Eye tracking reveals a crucial role for facial motion in recognition of faces by infants.

Naiqi G. Xiao (1) , Paul C. Quinn (2) , Shaoying Liu (3) , Liezhong Ge (3) , Olivier Pascalis (4, 5) , Kang Lee (1)

1 University of Toronto
2 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
3 Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
4 LPNC - Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition
5 UGA [2016-2019] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019]

Current knowledge about face processing in infancy comes largely from studies using static face stimuli, but faces that infants see in the real world are mostly moving ones. To bridge this gap, 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Asian infants (N ! 118) were familiarized with either moving or static Asian female faces, and then their face recognition was tested with static face images. Eye-tracking methodology was used to record eye movements during the familiarization and test phases. The results showed a developmental change in eye movement patterns, but only for the moving faces. In addition, the more infants shifted their fixations across facial regions, the better their face recognition was, but only for the moving faces. The results suggest that facial movement influences the way faces are encoded from early in development.

Mots clés: facial movements; face processing development; infant; eye movement

Domaines: Sciences cognitives; Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Naiqi G. Xiao, Paul C. Quinn, Shaoying Liu, Liezhong Ge, Olivier Pascalis, et al.. Eye tracking reveals a crucial role for facial motion in recognition of faces by infants.. Developmental Psychology, 2015, 51 (6), pp.744 - 757. ⟨10.1037/dev0000019⟩. ⟨hal-01422870⟩