Mother-stranger face discrimination by the newborn

Field, Tiffany; Cohen, Debra J.; Garcia, Robert; Greenberg, Reena

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(84)80019-3

Cited by 293 publications

(170 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Reports from several researchers studying face recognition by neonates (14)(15)(16) suggest that infants initially depend more on external features than on internal ones for discriminating between individuals. For instance, Pascalis et al (16) found that although four-day old infants could reliably discriminate their mother's face when all the facial information was present, they were unable to make the distinction when their mother and a stranger wore scarves around their heads.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Contributions of Internal and External Features to Face Recognition

Jarudi¹,

Sinha²

2003

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CBCL Memo 225© 2 0 0 3 m a s s a c h u s e t t s i n s t i t u t e o f t e c h n o l o g y, c a m b r i d g e , m a 0 2 1 3 9 u s a -w w w. a i . m i t . e d u m a s s a c h u s e t t s i n s t i t u t e o f t e c h n o l o g y -a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e l a b o r a t o r y @ MIT 1 AbstractThe central challenge in face recognition lies in understanding the role different facial features play in our judgments of identity. Notable in this regard are the relative contributions of the internal (eyes, nose and mouth) and external (hair and jaw-line) features. Past studies that have investigated this issue have typically used high-resolution images or good-quality line drawings as facial stimuli. The results obtained are therefore most relevant for understanding the identification of faces at close range. However, given that real-world viewing conditions are rarely optimal, it is also important to know how image degradations, such as loss of resolution caused by large viewing distances, influence our ability to use internal and external features. Here, we report experiments designed to address this issue. Our data characterize how the relative contributions of internal and external features change as a function of image resolution. While we replicated results of previous studies that have shown internal features of familiar faces to be more useful for recognition than external features at high resolution, we found that the two feature sets reverse in importance as resolution decreases. These results suggest that the visual system uses a highly non-linear cue-fusion strategy in combining internal and external features along the dimension of image resolution and that the configural cues that relate the two feature sets play an important role in judgments of facial identity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Contributions of Internal and External Features to Face Recognition

Jarudi¹,

Sinha²

2003

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“…To maximize featural differences, one person was the infant's own mother and the other was a male stranger. Research shows that even the youngest infants can discriminate them from one another (Bushnell, Sai, & Mullin, 1989;Field, Cohen, Garcia, & Greenberg, 1984;Walton, Bower, & Bower, 1992). In the study, infants saw one person perform one facial gesture and the other person perform a different gesture.…”

Section: Imitation and Identitymentioning

confidence: 95%

Object representation, identity, and the paradox of early permanence: Steps toward a new framework

Meltzoff¹,

Moore²

1998

Infant Behavior and Development

137

104

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The sensorimotor theory of infancy has been overthrown, but there is little consensus on a replacement. We hypothesize that a capacity for representation is the starting point for infant development, not its culmination. Logical distinctions are drawn between object representation, identity, and permanence. Modern experiments on early object permanence and deferred imitation suggest: (a) even for young infants, representations persist over breaks in sensory contact, (b) numerical identity of objects (Os) is initially specified by spatiotemporal criteria (place and trajectory), (c) featural and functional identity criteria develop, (d) events are analyzed by comparing representations to current perception, and (e) representation operates both prospectively, anticipating future contacts with an O, and retrospectively, reidentifying an O as the "same one again." A model of the architecture and functioning of the early representational system is proposed. It accounts for young infants' behavior toward absent people and things in terms of their efforts to determine the identity of objects. Our proposal is developmental without denying innate structure and elevates the power of perception and representation while being cautious about attributing complex concepts to young infants. Keywordsrepresentation; object identity; object permanence; imitation; cognitive development; memory The field of infant psychology is in crisis. There is no longer a shared framework or set of assumptions about the nature of infancy. This crisis has been brewing for about 30 years. It began with the overthrow of the view that the infant is a purely sensorimotor organism. It continues today because there is no new consensus on how we should conceive of the infant mind.The classical sensorimotor view of infancy was founded on two key assumptions. The first was that there was a primacy to the role of action. In early infancy, to "know" an object was to act upon it. Development derived from relating actions to one another and to consequences in the perceptual world (sensorymotor connections). The second assumption was that a lack of sensory contact, in particular invisibility, was an insurmountable problem Copyright © 1998 Ablex Publishing Corporation Andrew N. Meltzoff, Department of Psychology, Box 357920, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. 7 Unlike Experiment 1, there were no problems of motor noise correlated with the one-vs. two-object movements, nor surface similarities between the habituation and test displays to serve as a basis for generalization (Spelke et al., 1995, p. 123 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript for young infants. When sensory contact with objects was lost, objects ceased to exist for the infant. The eventual development of representation was postulated as the way children transcended stimulus-driven reactions and escaped the tyranny of the here-and-now world of infancy. Piaget provided a detailed theory of this kind (Piaget, 1952(Piaget, , 1954(Piaget, , 1962.The ...

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“…Indeed, infants possess an innate face interest mechanism which facilitates early attention to faces (Morton & Johnson, 1991) and drives an early preference for looking at their mother's face over a stranger's face (e.g., Bushnell, 2001;Field, Cohen, Garcia & Greenberg, 1984;Pascalis, de Schonen, Morton, Deruelle, & Fabre-Grenet, 1995). This preference, which is present within the first days of life, enables the formation of the mother-infant relationship which is important for infant's social and emotional development (Bowlby, 1969;Blass & Camp, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant face interest is associated with voice information and maternal psychological health

Taylor

Slade

Herbert

2014

Infant Behavior and Development

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Early infant interest in their mother's face is driven by an experience based face processing system, and is associated with maternal psychological health, even within a non clinical community sample. The present study examined the role of the voice in eliciting infants' interest in mother and stranger faces and in the association between infant face interest and maternal psychological health.Infants aged 3.5-months were shown photographs of their mother's and a stranger's face paired with an audio recording of their mother's and a stranger's voice that was either matched (e.g., mother's face and voice) or mismatched (e.g., mother's face and stranger's voice). Infants spent more time attending to the stranger's matched face and voice than the mother's matched face and voice and the mismatched faces and voices. Thus, infants demonstrated an earlier preference for a stranger's face when given voice information than when the face is presented alone. In the present sample, maternal psychological health varied with 56.7% of mothers reporting mild mood symptoms (depression, anxiety or stress response to childbirth). Infants of mothers with significant mild maternal mood symptoms looked longer at the faces and voices compared to infants of mothers who did not report mild maternal mood symptoms. In sum, infants' experience based face processing system is sensitive to their mothers' maternal psychological health and the multimodal nature of faces. Early infant interest in their mother's face is driven by an experience based face processing system, and is associated with maternal psychological health, even within a non clinical community sample. The present study examined the role of the voice in eliciting infants' interest in mother and stranger faces and in the association between infant face interest and maternal psychological health.Infants aged 3.5-months were shown photographs of their mother's and a stranger's face paired with an audio recording of their mother's and a stranger's voice that was either matched (e.g., mother's face and voice) or mismatched (e.g., mother's face and stranger's voice). Infants spent more time attending to the stranger's matched face and voice than the mother's matched face and voice and the mismatched faces and voices. Thus, infants demonstrated an earlier preference for a stranger's face when given voice information than when the face is presented alone. In the present sample, maternal psychological health varied with 56.7% of mothers reporting mild mood symptoms (depression, anxiety or stress response to childbirth). Infants of mothers with significant mild maternal mood symptoms looked longer at the faces and voices compared to infants of mothers who did not report mild maternal mood symptoms. In sum, infants' experience based face processing system is sensitive to their mothers' maternal psychological health and the multimodal nature of faces.

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Mother-stranger face discrimination by the newborn

Cited by 293 publications

References 10 publications

Relative Contributions of Internal and External Features to Face Recognition

Relative Contributions of Internal and External Features to Face Recognition

Object representation, identity, and the paradox of early permanence: Steps toward a new framework

Infant face interest is associated with voice information and maternal psychological health

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