S, Canada.
authors.forename: Sarah I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Mossad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto ON M1C 1A4, Canada.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto ON M1C 1A4, Canada.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Haley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adult; electroencephalography; face processing; face valence; infant