Asymmetry in face processing during childhood measured with chimeric faces

Abstract

Studies with adults have found a left bias in their perception of faces, which suggests a right hemisphere specialisation in processing facial information. Hemispheric asymmetry is observed during the first year of life but it is still unclear at what age such specialisation becomes adult-like during the prolonged period of face-processing development through childhood. In the present study we investigated the development of children's perceptions of gender and emotion using chimeric faces. Our results demonstrate that a right hemisphere bias, similar to that found in adults, is observed from 5 years of age. The results are discussed within a framework of developmental studies and we conclude that although children may be less efficient than adults at encoding faces, their basic manner of encoding is not fundamentally different from that of adults.

Natural, but not artificial, facial movements elicit the left visual field bias in infant face scanning

“…Participants consistently judged emotion on the left face half (from the observer’s view) as closer to the whole face’s emotion than that on the right face half. In addition to face emotionality, this LVF perceptual bias , which biases perception to the face half in the left visual field, has been consistently observed in terms of face recognition, emotion categorization, and age judgment (Aljuhanay, Milne, Burt, & Pascalis, 2010; Burt & Perrett, 1997; Butler & Harvey, 2008; Chiang, Ballantyne, & Trauner, 2000; Coolican, Eskes, McMullen, & Lecky, 2008; Dahl, Rasch, Tomonaga, & Adachi, 2013; Gilbert & Bakan, 1973; Levine & Koch-Weser, 1982; Levine, Banich, & Koch-Weser, 1984, 1988; Levy, Heller, Banich, & Burton, 1983; Levy, Trevarthen, & Sperry, 1972; Luh, Redl, & Levy, 1994; Luh, Rueckert, & Levy, 1991; Sackeim & Gur, 1978; Yovel et al, 2008). Gilbert and Baken (1973) proposed that the LVF perceptual bias is likely due to right hemispheric dominance for face processing.…”

Perceptual asymmetries and handedness: a neglected link?

“…In this regard, it should be stressed that, whereas the leftward bias in face perception is usually observed in children of about 5 years (e.g., Roszkowski and Snelbecker, 1982; Levine and Levy, 1986; Kolb et al, 1992; Failla et al, 2003; Workman et al, 2006; Aljuhanay et al, 2010; Taylor et al, 2012), it is often reported to increase with age and reach an adult-like level by the age of about 10 years (Chiang et al, 2000; Workman et al, 2006; Anes and Short, 2009; Balas and Moulson, 2011; Taylor et al, 2012; Watling and Bourne, 2013; for a review, see Watling et al, 2012). However, the use of different methods seems to provide data in favor of both earlier (e.g., eye tracking; Wheeler, 2010; Liu et al, 2011; Dundas et al, 2012b) and later (e.g., moving window technique; Birmingham et al, 2012) emergence of an appreciable leftward bias in face processing.…”

The left perceptual bias for adult and infant faces in adults and 5-year-old children: Face age matters

“…Few studies have investigated the presence of a LPB in childhood (Aljuhanay, Milne, Burt, & Pascalis, 2010;Anes & Short, 2009;Chiang, Ballantyne, & Trauner, 2000;Levine & Levy, 1986;Otsuka et al, 2007;Watling & Bourne, 2007Workman, Chilvers, Yeomans, & Taylor, 2006), when a RH dominance in brain responses to faces is more readily observed. Although evidence from functional-magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies suggests that hemispheric specialization for face processing continues until early adolescence (e.g., Passarotti et al, 2003), ERP studies showed that a RH lateralization of early face-sensitive components is apparent in 4-to 5-year-old children (e.g., Kuefner, De Heering, Jacques, Palmero-Soler & Rossion, 2009;Taylor, Batty, & Itier, 2004).…”

“…By using similar tasks, Aljuhanay et al (2010) asked 5-and 10-year-old children to point at the more happy, sad or angry, or at the more masculine or feminine, among two symmetrical composite faces, each made of the left or right half of an adult face and its mirror image. Results showed that, for both the emotional and the gender judgement tasks, a LPB was present by 5 years of age, and its magnitude remained unchanged by the age of 10 years.…”